Case Study

Aram Han Sifuentes on the Protest Banner Lending Library

Posted December 20, 2018 in Blog, Case Study

Aram Han Sifuentes with a banner from her “Protest Banner Lending Library.” Photo by Virginia Harold.

On view in the Case Study Space through January, 2019, HCCC presents a banner from Chicago-based artist and activist Aram Han Sifuentes’ “Protest Banner Lending Library.” Developed in response to the 2016 presidential election, the “Protest Banner Lending Library (PBLL)” provides a safe outlet for individuals to address their concerns about current socio-political issues by organizing protest banner workshops and allowing individuals to check out the banners made from the workshops. HCCC Curator Kathryn Hall interviewed Aram about this project and how she would like to see it move forward.

Continue Reading »

LIVIA MARIN ON SURREALIST AESTHETICS, THE GLOBAL HISTORY OF BLUE & WHITE CERAMICS, AND THE MULTIPLICATION OF OBJECTS IN LATE-STAGE CAPITALISM

Posted May 2, 2018 in Blog, Case Study

Livia Marin, “Nomad Patterns,” 2012. Ceramic, resin, plaster, transfer print. Thirty-two pieces in series. Photo courtesy of artist.

HCCC Curatorial Fellow Sarah Darro recently asked Livia Marin a few questions about the processes and inspiration behind her work. Livia is featured in HCCC’s Case Study Space and is presented in conjunction with the recent exhibition, Treachery of Material: The Surrealist Impulse in Craft. Continue Reading »

CASE STUDY: PETER VOULKOS

Posted May 28, 2017 in Blog, Case Study

Peter Callas assisting Peter Voulkos in Belvidere, NJ, 1998. Peter Callas built the first anagama kiln in the United States, and Voulkos fired many of his pieces in it later in his career. Photo by TolneGGG (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

The following text accompanied the work, Untitled Plate (1989), by Peter Voulkos, on view April 18 – May 21, 2017, at HCCC as part of the Case Study exhibition series. Rotating periodically throughout the year, this series presents an in-depth look at craft-based objects as they relate to current events and/or spotlights a moment in craft history.

HCCC would like to thank the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for making this work available for exhibition. Please make sure to visit In the Studio: Craft in Postwar America, 1950 – 1970, on view at the MFAH through October 8, 2017, to learn more about the development of Studio Craft in the United States.

Peter Voulkos (American, 1924-2002) was a pioneer of Studio Craft, a post-World War II movement in the United States that experimented with new techniques in the traditional materials of metal, clay, glass, wood, and fiber, as well as non-traditional materials. He shaped the ceramic avant-garde during the mid-20th Century and broadened the scope of contemporary ceramics through his experimentation with surface and form.

Continue Reading »

CASE STUDY: PUSSYHAT

Posted March 17, 2017 in Case Study

The cat-eared knit hat on view at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft this spring has traveled thousands of miles, from a Maine-based knitting group to New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; and now Houston. It was worn on January 21, 2017, in Washington, D.C., at the Women’s March, the largest single-day peaceful demonstration in United States history. Betsey Norland, a knitter from Lambertville, New Jersey, was unable to attend the protest herself and knitted eight hats as a way to participate, commenting, “A little bit of me was on a lot of women.” This handmade hat is just one of millions that were created for and worn by participants marching in Washington, D.C., and in 600 sister marches worldwide. Continue Reading »