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The Fourth annual CWA Forum will be held in conjunction with the opening of the Jane and Arthur Mason collection of wood art on May 18 at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, North Carolina. We are looking forward to seeing all of you. There will be a private opening for all members of CWA at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design from 7 pm to 8:15 pm.
The program is full. Nobody is being shot out of a gun and there are no trapeze artists, but there will be just about everything else. First, and I have to say this first, there is the chance to see the work we have had in our home in a Museum setting.
There will be a hundred and twenty six woodturnings and sculptures mounted by the Mint’s superb staff in the largest craft exhibit space in the world. Second, Dan Greenberg, Susan Steinhauser and Dan’s mother Ruth will be contributing part of their amazing historical wood collection in honor of the occasion. We are truly humbled by their generosity. The Museum will also have their outstanding permanent collection on display, including work never publicly seen before. In addition, the Museum has a brilliant Chihuly chandelier, a Tom Patti wall and a gift shop full of tempting crafts, books, post cards, etc.
The Marriott Hotel, City Center, two blocks from the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, will be Forum headquarters. Six nationally-known galleries will come to us, each with a great show. Open almost continually from Thursday night until Sunday morning, six galleries will exhibit artists’ works for sale in rooms close to our meeting rooms. The galleries, del Mano Gallery (of Los Angeles and Pasadena, California), Southern Highlands Craft Guild (of Asheville, North Carolina on the Blue Ridge Parkway), Sansar Gallery (of Bethesda, Maryland, suburb of Washington, DC), Signature Gallery (of Atlanta, Georgia) and Hodges-Taylor Gallery and Center of the Earth Gallery (both of Charlotte, North Carolina) also will choose and run a special exhibit on the mezzanine of the Marriott, for us and open to the public.
Friday, after registration and the CWA meeting at 8:00 am, come to a program of lectures at the Marriott, many on subjects which CWA members have requested.
CWA members, both collectors and artists, so often ask and discuss, How best to approach museums? How to give works to museums? Whom to talk to? Museum and university curators will address these questions in the Friday afternoon seminar. Why give artists’ works and collections to museums and universities, and how to do so.
New! We are inviting the public to an expanded Slide Show Friday late afternoon which we hope will result in a lot of new interest in the field. Ron Kent will be master of ceremonies. Email Arthur, who is setting up the timetable for the artists, at Janecrafts@aol.com to request a time slot. Hopefully, each artist can speak for 5 minutes.
Another member question – How to Light and Display the pieces in one’s Collection. On Saturday morning, Kurt Warnke, exhibition specialist for the Mint Museum of Craft + Design discusses how the museum lights wood art.
At the same time on Saturday, and continuing until 3:00 pm, turners and wood sculptors will demonstrate on the street outside the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Again, as this is an educational program, the public will be invited to attend. Artists who wish to participate should contact Stoney Lamar or Bonner Guilford.
Saturday evening, starting at 5:30, the galleries set up at the Marriott will host a beer and wine party for Forum participants. Afterwards, we will have our Banquet where Michael Monroe will be the speaker. Mr. Monroe will also be the recipient of the CWA Lifetime Achievement Award for 2000.
Sunday morning offers the opportunity for a gallery crawl with at least seven galleries open for your convenience, followed by a private tour of the older Mint Museum of Art on Randolph Road. Besides an outstanding collection of paintings and sculptures, they have renowned Pre Columbian and a large European & American ceramics collection. This will also be race weekend in Charlotte. There will be a big race at the Speedway where cars, just like woodturners, go round and round.
Arthur & Jane Mason
There has been little time for the staff of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design to catch their collective breath since the building’s inaugural opening January 10th.
There’s been a groundswell of interest and enthusiasm for what the museum is doing. We continue to form strategic alliances with national organizations and individual collectors that are excited to help support collection growth, exhibitions and programs.
The advent of the museum’s national patron’s program, the Founders’ Circle, has had a significant impact on the growth of the museum’s permanent collection and through their membership contributions, its operational effectiveness. Now numbering 71 couples, Founders’ Circle members live in such places as San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Tampa, Little Rock, St. Louis, as well as Charlotte, Penland and Wilson, North Carolina. To honor the generosity of the group’s charter members, the museum is assembling the millennium exhibition An Inaugural Gift: The Founders’ Circle Collection. Important works in ceramic, fiber, glass, metal, and wood media created by artists from such countries as Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United States will be the exhibition’s focus.
Members of the Founders’ Circle met in Washington, D.C. to adopt a formal mechanism to facilitate the group’s activities. Called the Steering Committee, this 14-member group is envisioned to act as a catalyst for the patrons’ continuing support of and involvement in the museum’s programs.
The Museum’s inaugural opening has been featured in such publications as The New York Times, American Craft, American Style, Antiques Magazine, and the American Association of Museums’ monthly periodical MuseumNews. Three original exhibitions were created for the opening of MMCD. Harvey K. Littleton Reflections, 1946-1995 travels to Little Rock, AR, Wilmington, NC, Chattanooga, TN and Marietta, GA. The permanent collection opened in two stages beginning with Currents in Craft in the Gorelick Gallery and Tradition and Change in the Duke Energy Gallery. The White House Collection of American Crafts served as an inaugural exhibition along with the Littleton show.
During the year encouraging progress was made in building the collection’s weakest areas - furniture, metal and fiber. Art Jewelry Forum, an association of collectors of contemporary studio jewelry, will help develop a collection and a future exhibition. Gifts of a dozen studio furniture pieces were made in the opening months. An offer of a significant historic quilt collection spanning the 1800 to 1950 time frame was tendered.
Two important inaugural building commissions were completed during the period. Spectral Boundary was designed by American artist Tom Patti and generously funded by Philip Morris Companies Inc. and Philip Morris U.S.A. Glass impresario Dale Chihuly was commissioned to create the Mint Chandelier. This privately-funded project now graces the museum’s lobby. Additionally, efforts are under way to enhance the architectural presence of the building’s exterior and to formalize the museum’s entrance. To accomplish this critical objective, the Young Affiliates, working with museum personnel, have commissioned metal artist Albert Paley to create a dramatic portal passage for the museum’s façade.
Work progresses in various stages on two upcoming original exhibitions: Turning Wood Into Art: The Jane and Arthur Mason Collection (May 2000); and the Allan Chasanoff Ceramic Collection (November 2000). Each exhibition will be the focal point of a major gathering at the museum. The museum will host its national Founders’ Circle patron’s group in February 2000. A series of meetings, including the national Collectors of Wood Art and the annual meeting of the Association of American Wood Turners is planned during the run of the Jane and Arthur Mason Collection. The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) will hold its 35th Annual Conference in Charlotte (March 2001) in association with the presentation of the Allan Chasanoff Ceramic Collection exhibition.
One of the most exciting developments is how the vision for the craft museum to become a clearinghouse for information about the history of the craft field is beginning to take shape. A technology grant has been awarded to provide the museum with the tools to build a multifaceted repository of digital video and photography, artist oral histories, letters and other ephemera for on-line research and as support material for future exhibitions. The first evidence of these objectives will take tangible form in the web site that supports the museum’s forthcoming exhibition Turning Wood into Art: The Arthur and Jane Mason Collection, opening to the public May 20, 2000.
Mark Richard Leach, Director
Mint Museum of Craft + Design
In the past two years, CWA has had a major impact on the wood studio movement. We have received more publicity through our collectors than ever before. A good example of this impact is the April, 2000 issue of Art & Antiques Magazine with Ron and Anita Wornick's home on the cover. The issue focused on wood in general with a nice article on the Wornicks, a piece on a contemporary furniture maker named John Hein, from Hopewell, NJ, as well as articles on Shaker furniture and period wood furniture.
Another example is the Spring, 2000 issue of American Style which showed the dining room of Fleur and Charlie Bresler on the cover. The Breslers have donated over 60 pieces from their wood collection to the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. The article on the Breslers shows their love of wood and their passion for collecting. This is effective and important exposure that enthusiastic wood collectors have created. It points to a movement in its prime that is becoming more visible to the art-seeking public.
As my tenure as the first president of CWA winds down, I am amazed as I look back to where we started with this organization and I am excited about the possibilities that are ahead of us as we make our mark on the contemporary crafts world. It has been a great privilege to be part of such a passionate group who are so focused on their love of the material and their fondness for the makers. I would like to thank all of the board members who have supported the vision we share for CWA and encourage them to continue their obsession with collecting wood. Many of them have gone way beyond what I had hoped they would do to contribute to this effort. Ron and Anita Wornick gave an incredible party for us in San Francisco at their own expense and never backed down from their formidable approach to putting CWA on the map. When their collection was shown at the American Craft Museum, it was held over for several weeks because of the overwhelming response in attendance. That was a milestone. Thank you, Ron and Anita.
The Forum at SOFA last year was another major effort involving several members. I want to thank Doris Wolin for dealing with the catering issues. John Horn, Arthur Mason, Michael Monroe, as well as others, helped set up and take down the Collectors' Choice exhibition. Mark Lyman offered us space to show the exhibit. Michelle and David Holzapfel came through with a great presentation on their work. John Brunetti, Mark Leach, Jo Lauria, Bonita Fike and Glenn Adamson gave truly professional lectures on the progress of the wood studio movement. Thanks to you all.
Thanks to Jane and Arthur Mason who have been major supporters to CWA and to me, and have helped me through the administrative twists and turns of being president. They have assisted in the bylaws, the technical details, and have backed me up in all the decisions that needed to be made. In addition, they have given an impressive collection of one hundred twenty-six wood objects to the Mint Museum to further the cause. Luckily, we will be able to view it in Charlotte in May. They are also hosting the Forum in Charlotte.
Thanks to Jamie Studley and Gary Smith who organized their own wood exhibition "The Warmth of Wood" during Jamie's inauguration at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. This was Skidmore's first introduction to wood objects and one more instance of conveying to viewers the tremendous wood art that is being made.
I would also like to thank Jan Peters without whose help I would never have gotten the newsletters out. We need more members to offer to write articles for the newsletter. Jan and I like the editing process, though, so watch out.
At this time, we have over $7,000 that has been designated to the Education Fund with another $8,000 promised. We need to reach the $30,000 level. I think it is critical that we have funds set aside that are specifically for furthering educational components during the Forums and at other art events. Museum curators and art critics are a integral part of the direction CWA wants to move toward. I would encourage anyone; collector, curator, or artist, who is serious about being part of the wood studio movement that is breaking new ground in the art world, to contribute to the education fund. Your donations will make a profound difference in our education programs, and will have the most effect on our progress in the wood field.
Robyn Horn
SOFA/NYC will be held June 1 - 4 at the 7th Regiment Armory, Park Ave & 67th St., New York City.
The Following Galleries will be presenting work in wood:
Please be sure to visit their booths.
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