40 Under 40: craft futures

Washington, D.C.: Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum / Yale University Press, 2012. Hardcover. VG- (missing dj, otherwise fine.). Cream canvas with green numbers on front cover, 260 pp., many color & BW illus. Issued in conjunction with a 2012-2013 exhibition that "examines the expanding role of the handmade in contemporary culture through the work of the next generation of artists. Organized in celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, the Smithsonian's branch museum for American craft and decorative arts, this project gathers forty makers born since 1972, the year the Renwick opened to the public. Apparent are rapidly evolving notions of craft, ranging from traditional media, such as ceramics and jewelry, to fields as varied as sculpture, industrial design, performance and installation art, fashion design, sustainable manufacturing, and mathematics. The breadth of work signifies craft's evolution beyond the politics of past aesthetic movements toward a more holistic view of its prescriptive power. Ultimately what bind these artists are not specific materials or processes so much as a philosophy for living differently in the modern world." (inside front cover).