Vol. 17 No. 2
Fall / Winter 2022 - 2023
A narrative can be understood as a series of events connected through causal relationships. Here, we follow the stories that craft — its materials, processes, makers and objects — communicate, drawing attention to the events that are formed around moments of disruption.
Constructing narratives through craft can be undertaken as a deliberate and subversive act, one that challenges hierarchies and traditions to alter the status quo. The craft makers and thinkers featured in this issue attest to craft’s potential for disruption.
Craft can confront colonial pasts, as Shaya Ishaq writes about the work of P.J. Anderson. Craft can demonstrate different kinships — with the land as Maureen Gruben’s thoughtful interventions show, and with queer desire as matt lambert writes. Craft can subvert our perceptions of materials — and Jill Allan writes about Carissa Baktay’s unexpected recontextualization of familiar materials in ways that can be both enlightening and discomfiting.
In this issue, writer Erica Cardwell interviews writer, publisher and artist Anthea Black on their approaches to craft and its demarcations. Mary-Beth Laviolette reviews the exhibition New Boundaries, a ceramics exhibition in the United Kingdom featuring works by Walter Ostrom, Greg Payce and Linda Sormin; the show was curated with an eye to contextualizing the global contributions made by Canadian ceramicists. And Ray Cronin draws our attention to contemporary reimaginings of traditional quillwork through the craftwork of the Quill Sisters.
Historian Michael Prokopow explores the history of collecting, along with its relationship to personal narratives and identity construction. He delves into the pleasure of acquisition and how, to those who appreciate its value, a collection is more than the sum of its parts: it is personal and collective history, a communication of desire, proof of a life spent pursuing a worthy goal.
As I’ve been spending more time among makers and their handcrafted objects, I’m aware of how my own attitudes toward objects, materials and stories are shifting. I think about temporality in ways new to me — I now consider how long it takes for a material to form, the length of the chemical and physical reactions, how long it remains with its maker and its owner. I form new relationships with the objects I own, and while I am conscientious of environmental impact, I now ask: What does my acquisition of this object convey about me?
And in turn: What can we learn about another person through the objects they create, possess, gather and collect? I invite you, dear reader, to join me in these contemplations throughout the pages of Studio, and into our own object-filled lives.
Nehal El-Hadi Editor-In-Chief
CONTENTS:
Editor’s Note
FOCAL POINT PJ Anderson Shaya Ishaq writes about the ceramicist’s explorations of Black futures. read article
PORCUPINES & BARK
Ray Cronin visits the work of the Quill Sisters as they re-imagine a traditional craft.
THESE FRAGILE TOPOGRAPHIES
A visual presentation of Maureen Gruben’s environment-focused art.
A DISTINCTLY CANADIAN ETHOS
Canadian ceramic artists hold a special regard in the British exhibition No Boundaries, writes Mary-Beth Laviolette.
PROVOCATIONS CRAFT BEYOND THE BINARIES
matt lambert asks how curatorial strategies can be used to disrupt traditional approaches to craft. read article
A CURIOUS DISCOMFORT
Jill Allan writes about the domestic and erotic in Carissa Baktay’s glass sculptures.
A DETERMINED PLEASURE
Historian Michael Prokopow delves into our attachments to the objects we collect. read article
EXPANDING DEFINITIONS
Writer Erica Cardwell interviews professor and artist Anthea Black. read article
PICA AND RECLAIM
Poetry by ceramicist Andrea Charise.
PORTFOLIO Corrine Hunt [Ts’akis (Alert Bay)], B.C., Hanna Yokozawa-Farquharson (Saltcoats, Sask.), Lucus MacDonald (Belfast, P.E.I.)
INQUIRIES CÉCILE BRANCO
The co-founder Fabrique 1840 describes how she relishes problem-solving and enjoys promoting the crafts. read article
