F R O M T H E S T A C K S
Tucked away on the
sixth floor of 72 Spring
Street in New York
City is the American
Craft Council library,
one of the largest collec-
tions in this country
of craft, art and design
books documenting
the studio craft move-
ment from the 1940s to
the present. The over
14,000 volumes include
the Council’s 67-year
publishing history—all
past issues of
Craft
Horizons
and American
Craft. We’d like to
share some of this amaz-
ingpastaswedig
through the stacks. If
you happen to be in
the city, come in and say
hello-the library is open
to the public.
uaft horizons
Fantasy
at Kohler
F an tasy
at K ohler
S T O R Y B Y
Christine Kaminsky
In August 1974 ceramists Jadk Earl and Tom LaDousa took
up residence at the Kohler Company, the Wisconsin bathroom
fixtures manufacturer, for the pilot Arts/Industry program
of the John Midiael Kohler Arts Center. The artists trans-
formed leather-hard finished plumbing ware Shapes into
Spirited ceramic sculptures that were exhibited at the center.
A transcript of a conversation between the artists about their
experience was featured in the December 1974
Craft Horizons.
Since its inception, hundreds of emerging
and established artists have benefited from
Kohler’s innovative Arts/Industry resi-
dencies, exploring new forms, concepts
and materials. The center itself drew upon
this network for its major expansion in
1999, encompassing an entire city block of
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, by commissioning
six former resident artists—Ann Agee,
Carter Kustera, Merrill Mason, Yolanda
McCay, Matt Nolen and Casey O’Connor
—to create public restrooms in the new
facility, stunningly epitomizing the achieve-
ments of the art and industry alliance. The
restrooms are so spectacular that the Trav-
el Channel ranked them third among ioo
in their program “World’s Best Bathrooms”
in 2002.
An additional women’s room was com-
missioned from ceramist Cynthia Consen-
tino in 2004, and, following a seven-month
residency at the Kohler Co., her vivid ex-
ample of how the humble bathroom can
become an expressive canvas was unveiled
in June 2005.
Uber bathrooms aside, through its
groundbreaking art/industry collabo-
ration and provocative exhibitions, the
Kohler Arts Center offers the unexpected
and demonstrates that art can enliven
and enrich facets of everyday life. As
for now-veteran ceramists Jack Earl and
Tom LaDousa, visitors to the center
can still, on occasion, view their works
in the permanent collection.*
To read the entire
Craft Horizons
article,
visit us at americancraftmag.org.
080 american craft apr/may09
