People & Places
C h a n g e s
H o n o r s ,
F a r e w e l l s
Noteworthy
The Philadelphia Art Alliance
is changing its exhibition focus
to craft beginning with the exhi-
bition ‘“ Dear High Art’: Con-
temporary Craft in Dialogue,”
a show featuring artists “whose
work challenges a basic premise
of traditional aesthetics.”
(philartalliance.org).
.. Also in
September, New York’s Green-
wich House Pottery' kicks off
its tooth season, with special
events, (greenwichhouse.org/
programs/art/pottery).
Chandelier Dress
by' Susan
Taylor Glasgow was a high-
light, so to speak, of the “Glass
Fashion Show” held at the clos-
ing-night bash of the Glass Art
Society'’s June conference in
Corning,
N Y ,
a semi-tradition
of
G A S
gatherings.
..
Fluent
Steps,
an outdoor glass sculpture
by Martin Blank, has been in-
stalled at the Museum of Glass,
Tacoma, which commissioned
the piece for its main plaza
reflecting pool. The 207- foot-
long work consists of 754
individually hand-sculpted
pieces.
.. In memory' of Anne
d’Harnoncourt, the late, long-
time director of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, its Women’s
Committee commissioned the
jewelry design duo ford/forla-
no-aka Steve Ford and David
Forlano-to create a piece for
the collection. Their large re-
versible necklace in silver and
poly'mer clay—one side “subtle,
classical, restrained, the other
exuberant and colorful”© —was
recently exhibited with other
highlights from the holdings.
Scott Jacobson has moved his
newly named Scott Jacobson
Gallery' (formerly Leo Kaplan
Modern), specializing in con-
temporary' glass and furniture,
to new quarters at 114 East 57th
Street, where he shares space
with the antiques-oriented Leo
Kaplan Ltd., operated by' his
wife, Susie Kaplan Jacobson.
Mattiebelle Gittinger, a
prominent scholar in the field
of Southeast Asian textiles, is
the 2009 recipient of the presti-
gious George Hewitt Myers
Award from the Textile Mu-
seum in Washington,
D C .
..
The Ohio Designer Craftsmen
Outstanding Achievement
Award went this year to metal-
smith Tom Muir, who made
Twin R iserG .
..
The Pilchuck
Glass School honored artist
Paul Marioni with its Libensky
Award at a dinner held on the
Stanwood,
w a ,
campus in May.
Two years into a major over-
haul of its American Wing©,
the Metropolitan Museum of
Art has reopened its Charles
Engelhard Court and American
period rooms, with reinterpret-
ed displays of furniture, sculp-
ture, stained glass, silver, pewter
and jewelry. The final phase
of renovations is scheduled for
completion in 2011.
.. Eike
Schmidt, formerly a curator at
the Getty Museum in Los Ange-
les, has joined the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts, where he is
head of decorative arts, textiles
and sculpture.
.. The new ex-
ecutive director/CEO of the
Bellevue Arts Museum,
W A ,
is Mark Crawford, who brings
to the position 25 years of lead-
ership experience with non-
and for-profit organizations.
Michael Monroe, the museum’s
director of curatorial affairs,
will retire next February as di-
rector emeritus.
Passings
Susan Peterson©, 83, a cera-
mist and educator whose re-
search, writing and advocacy
brought new stature and wider
appreciation to clay art died
March 26, at her home in Scotts-
dale,
a z .
An alumna of Mills
College and the New York State
College of Ceramics at Alfred
University, Peterson estab-
lished ceramics programs at
Chouinard, u se , the Idyll wild
School and Hunter College be-
fore retiring in 1994. She trav-
eled and lectured worldwide, >
©
MN / Minneapolis
© W alker Art Center
Dirt on Delight: Impulses That
Form Clay
to Nov. 29
walkerart.org
Eugene von Bruenchenhein,
who made
Sensor Pot,
and other
ceramists spanning four genera-
tions fire on all cylinders, tra-
versing delineations to collec-
tively create an array of objects
motivated by' impulse.
MO / Kansas City
Belger Arts Center
ElAnatsui
to Sept. 4
belgerartscenter.org
Anatsui’s intricate, opulent
and powerful “weavings” of
found objects, such as bottle
caps gathered in and around his
hometown of Nsukka, Nigeria,
are imaginative and resourceful.
NH / Concord
League of New Hampshire
Craftsmen Gallery
Lifetime Achievement Awards
Exhibition
to Aug. 12
nhcrafts.org
Featuring the work of two
creative partnerships that
helped shape the world of pot-
tery': Vivika and Otto Heino
and Mary and Edwin Scheier.
NM /Albuquerque
Mariposa Gallery
fulianne Harvey: Dire-rama
IVildlife on the Ledge
Sept. 4-30
mariposa-gallery.com
Classic pottery' forms with im-
agery of wildlife in peril distin-
guish Harvey’s vessels.
018 american craft aug/sep09
