Left: Sam Maloofs
Double M usic Stand
and
M u sicia n ’s C hair,
1972,
of Brazilian rosewood,
were commissioned
by a noted violist. The
painting above is by
Karl Benjamin.
Left: The 400 cut-clay
objects in
Boolean Valley
are arranged in an undu-
lating landscape derived
from Boolean logic,
named for George
Boole, a 19th-century
mathematician.
T H E H U N T IN G T O N : C R A F T IN A M E R IC A N H I S T O R Y
A visit to the Huntington Library, A rt C ollections and Botanical
Gardens is an interdisciplinary experience on a grand scale. Set on
120 acres, the form er estate o f the railroad magnate Henry E. H un-
tington encompasses a scholarly research center, a world-class art
museum, and spectacular grounds. It’s an oasis o f beauty and cul-
ture, a rare expanse o f green in Los A ngeles.
“Y ou see objects from a different perspective, having walked
through the gardens,” observes Jessica T odd Smith, curator o f the
Huntington’s Am erican collections, which are showcased in the
n ew ly expanded and redesigned V irginia Steele Scott Galleries,
opened in M ay. Am erican art is a relatively young but grow ing
focus at the Huntington, an institution best know n for British and
French art o f the 18 th and 19th centuries, including such famous
w orks as
The Blue Boy
by Thom as Gainsborough and
Pinkie
by
Thom as Lawrence.
“ O ne o f the jo ys o f being curator o f a small collection is that
you have the great luxury to think in interdisciplinary w ays,” says
Sm ith, w ho, in planning the reinstallation o f the Scott Galleries,
did just that. On her team w ere Kevin M urphy, an assistant curator
at the H untington, and guest curator o f decorative arts Harold
Nelson, whose areas o f expertise include modern and contemporary'
craft. Together they arranged a selection o f 500 masterpieces into
thoughtful groupings o f painting, sculpture and decorative arts: a
Gilbert Stuart portrait o f George W ashington with porcelain wares
ow ned b y the first president; Frank L loyd W righ t’s iconic Husser
House dining table and chairs w ith A rts and C rafts pottery and a
Byrdcliffe cabinet; a 1990 silver tea sendee by M ichael Banner with
M O C A : C R A F T A N D T H E C O M P U T E R
Com puter technology' has brought about dramatic change in the
w ay objects and buildings are designed and assembled, opening up
a range o f forms and fabrication methods once unimaginable.
“ Some would say that this spells the end o f handcraft. W e don’t
agree,” say's Benjamin Ball o f the Los Angeles-based Ball-Nogues
Studio, w hich creates experim ental installations that engage and
transform spaces. “ In our case, digital information informs hand-
w ork. W e are not, how ever, using handwork in a nostalgic kind o f
w ay. H andwork is necessary to our processes and w e use it to aes-
thetic ends.”
Hand meets machine w ith transcendent results in the exhibition
series “ C raft and Com putation” at the Museum o f Contemporary'
A rt’s gallery at the Pacific D esign Center. It evolved out o f “ seeing
h ow a lot o f y'ounger architects and designers are w orking n ow ,”
explained B rooke H odge, the form er curator o f architecture and
design at
M O C A ,
w ho initiated the series this past spring (she w as
among 17 staff members laid o ff in May' by the museum, which cited
financial difficulties). “ T hey have access to very' sophisticated digital
technology' and equipment, but they'’re definitely very' interested in
craft. O ften they’re designing digitally, then w hen it comes to the
fabrication and assem bly, reverting to craft techniques to render
what they w ant to do on an architectural scale.” And far from losing
the individuality o f handwork to a machine, they’re using technol-
ogy' to realize once-impossible dreams.
Boolean Valley,
the debut show, came to
M O C A
M arch
22
through
July 5 from the M ontalvo A rts Center near San Jose, w here it was
