Top: Peter Voulkos and
Toshiko Takaczu dining
with Webb at her New
York penthouse.
Bottom: Webb unpack-
ing objects for the 1956
“Craftsmanship in a
Changing World”
show, the first exhibi-
tion at the Museum of
Contemporary Crafts.
Right: Webb unwind-
ing at home at her
potter’s wheel.
York penthouse she had a stu-
dio equipped to create ceram -
ics. She also w rote poetry and
did other hands-on activities
- w oodcarving, painting.
O bviously she w as passionate
about craft, but w ere there
things that troubled her?
O h, yes. In the 1960s, w hen
a lot o f avant-garde work w as
being developed - such as funk
ceram ics, in w hich social state-
m ents becam e im portant -
w e did an exhibition reporting
on those activities. And I
do recall M rs. W ebb being
extrem ely upset w ith som e o f
the w ork. Som e o f it had sexual
associations or kind o f radical
statem ents that she just found
repulsive. She was open; only
w hen work w ent over the
boundaries into som ething she
couldn’t understand did it upset
her. That w as more the issue,
rather than the work itself.
But what w as amazing
about her w as she never insist-
ed I take work out o f an exhibi-
tion. Even if she really didn’t
like it and really w as upset, and
it w as her m oney and support
that w ere m aking the exhibi-
tion possible.
W hat w as the nature o f
her patronage?
She was truly a patron. But
w ith all her generous financial
donations, she w as also very
m odest. And w hile she received
many honors and awards over
the years, she really frow ned
upon her name being credited
for patronage in any public way.
W hat do you make o f the field
today, and w hat w ould M rs.
W ebb say?
T he instinct to make things by
hand is as old as civilization.
And one has to be open, as Mrs.
W ebb was open, to the new.
I still respect the word
craft\
I think it has meaning. It has
been challenged increasingly,
and there’s a lot o f m erging and
blending and whatever. But I
think, for exam ple, that the
D IY m ovem ent is no different
from the hobby craft or ama-
teur activity in the ’60s. It’s
just under a new name and very
much connected to technology
and the Internet.
On a professional level,
there’s a lot o f exciting new
work always em erging, and
the shift in how it is val-
ued is remarkable. In the
past, m ost craftspeople had
to teach to earn a living. T hey
could sell work for very little
at craft fairs or through their
ow n studios. In contrast, a
V oulkos recently sold at auc-
tion for more than $100,000,
and Chihuly commands m il-
lions for som e o f his w ork.
W endell Castle and som e oth-
ers have becom e very success-
ful artist-businesspeople.
So, all in all, today’s field
w ould probably be a bit sur-
prising to her. But I think she
w ould love it. She w ould relate
to it, and w ould be am azed to
go to a SO FA expo or see the
thousands o f ceramics enthusi-
asts attending an N C E C A con-
ference, or to observe what the
vast number o f craft organiza-
tions are doing today, both
nationally and internationally.
K now ing M rs. W ebb, she
w ould be thinking o f some
w ay to expand w hat is already
taking place.
+
F o r a lon g er version o f th is
in te rv iew
,
v is it o u r w ebsite a t
arnericancraflm ag. org. J o y c e
L o v ela ce is
Am erican C raft
;
's
co n trib u tin g editor.
0 4 8 a m e r i c a n c r a f t
a u g / s c p n
