C h r o n i c l e r
o f C r a f t
S T O R Y BY Kristen
Powell
S
he's been one of the voices for
American Craft
mogozine for nearly three decodes,
telling the stories of hundreds of makers. Joyce Love a c e usually asks the questions, but
this time w e got her to answer a few. She gives us a glimpse of her
2 8
years reporting
on the craft scene.
Tell u s a b o u t y o u r start w ith
American Craft.
I
w as a communications major at Simmons College in Boston, and after graduating in
1
9 8 2
, wanted to move to N e w York and get a glamorous m agazine job. I
sent out resumes
alphabetically - I'm pretty sure one went to
American Baby
and
American Dog
as well - and
got lucky!
" I
l e a r n e d
o n
t h e
j o b ,
t r i e d
t o
b e
h u m b l e
a b o u t w h a t
I
d i d n ' t
k n o w ,
a n d
r e m a i n
f o r e v e r g r a t e f u l
t o
L o i s
M o r a n .
L o i s w a s
e d i t o r
in
c h i e f
f o r
A m e r i c a n
C r a f t
f o r
2 6
y e a r s .
S h e
g a v e
m e
s o
m u c h
o p p o r t u n i t y
a n d
i n s p i r a t i o n . "
knew nothing then of the breadth and depth and richness of this field w e know as
contemporary craft. I
think that's been true of too many people, even
educated, sophisticated people w ho g o to museums and appreciate art.
Happily, the awareness grows every day. That's thanks to the work of so
many in the field. But pop culture is also catching up.
As the kid on the m agazine staff in the '
8 0
s, I
watched MTV and read
People
m agazine. To some extent, the craft field seemed to me to exist on
a separate, more serious, lofty plane. M e, I
always thought Andy Warhol
w as on to something. Today there's much more awareness of craft in the
mainstream.
W h o w a s y o u r m o s t in s p irin g in te rv ie w ?
Lenore Tawney, the fiber artist, comes to mind. I
interviewed her in the
mid-
9 0
s for an article on what craftspeople collect. I
went to her magical
N e w York loft, which w as full of her own work and that of friends such as
painter Agnes Martin, and just interesting objects from nature that she loved
- feathers, stones. She w as in her late
8 0
s then, small and soft-spoken,
with an ethereal but powerful, almost otherworldly vibe. You felt you were in the presence of
someone purely creative, just an artist to her core. I
w as in a w e and, I'm sure, tongue-tied.
D o y o u h a v e a c r a ft c o lle c tio n ?
Well, when I'm doing the writing, I
take a position of maintaining objectivity and writerly
integrity. But hey, sometimes you do fall in love.
The first contemporary craft object I
ever owned w as this gorgeous mug by John Click, w ho sent
it to me after w e had a cordial but fairly mundane conversation about a caption I
w as writing
to accom pany a photo of his work. I
couldn't believe a potter of his caliber would make such
a lovely, generous gesture to me, a lowly editorial assistant. I
w as living in a very modest East
Village walkup at the time, and I
think that Glick cup w as the most beautiful, special thing in it.
I
still treasure it - thank you, John Glick.
A r e y o u a c r a fte r y o u r s e lf?
I
drew a lot when I
w as a kid, and when I
w as about
1 0
, my parents som ehow arranged for
me to meet Norman Rockwell, w ho lived nearby. W e went to his studio, and he looked at my
drawings and w as very kind. I
knew he w as a famous artist, because I
had a jigsaw puzzle
of one of his
Saturday Evening Post
covers. But of course I
didn't grasp what an icon he w as.
Anyway, he signed my autograph book and wished me "a wonderfu
art career." I
never did go
on to make art, but I
did get that career.
W h a t d o y o u d o in y o u r fr e e tim e ?
M y favorite thing is to take long walks with my Labradoodle with satellite radio on my
headphones. I
watch w a y too many
Real Housewives
shows, but also enjoy the reality
competitions that show case the creative process, such as
Top Chef
and
Project Runvsay.
Again,
it's design and craftsmanship in the mainstream, across disciplines, enriching every aspect of
daily life.
