November 8, 2007 - April 27, 2008
Pricked: Extreme Embroidery is the Museum of Arts & Design’s latest exploration into how centuries-old handcraft traditions are rejuvenated in the mainstream of contemporary art and design. The artists are both men and women from countries as diverse as Transylvania, Egypt, Wales, Mexico and the Netherlands, as well as the U.S. Chosen to showcase the diversity of approaches to this standard needleworking technique, the works in Pricked: Extreme Embroidery also convey powerful and personal content that ranges from subjective dreams and diaries to controversial politics in today’s world.
To view an overview of Pricked with chief curator David McFadden originally aired on Thirteen / WNET's Sunday Arts click here.
To listen to an NPR interview with Pricked artist Andrea Deszo, click here.
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Nava Lubelski, Side Dish, 2004
Hand-embroidered thread on ink stained cotton canvas
12 x 12 in.
Photo: Nava Lubelski
November 8, 2007 - April 27, 2008
To celebrate our half-century birthday and our new and spectacular home at Two Columbus Circle (Fall 2008), the Museum of Arts & Design is assembling a unique “destination” collection of celebratory goblets and chalices in all mediums—glass, metal, clay, fiber, wood, mixed media. The goblet collection is given a “sneak preview” this fall at our present home on 53rd Street in a special exhibition:
Cheers! A MAD Collection of Goblets. The exhibition features an engaging and diverse selection of vessels made by over 150 artists from around the world. Exceptional works by such renowned artists as Lucio Bubacco, Lino Tagliapietra, Dale Chihuly, and Ginny Ruffner are included, as well as cutting-edge works by emerging artists.
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Lucio Bubacco, Three Graces, 2000
Flameworked glass
24 1/2 x 14 3/4 x 16 in.
Museum purchase with funds provided by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, 2001
June 28, 2007 - October 28, 2007
Inspired by China: Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions brings together 27 masterpieces of historic Chinese furniture with 27 pieces of contemporary studio furniture created specifically for the exhibition. The 22 contemporary artists represented come from the United States, Canada, Japan, and China.
This exhibition demonstrates the interchange of ideas and inspiration across time and geographic boundaries. At the same time, it reflects increasing opportunities for cross-cultural exchange among contemporary artists in North America and China, as China emerges into the global art community.
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(L) Incense Stand, 17th century
Cloisonné
33 1/4 x 26 1/2 x 19 in.
(R) Gord Peteran, Inception Stand, 2006
Electrical wire
31 x 24 x 24 in.
June 28, 2007 - October 28, 2007
Have a Seat! The Beylerian Collection of Small Chairs shows the amazing variety of creative expression found in this diminutive furniture form. The exhibition features over 350 miniature chairs collected from around the world, ranging from the functional--used by manufacturers for promotion--to the fantastical--created by artists unfettered by the need for actual use. The chairs, ranging in size from 1/2 inch to 12 inches high, demonstrate both technical virtuosity and artistic creativity.
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Club Chair, 1940s
Wood, paint
3 x 2 x 3 1/4 in.
Photo: Richard Lombard, Material ConneXion Inc.
January 25, 2007 - June 17, 2007
A provocative and timely exhibition of work by international artists using fiber in unexpected and unorthodox ways,
Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting illuminates a field of creative practice that is fresh, surprising, and engaging. Featuring 30 artists from seven countries, this exhibition will exhibit work that ranges from microknit garments (1:144 scale) to large-scale, site-specific installations. Artists employ a variety of media, from traditional yarns and laces, to found objects and video, and explore contemporary currents in art practice of socially engaged, participatory work.
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Freddie Robins, Craft Kills (detail), 2002
Machine-knitted wool, knitting needles
full installation: 8 ½ ft. x 27 in. x 15 in.
Photo: Douglas Atfield
January 25, 2007 - June 17, 2007
The 100 objects showcased in the exhibition
Contemporary Netsuke: Masterful Miniatures will be a revelation both to viewers familiar with traditional netsuke as well as to those making their initial foray into this world of miniature carvings. Beginning in the seventeenth century, the Japanese used intricately carved netsuke as anchors to small purses suspended on cords from the obi (sash) of traditional kimonos. Gradually, netsuke transitioned from fashion items to prized miniature sculptures. Today these tiny treasures feature innovative and unexpected materials, unusual virtuoso techniques, and surprising subjects.
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KIHO Takagi, Puzzled Frog, 1997
Boxwood
Height 1 5/8 in.
Kinsey Collection
September 21, 2006 - January 14, 2007
Droog Design, a design collective set up in 1993 by Gijs Bakker and Renny Ramakers, incorporates the work of an international cadre of contemporary designers working with low-cost industrial or recycled materials. In Dutch, droog means “dry” (as in "dry wit"), and unadorned or simple. The Droog Design collection is now a broad assembly of international designs that are plain and practical, including more than 150 diverse objects whose only criteria is that they must be informed by cultural developments and by the designer’s intuition.
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Tejo Remy, Chest of Drawers, 1991
Used drawers, maple
47 1/4 x 43 1/3 x 23 3/4 in.
May 18, 2006 - September 10, 2006
Nature Transformed features a selection of over 75 innovative works of turned and carved wood collected by Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen, many of which have been donated to the University of Michigan Museum of Art and the Museum of Arts & Design. For the last two decades, the Bohlens have sought out exceptional examples of contemporary wood art from around the world, ranging from exquisite turned vessels to sculptural objects that transcend traditional divisions between art and craft.
Nature Transformed includes pieces by some of the most important wood artists working today, including David Ellsworth, Stuart Mortimer, Mark Lindquist, and Frank Sudol.
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John Morris, Head, 1998
Hardwoods, metal
H 32 1/2 x W 23 x D 16 in.
Collection of Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen
Photo: Dirk Bakker
May 18, 2006 - September 10, 2006
This internationally renowned, juried exhibition of contemporary jewelry is the oldest and most visited exhibition of its kind. Inaugurated in Munich in 1959, Schmuck (German for "jewelry") has been held there every year. Over the decades, Schmuck has enjoyed growing attendance as well as increasingly important attention from the international press. In 2006, the exhibition includes works by 60 established and emerging artists from more than 20 countries. The pieces are created by leading international jewelry artists known for their innovative approaches to materials and techniques.
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Annamaria Zanella, Brooch: Blue cell, 2003
Paper maché, gypsum, silver, gold, acrylic
May 18, 2006 - September 3, 2006
The culmination of Charles and Ray Eames’s experimentation in molded plywood, the 1955 Eames Lounge Chair represents the epitome of both modernist style and luxurious comfort. Organized by the Grand Rapids Art Museum, this exhibition examines multiple aspects of this classic chair including its technical design, production, promotion, social history, its impact on subsequent furniture (by both the Eameses and others), and its continued presence 50 years later.
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Charles and Ray Eames, Lounge Chair and Ottoman, 1956
Manufactured by Herman Miller Furniture Company,
Zeeland, Michigan, 1956 to present
February 2, 2006 - May 7, 2006
Sustainable design, which balances environmental, social, economic and aesthetic concerns, has the potential to transform everyday life and is already reshaping the fields of architecture and product design. Beyond Green explores how this design philosophy resonates with an emerging generation of international artists
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Allora & Calzadilla, Under Discussion (detail), 2004-05
Single channel video projection with sound
February 2, 2006 - May 7, 2006
Why is this object important? This exhibition features 25 exceptional pieces recently acquired by the Museum of Arts & Design, most on display for the first time. The works are in a variety of media, ranging from an exquisitely crafted gold necklace by German master jeweler Hermann Junger to
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Harvey Fein, MAD, 2004
Lathe-turned jarrah burl
Museum purchase with funds provided by Ann Kaplan and Robert Fippinger, 2005
September 22, 2005 - January 22, 2006
Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2--Contemporary Native North American Art from the West, Northwest & Pacific is the second in a series of groundbreaking exhibitions that explores work by a selected group of Native artists who are challenging preconceived notions of art and culture
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Marcus Amerman, Postcard, 2002
Glass seed beads, antique glass beads, nylon thread, rubberized cotton 11 x 17 in. Private Collection
May 26, 2005 - September 11, 2005
Over the course of nearly four decades, Jerome and Simona Chazen have assembled an art collection that ranges from landmark modernist painters to sculptors in bronze, glass and clay
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Left:
Michael Lucero, Seated Man with Heart on Face/Ohr Hair (Pre-Columbus), 1991
Hand-built earthenware with glazes
19 x 10 x 10 in.
Right:
Sergei Isupov, To Keep in Touch, 2000
Porcelain
18 x 16 1/2 x 10 in.
Background:
Frank Stella, Double Scramble, 1978
Liquitex on canvas
69 1/4 x 1381/4 in.
©2004 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
April 1, 2005 - May 15, 2005
Beads have been fashioned into decorative and symbolic patterns since the dawn of human civilization. They can be made of materials that range from stone and shell to glass and synthetics. Over the course of the past quarter century, beads
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Sig Wynne-Evans, Racehorse & Jockey, 2005
April 13, 2005 - May 15, 2005
This selection from the permanent collection presents fiber art inspired by the kimono form. Some works are wearable, others use the form of this loosely structured garment as a canvas on which to explore various fiber techniques. Ana Lisa Hedstrom has used resist-dyes to create a pattern
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Yvonne Porcella, Snow on Mount Fuji, 1985
Silk foundation, cotton, silk, polyester batting; pieced, quilted
128 1/4 x 81 1/2 x 6 in.
Gift of Martha and Pat Connell, 1991
April 13, 2005 - May 15, 2005
Fringes are most often considered purely decorative embellishments relegated to the edges of objects. However, artists working in fiber have recognized the extraordinary potential of fringe as a sculptural element that defines space
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Diane Itter, Southern Borders, 1982
Linen
15 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.
Gift of Nancy and Richard Bloch, 1991
January 13, 2005 - April 3, 2005
The Museum of Arts & Design is honored to present
Ruth Duckworth, Modernist Sculptor, the first comprehensive retrospective of this important artist, known for her works in ceramic, bronze, and stone. This exhibition will feature approximately 80 works, including freestanding sculpture
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Ruck Duckworth in her Chicago studio, among a grouping of her figurative forms in their bisque state
Photo: James Prinz
January 13, 2005 - March 27, 2005
This selection of important works in ceramics highlights the achievements of international masters, both established and emerging, that have entered the Museum of Arts & Design's distinguished collection since the Millennium. The exhibition presents works by 26 artists from Canada, China, Japan.
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Marilyn Levine, Anne's Jacket, 1990
Ceramic, wood, metal
36 x 20 1/2 x 7 1/4 in.
Museum purchase with funds donated by Judith and Robert Cornfeld, Daphne Farago, Jane Korman and an Anonymous Foundation, 2005
September 9, 2004 - January 2, 2005
This exhibition, the 18th juried biennial organized by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, will feature the work of 48 artists, showcasing the trends and innovations of all facets of the fiber medium. The biennial documents the energy, vitality, and innovation of artists using the medium
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Ku Jahong, Space, 2002
Silk yarn, pins; coiling
Installation
September 9, 2004 - January 2, 2005
The exhibition showcases more than 60 important works of art jewelry in precious and non-precious materials. Treasures chronicles the remarkable shift of emphasis heralded by a new generation of artists when they rebelled against the traditional view of jewelry as an opulent symbol of wealth
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Daniel Jocz, Blue Circle (Protos Series),
1992 Nickel, polymer clay, pigment; constructed, cast 2 x 1 x 1/4 in.
Gift of the Mobilia Gallery of Cambridge, Massachusetts and Helen Bock, 1995
September 9, 2004 - January 2, 2005
This retrospective exhibition traces the career of “America’s Court Jeweler” known for his unique ability to juxtapose materials, objects and bold color combinations as a statement on the changing roles of women in American society. Exemplary of a production studio of the Arts & Crafts Movement, Schepps served as designer.
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Seaman Schepps, Swan Brooch, 1940
Natural pearl, diamond, emerald, white gold
Photo: David Behl
May 28, 2004 - August 29, 2004
The exhibition
Jack Lenor Larsen: Creator and Collector offers intimate glimpses into the career and collections of the renowned weaver, designer, author, gardener and collector. Featured are 50 of Larsen's most admired designs for fabrics, drawn from the historic archives of Larsen's firm and from corporate and museum
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Jack Lenor Larson in his studio
May 28, 2004 - August 29, 2004
This retrospective highlights the extraordinary work of the undisputed master of floral glass sculpture. For the first time, visitors have the opportunity to see the full range of Paul Stankard's artistic mastery, from his early experiments with floral forms to his intricately detailed glass sculptures.
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Paul Stankard, Goat's Beard Daisy Paperweight on Cobalt Blue Background, 1989
Glass
2 1/4 x 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.
Collection of Annie and Mike Belkin
November 14, 2003 - May 16, 2004
The Museum of Arts & Design joined with two German museums, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts) in Frankfurt and the Klingspor-Museum in Offenbach, to present
Corporal Identity - Body Language. The exhibition, presented in the United States and Germany, intriguingly probes contemporary attitudes toward the human body and the relationship between body and self.
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James Croak, Dirt Baby, 2000
Cast dirt
18 x 14 x 18 in.
June 19, 2003 - November 2, 2003
USDesign 1975-2000, a major exhibition offering a critical and comprehensive analysis of American design during the last quarter of the twentieth century, opens at the Museum of Arts & Design on June 19, 2003. Featuring more than 250 designs and objects
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Michael Graves, Lounge Chair, 1980-1981
Ebonized wood, bird's-eye maple, and new leather upholstery
29 1/2 x 30 1/2 x 28 in.
Dining Table, 1989
Bird's-eye maple with ebony and mother-of-pearl inlay
32 x 44 in.
Collection of Denver Art Museum
January 17, 2003 - June 8, 2003
Stanislav Libenský and his wife and collaborator, Jaroslava Brychtová, revolutionized the field of modern Czech glass art over a period spanning four decades. Libenský led the movement that elevated glass as a medium for decorative objects into a serious art form for sculpture and architecture.
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Blanka Adensamova, Wings, 1984-2000
May 2, 2003 - June 8, 2003
The Museum of Arts & Design is pleased to present the winners of the Dixie Art of the Plate Design Competition. Dixie made an open call to designers, illustrators and professional and student artists to rethink the humble paper plate and make it extraordinary.
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January 17, 2003 - April 22, 2003
The noted American glass artist William Morris will install a major work of approximately 70 cinerary urns, ceremonial vessels used to contain ashes. Morris created the urns in response to personal losses in his life as well as the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
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William Morris, 2002
Blown glass with fiber closure
September 11, 2002 - January 5, 2003
On September 11, the first anniversary of last year's terrorist attacks, the Museum of Arts & Design will open the exhibition 9-11: Artists Respond, a collection of commemorative works by more than 60 artists from 26 states. The pieces, each six by six inches, express individual perspectives on that tragic day.
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Judith Kaufman, Nine-One-One, 2001
Slate, metal, paint, rhinestones, adhesive
6 x 6 in.
Gift of Crafts America, 2002
October 1, 2002 - January 5, 2003
The Museum of Arts & Design inaugurates the national and international tour of the first significant exhibition of Danish ceramics since 1982 with
From the Kilns of Denmark: Contemporary Danish Ceramics. The exhibition includes ninety-seven pieces by 30 of Denmark's most distinguished living ceramists from the second half of the twentieth century.
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Nina Hole, Boat, 2001
Earthenware, hand-built
15 x 23 2/3 x 5 1/2 in.
October 1, 2002 - January 5, 2003
Arline Fisch, a recognized leader in American contemporary jewelry design, has been an innovator and pioneer for more than 40 years.
Elegant Fantasy: The Jewelry of Arline Fisch is the first exhibition to explore the full range of artistic imagery and innovative techniques throughout the artist's career.
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Arline Fisch, Inspired by Heroes: The Moche of Sipán, 1995
Fine and sterling silver, copper and gold leaf
1 x 40 in.
May 9, 2002 - September 20, 2002
This groundbreaking three-part series of exhibitions places contemporary Native American work in a broad context within current art and culture.
Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation, the first in the series, examines Native American arts in the Southwest. Works by 100 emerging and established artists are shown, including cutting-edge work in clay, glass, fiber, jewelry, metal and wood.
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Eleanor Yazzie, Grand Canyon Weaving, 2001
Wool, aniline dyes
64 1/2 x 53 1/8 in. C
ollection Museum of Arts & Design; purchase with funds provided by the Acquisitions Committee, 2001
May 31, 2002 - September 22, 2002
Zero Karat: The Donna Schneier Gift to the Museum of Arts & Design features 80 works in non-precious and alternative materials, including some milestones in the development of post-war jewelry.
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Wendy Ramshaw, Set of Six Ring Stands and Rings, 1981
Nickel alloy, 18K yellow and white gold
May 31, 2002 - September 22, 2002
Zero Karat: The Donna Schneier Gift to the Museum of Arts & Design features 80 works in non-precious and alternative materials, including some milestones in the development of post-war jewelry.
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Charlotte Yde, Personalities-Feeling Blue, 2001
Indian super cotton, hand dyed cotton, metallic/silk organza, cotton batting and backing; machine pieced, reverse appliqué, machine quilted
September 13, 2001 - April 28, 2002
Objects for Use: Handmade by Design celebrates two hundred American artists who create unique handmade objects that combine function with beauty. The more than 400 objects include not only the expected--glass, baskets, quilts, chairs, cabinets and beds--but also the unexpected--trumpets, a split-cane fishing rod, harps, dogsleds, kites, teapots, kayaks, pianos, violins, knives, brooms, a saddle and a pair of snowshoes.
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Boris Bally, "Trussware" place setting with serving spoon
Silver; fabricated, pressed, riveted
Dimensions variable
Collection Brooklyn Museum
September 13, 2001 - March 3, 2002
Mikromegas, which translates roughly to "small works, large ideas," is a fitting title for an exhibition of collected works that are grand in beauty and originality but small in physical size. The exhibition was organized by Otto Künzli, a renowned jewelry artist and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany.
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Selections from the exhibition
Bayerischer Kunstgewerbe-Verein, Munich
Photo: Eva Junger
May 18, 2001 - September 2, 2001
For more than 20 years, the Tokyo architect Masahiro Chatani, employing origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper-folding, and adding cut-paper and pop-up paper engineering concepts, has been creating works of "origamic architecture." With
Orgamic Architecture, More than 100 works by Chatani, his colleagues Keiko Nakazawa and Takaaki Kihara, and other artists from around the world are featured for the first time in a major American exhibition.
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Takaaki Kihara, Sydney Opera House
May 18, 2001 - September 2, 2001
The work of fifteen distinguished jewelry artists - including architects and sculptors from the United States and Europe--are featured in a stunning exhibition. The 75 pieces to be displayed represent several decades of work by artists working independently in different countries, but sharing the challenge of balancing form, material, texture and light through geometric relationships.
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Manfred Nisslmüller, Doppelring, 1997
May 10, 2001 - September 2, 2001
As a young architect, Frank Lloyd Wright bemoaned the fact that he had to "cut holes" in his "beautiful buildings." Soon afterwards, America's greatest architect had melded the window, that seemingly most prosaic of everyday forms, with a centuries-old art form, leaded glass - creating modernist masterpieces that were integral to his houses and public structures.
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March 22, 2001 - April 29, 2001
The Crafted Classroom: Five Years of Partnership examines and celebrates the results of a unique partnership between the Museum of Arts & Design and Central Park East 1 (CPE1), a New York City alternative school in Harlem. Funded by a five-year grant from the New York City Annenberg Challenge for Arts Education, the program has benefited more than 1,000 children.
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Artwork of k-5th grades at CPE 1
January 18, 2001 - April 29, 2001
The Museum of Arts & Design presents the first retrospective of one of America's foremost studio furniture makers. Garry Knox Bennett has played a major role in the development of studio furniture in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the nation for more than 25 years.
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Garry Knox Bennett, Redneck Son of a Bow Wow, Cluck, Cluck Bench, 1984
Fir, cherry wood, paint
Private Collection
Photo: M. Lee Fatherree
January 18, 2001 - March 16, 2001
The works presented in Confrontational Clay are a radical departure from the traditional history of ceramics, in which objects tended to reflect, rather than subvert, cultural norms. One only has to picture a gilded Sevres teapot to see how ceramic art of the past tended to support established social and political structures - and those who dictated them. Form and function were king; satire and social commentary
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Joseph Seigenthaler, Man with Switch, 1996
November 20, 2000 - January 7, 2001
This landmark exhibition will present a comprehensive overview of the finest examples of Venetian glass produced in Italy throughout the 20th century. The exhibition is drawn from the outstanding collection of two private collectors, Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu. Venetian Glass will focus on the legendary Muranese art glass factories
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Vittorio Zecchin, Trasparente, 1921-25
Cappellin Venini & Co. Vetri Soffiati Muranesi
November 21, 2000 - January 7, 2001
American fascination with age-old Italian glassblowing will be the central theme of this exhibition that will focus on the relationship of Italian and American glass artists in the last 50 years, and the influence of that experience on contemporary American Studio Glass. This unusual gathering of works will look at the American artists who were attracted to Venice after World War II
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Douglas Navarra, V-shaped Vase, 1980
Blown glass
13 1/2 x 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 in.
May 31, 2000 - September 3, 2000
Futuristic and fancifully organic, Peter Chang's brilliantly colored bracelets, brooches and objects are meticulously crafted and detailed in acrylic and polyester plastics with inlays of precious metals and found materials.
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Peter Chang, Bracelet, 1991
Acrylic, polyester, PVC
Private Collection, Courtesy of Helen Drutt, Philadelphia
May 31, 2000 - September 3, 2000
Resolutions: A Stitch in Time is a project for the millennium, in which Chicago and a group of highly accomplished needleworkers have created a series of images incorporating a variety of needlework techniques from embroidery to beading to petit-point. The images reinterpret traditional adages and proverbs, focusing on such age-old values as family, responsibility, tolerance
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Judy Chicago (needlework by Mary Ewanoski, assisted by Jacqueline Moore), We're All in the Same Boat, 1998
Sprayed acrylic and oil paint, applique, embroidery and smocking
23 x 29 in.
Collection of the artist
Photo: Donald Woodman
May 31, 2000 - September 3, 2000
Garden of the Heart is a major installation work created by American sculptor and furniture maker Tommy Simpson, presenting a unique version of an ancient Persian or Mughal garden. The 30' x 40' garden contains fifty pieces including an eleven-foot tall gazebo with cushions for lounging, six benches, eight wooden trees, two fountains, numerous large plant containers, twenty-five carved flower forms, and 140 feet of fencing with gates.
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Tommy Simpson, Sylphide and the Fleurette, 1998-99
May 31, 2000 - September 3, 2000
Breathing Glass is a dramatic installation by artist/photographer Sandy Skoglund. Consisting of thousands of miniature and mechanized glass dragonflies cascading vertically down through the museum's atrium space, Breathing Glass is Skoglund's most engaging and whimsical "theme park" installation to date. The project represents the first time that Skoglund, well known for her elaborate set-ups for photographs, is working with glass.
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