Opening: Associate Curator

Museum of Contemporary Craft (in partnership with Pacific Northwest College of Art) seeks an energetic and creative Associate Curator to originate and implement exhibitions and programs that rethink craft, design, curation as a practice, and the Museum of the 21st Century. A master’s degree in art, art history, design, or museum studies is preferred; 2-3 years of work in a museum environment is required. Must have strong interest in history of craft and/or design. For more information and to download the job description, please visit www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org/about/c/jobs.

— Posted on 05/31 at 02:00 PM

DK Row’s Summer Pick

Get ready design aficionados, DK Row of the Oregonian chose the upcoming exhibition “Design with the Other 90%: CITIES” as one of the top picks in visual arts.

He writes, “the first part of this exhibit, which debuted at New York’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, came to Mercy Corps’ Action Center in Portland a few years ago and explored how design could help some of the world’s poorest people. This second installment continues the impassioned discussion of how design can change the world. This time, the exhibit focuses on how design can help solve some of the problems occurring in rapidly growing urban areas.”

— Posted on 05/31 at 02:00 PM

Wiggers Appointed Director

The Museum of Contemporary Craft in partnership with Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is pleased to announce that Namita Gupta Wiggers has been appointed Director and Chief Curator of the Museum. Wiggers was hired as Curator in 2004 specifically to raise the national and international profile of this historic institution and to develop a vision for a new kind of museum focused on craft as the Museum moved to its central location on the North Park Blocks.

As a leader in the critical reconsideration of craft in America, Wiggers brings to the position a broad, long-term vision of Museum of Contemporary Craft as a museum of influence. “Namita is a very gifted curator with a world-class reputation. She is also a thought leader on craft and design and an effective administrator with the strategic thinking skills and day-to-day savvy to realize an ambitious vision for the Museum,” says Tom Manley, President, PNCA and CEO of Museum of Contemporary Craft. “Her appointment is effective July 1 and coincides with the arrival of PNCA’s new Academic Dean, Mark Takiguchi (coming from California College of the Arts). This brings the College a new opportunity to strengthen the ties between the Museum and PNCA curricula and thus enhances curatorial studies opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students.”

Read the press release for a full description of this exciting announcement.

— Posted on 05/31 at 01:58 PM

Oregon Arts Watch Review

Bob Hicks of Oregon Arts Watch reviewed the exhibition, writing that Feves was, “a practical woman who found doing and seeing infinitely preferable to naming and categorizing.”

In his long and generous review, Hicks begins by pointing out his first impressions of Garden Wall, and then moves to the gestalt of the exhibition. “Looking at two floors of exhibition space filled with Feves’ sophisticated-primitive forms, and listening to the way she talked about herself and her art, the picture shifts. You begin to see a woman unabashedly of the open spaces. A practical woman who found doing and seeing infinitely preferable to naming and categorizing. A woman as frank and energetic as the high plateau, with an eagerness for life. In spite of all the intellectualizing that seems inescapable in the art world, most artists are blue-collar workers in the sense that they work in a physical way with physical materials. In Feves’ case you get the sense that working with her hands was both a discipline and a sensual pleasure: down and dirty with the muck.”

— Posted on 05/29 at 10:35 AM

Namita Wiggers’ Podcast

Who was Betty Feves, and why did the Museum create an exhibition and publication focused on her work and life?

If you missed Museum Director and Chief Curator Namita Gupta Wigger’s riveting lecture about the ceramicist Betty Feves and the influence of Feves on the regional and national art scene, listen to the audio of the lecture. Wiggers shares behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the latest project in the Generations series, and helps unpack how Betty Feves is important to anyone interested in using local materials, mentoring in the community, arts education, and the role women play in shaping history in the Pacific Northwest.

Wiggers has been the curator of the Museum of Contemporary Craft since 2004 and was recently appointed Director and Chief Curator of the Museum. Her curatorial practice combines experience as a museum educator, graduate studies in contemporary art, theory, and post-colonialism, user-based design research for a product design company, and years as a studio art jeweler. She particularly relishes collaborations with anyone who wants to explore exhibitions as unique spatial, cultural and educational environments to investigate questions and ideas. She has written several books, essays and articles on contemporary craft. Whenever possible, she works to disrupt the silos of art, craft, and design.

— Posted on 05/25 at 04:32 PM

McClure Banner Winners

Congrats to Jim and Judy Clinton who won the Nikki McClure banner as part of Museum of Contemporary Craft’s membership drive to meet the Miller Challenge. They renewed their Household membership in The Gallery on a visit to the Museum. “We’ve never won anything,” says Judy,” and we have a perfect spot for the big banner.” Read more about the Museum’s effort to meet the matching grant from the Miller Foundation.

— Posted on 05/24 at 02:18 PM

John Motley Review

John Motley of the Oregonian reviewed the Generations: Betty Feves exhibition. In “A ceramic artist known for her down-to-earth approach,” Motley calls the exhibition “wonderful.” He goes on to write. “If Feves’ principal medium of clay anchored her work in a craft tradition, her studies with abstract painter Clyfford Still and Cubist sculptor Alexander Archipenko inspired her to graft Modernism’s searching expressionism and reductive formalism onto flatware, vessels and urns. She produced sturdy kitchenware adorned with vertiginous spirals, rhythmically splattered waves of paint, and modish interpretations of leaves and pine needles. “

— Posted on 05/23 at 07:01 PM

Curator’s Lecture: Namita Gupta Wiggers on Betty Feves

Who was Betty Feves, and why did the Museum create an exhibition and publication focused on her work and life?

In her Wednesday evening lecture, May 9 at 6:30 at The Lab at Museum of Contemporary Craft, curator Namita Gupta Wiggers will share behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the latest exhibition in the Generations series, and help you understand how Betty Feves is important to anyone interested in using local materials, mentoring in the community, arts education, and the role women play in shaping history in our region.

Wiggers has been the curator of the Museum of Contemporary Craft since 2004. Her curatorial practice is grounded in her experience as a museum educator, her graduate studies in contemporary art, theory, and post-colonialism, user-based design research for a product design company, and years as a studio art jeweler. She particularly relishes collaborations with anyone who wants to explore exhibitions as unique spatial, cultural and educational environments to investigate questions and ideas. She has written several books, essays and articles on contemporary craft. Whenever possible, she works to disrupt the silos of art, craft and design.

— Posted on 05/07 at 04:35 PM

The Miller Challenge

Museum of Contemporary Craft 75th Anniversary Challenge

Be part of the Museum’s 75th anniversary celebration and help make history now! Celebrate craft and design in our community by helping us to meet an exciting fundraising challenge. The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation will match your new or increased membership or gift to the Museum. Our goal is to raise $15,000 by June 30, 2012. Meeting our goal by the June 30 deadline means that the Miller Foundation will match the total in grant funding.

It’s easy to participate: if you aren’t a member yet or would like to renew your membership at a higher level, join now. If you’re already a supporter, any increase over your total gifts to the Museum during the past year (July 1, 2011–June 30, 2012) counts, too. Donate now.

Questions? Call us at 503 821 8887 for details on how you can be part of the challenge. Thank you.

— Posted on 05/02 at 04:29 PM

Win McClure Banner

Nikki McClure, Breathe, 2009. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Special Promotion: Win the Nikki McClure banner!

Become a member, renew your Museum of Contemporary Craft membership, or purchase a gift membership between Monday, April 30 and Saturday, May 12, and you will be entered in a drawing to win the Nikki McClure banner “Breathe” (which hung in the window during the exhibition)!

Why now? Because you’ll help us meet the Miller Challenge when you upgrade your membership or giving an additional gift. The Miller Foundation will match all new and increased gifts meaning that your membership contribution will go even further to support exhibitions and public programs at the Museum.

Details:
The banner dimensions are 58” x 100.” The image is printed on coated fabric, and it has reinforced grommet holes for hanging.

Renew or buy a gift membership in person, online, by mail, or over the phone for a chance to win. Mailed membership forms must be postmarked by May 12, 2012 to be eligible. Student/Senior and Individual membership purchasers will be entered once to win, and Household and above will be entered twice.

If you have any questions, please contact Melinda Stoops at 503.821.8887 or by email at members@MuseumofContemporaryCraft.org.

— Posted on 05/02 at 04:01 PM