Interview with Daniel Duford

Read a conversation between Daniel Duford and curator Cassandra Coblentz as part of We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live on UNTITLED, PNCA’s online magazine.

“Narrative, or storytelling, threads through all my work,” says Duford about the role that storytelling plays in his work. “It might seem that what I’m doing is disparate—working in pots, comics, wall drawings, and large-scale installation—but a story brings it all together. It took me a long time to realize that narrative was a driving force. The work that I’m interested in looking at has some aspect of a narrative to it.”

Daniel Duford, a recipient of the prestigious Hallie Ford Fellowship in Visual Arts, is one of nine artists featured in “We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live” at Museum of Contemporary Craft. The Museum, with the help of The Ford Family Foundation, has produced a catalog accompanying the exhibition, which includes interviews with each of the Hallie Ford Fellows. The text below is an excerpt from a longer interview. You can read more about Duford, about the Hallie Ford Fellowship, and about the We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live exhibition, as well as listen to the full-length interview between Duford and curator Cassandra Coblentz, at Museum of Contemporary Craft.

Read more stories about the Museum of Contemporary Craft on UNTITLED.

— Posted on 03/04 at 10:49 AM

Members’ Reception

Join the Museum for a special reception celebrating a gift to the collection from the Bank of America. The Museum will add Untitled, by Betty Feves to its collection. Read more about this generous gift and the legacy it continues.

The Museum welcomes its members for a first sneak peak of Untitled and the museum’s newest exhibition Object Focus: The Bowl on March 14, 6-8pm.

RSVP to members@MuseumofContemporaryCraft.org or 503.821.8887

— Posted on 02/28 at 11:07 AM

Bank of America Donates Betty Feves Sculpture

Bank of America has donated a Betty Feves sculpture to the Museum of Contemporary Craft. The untitled sculpture is a tall, stacked column of rough clay dug from Oregon soil with glazes the artist made from materials in the Pendleton area. It is related in form and material to Garden Wall (1979), which was installed at the entrance to the Museum’s retrospective exhibition Generation Betty Feves that critics called one of the best exhibitions of 2012.

Read more about excellent press for the Generations: Betty Feves exhibition.

Look over the programming and images that chronicled Feves’ impact on Oregon arts and the national ceramics scene.

“Preserving and illuminating the legacies of the region’s finest craft artists is a vital part of what we do here at the Museum,” says Museum director and chief curator Namita Gupta Wiggers. “This gift from Bank of America of a piece we would not have otherwise been able to acquire ensures that this important work by Betty Feves will be held permanently in the public trust, available for viewing and scholarship.”

Bank of America’s support for the arts is multi-faceted, providing millions of dollars in grants, large and small, delivering a wide range of support for the arts, from education and access programs at the local level to major investments that help institutions expand their size and services and revitalize their communities.

— Posted on 02/27 at 12:55 PM

Free First Thursdays

Don’t forget that the Museum of Contemporary Craft offers free admission to everyone on the first Thursday of each month. Take a chance to explore the current exhibitions We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order to Live and Object Focus: The Bowl and see what new items are currently on sale in the Gallery Store.

— Posted on 02/20 at 10:45 AM

Valentine’s Specials in the Gallery Store

Find the perfect handcrafted gift for your Valentine in the Gallery Store from unique contemporary jewelry to rosey glassware from Vitreluxe Glassworks to high-design ceramics by Jean-Marc Desaules. We carry letterpressed cards by Heir and Lome and EMPrint. Special this month: All of Jean-Marc Desaules’ ceramic cups are 15% off.

— Posted on 02/01 at 04:56 PM

Rescheduled: CraftPerspectives Panel: 2010 Hallie Ford Fellows

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the CraftPerspectives Panel: 2010 Hallie Ford Fellows originally scheduled for January 28, has been rescheduled for February 19. Join us.

— Posted on 01/28 at 12:57 PM

3 CraftPerspectives Panels

In conjunction with our exhibition, We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live, join in the conversation exploring contemporary art practice in the state of Oregon. Each panel discussion will feature individual artist presentations by 2010–2012 recipients of the Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts, followed by a moderated conversation around a central question that currently influences the local creative climate.

— Posted on 01/22 at 05:06 PM

One Object, Two Views

Join us for a discussion of how institutions and collectors view and care for the objects in their collections. Perspectives on Craft+Design: One Object, Two Views—Collectors and Museums takes place Thursday January 31 at 6:30 pm. Curator of Collections and Registrar Nicole Nathan, and local craft collector Ron Werner will talk from two perspectives about objects. How do collectors see, handle, and think about their work? How does a museum think about, utilize, and care for the objects in their collections? Get a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum’s storage areas and research library. For collectors, object enthusiasts, and everyone in between, come discuss your favorite objects! Members: free. Non-members: $10 at the door.

— Posted on 01/22 at 05:03 PM

Curatorial Walkthrough

Join us for a special curatorial walkthrough of We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live, on Friday, January 25 from 2-3 pm. This exhibition, curated by guest curator Cassandra Coblentz, features works by recipients of The Ford Family Foundation’s Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Daniel Duford, David Eckard, Heidi Schwegler, Sang-ah Choi, Bruce Conkle, Stephen Hayes, Ellen Lesperance, Akihiko Miyoshi, and Michelle Ross.

Taking its title from a passage in Joan Didion’s 1979 essay “The White Album,” We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live explores how nine distinguished Oregon-based artists embrace a cross-disciplinary approach to art making wherein the legacies of art, craft, and design merge in work that expands and explores the tactile, conceptual, imaginary, material, and critical potential of cultural production. Los Angeles-based guest curator Cassandra Coblentz employs Didon’s text as an evocative lens through which to view the diverse body of work produced by these artists who have made and continue to make remarkable contributions to the region’s cultural landscape.

— Posted on 01/22 at 04:57 PM

Members’ Preview

Museum of Contemporary Craft Members are invited to a special preview of We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live on Wednesday, January 23 at 6 pm. This exhibition, curated by guest curator Cassandra Coblentz, features works by recipients of The Ford Family Foundation’s Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Daniel Duford, David Eckard, Heidi Schwegler, Sang-ah Choi, Bruce Conkle, Stephen Hayes, Ellen Lesperance, Akihiko Miyoshi, and Michelle Ross.

Become a Member today.

Taking its title from a passage in Joan Didion’s 1979 essay “The White Album,” We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live explores how nine distinguished Oregon-based artists embrace a cross-disciplinary approach to art making wherein the legacies of art, craft, and design merge in work that expands and explores the tactile, conceptual, imaginary, material, and critical potential of cultural production. Los Angeles-based guest curator Cassandra Coblentz employs Didon’s text as an evocative lens through which to view the diverse body of work produced by these artists who have made and continue to make remarkable contributions to the region’s cultural landscape.

— Posted on 01/16 at 04:59 PM