CHICAGO, ILLINOIS April 24, 2002...Made From Scratch, an exhibition of fine craft, is intended to bring a variety of exquisite works by the Midwest's finest artisans to the residents and visitors of the northwest suburbs. Although all fine craft artists are indebted to the generations of artisans before them for the traditional techniques that have been handed down, this exhibit spotlights the contemporary state of fine craft.
Made From Scratch is defined as an art exhibition of hand made fine crafts by Midwestern artisans that employ a combination of traditional and cutting edge craft techniques, resulting in expressive finished art works that are innovative and explore or redefine ages-old craft traditions.
Craft making is as old as humankind is. Our ancestors invented most crafts as utilitarian technologies that fulfilled basic human needs and behaviors--like vessels, clothing, adornments, and ceremonial objects. Over generations craft making and craft design evolved a diversity and sophistication that reflects humanity's ingenuity, aesthetics, technologies, and cultures.
Today, many of the objects that we require for everyday use are mass-produced. This elevates the place of most handcrafted items in contemporary society to the special and ceremonial, an art that celebrates human effort, traditio, dexterity and skill. Although handcrafted artworks may be functional, they are usually reserved for special occasions, display, artistic expression and adornment.
Made From Scratch features objects that are well-made whether or not they still retain the function associated with the artwork's medium. Some pieces give a nod to craft tradition, like Billie Jean Thiede's stylish bronze mesh teapots, by retaining only a vestigial hint of an abstract 'teapot' shape and no 'teapot' function. Although Sharon Meyer Postance's woven baskets function as baskets, they are too extraordinary to be put to work. Priscilla Sage's quilted creations demonstrate how quilting is much more than just the blanket on the bed it's also the tapestry-like creation for the wall and more.
With the invention of publishing, bookmaking one of the most labor-intensive handicrafts waned in practice due to the ease of mass production. Three artists featured in Made From Scratch, Nancy Abel, Liese A. Ricketts, and Cathie Ruggie Saunders have contributed unique hand crafted books. The variety of forms taken by hand made books are a result of a liberation from the cost-effective, streamlined format that we associate with mass produced books of today. The books the viewer encounters in Made From Scratch will be a delightful redefinition of the work 'book'.
The artists of Made From Scratch are: Nancy Abel (hand-crafted
books), Sonya Y.S. Clark (innovative bead work), Patrick Dragon
(ceramic vessels), Lance Friedman (glass sculpture), Gisele Perreault
(glass and metal work), Sharon Meyer Postance (basketry), Liese
A. Ricketts (hand-crafted book), Priscilla Sage (textile constructions
and quilting), Cathie Ruggie Saunders (hand-crafted books), Nancy
L. Steinmeyer (hand sculpted paper sculpture), Paula Streeter
(bejeweled artifacts), Billie Jean Thiede (metalwork), Rimas VisGirda
(ceramic vessels and sculpture), and Fred C. Wilson III (figural
ceramics).