An ode to clay, fibre, metal, wood and glass. In two exhibitions, the MAD New York acknowledges the importance of craft in the design world and market and display the amazing work of Beth Lipman.

Episode Three: ‘Craft Front & Center’ & Beth Lipman.

Collective Elegy by Beth Lipman

The contemporary artist Beth Lipman presents ‘Collective Elegy’, a major survey that assesses her remarkable achievements. It represents a decade of investigation centering the human condition, demarcating the present moment in deep time.

From sumptuous displays of excess, including provocative installations comprising hundreds of individual glass elements, to poetic and contemplative works in glass, metal, clay, video, and photography, the works on view are ethereal meditations on time and mortality and simultaneously sobering indictments of our contemporary consumer culture and its impact on the planet.

Lipman’s monumental Laid (Time-) Table with Cycads forms the centrepiece of the exhibition. Melding landscape and tablescape through representations of prehistoric plant life bursting forth through a table laden with goblets, bowls of fruit, books, textiles, and other cultural markers, the work evokes the interdependence and tension between humanity and the natural world.

According to Samantha De Tillion, MAD’s curator of collections, Beth Lipman has built on the still-life tradition, illustrating the ability of objects to signify wealth, class, and identity. She further critiques Western society’s capitalist values and the environmental consequences of unfettered consumption. A new project, House Album, investigates the subjectivity of history and the necessity of including a wider range of voices in its telling; a topic of particular importance in 2020.

Beth Lipman: Collective Elegy until January 2nd, 2022 at MAD New York. Photos by Jenna Bascom

Craft Front & Center

Dagu (2016) by Sanford Biggers (USA, b. 1970). Assorted fabrics, spray paint, acrylic on antique quilts. 124.5 × 403.9 × 12.7 cm). Museum of Arts and Design, New York; purchase with funds provided by the Collections Committee, 2018

Once at the margins of the art world, today craft is front and centre in art galleries, museums, and fairs, widely recognised for its expressive potential and cultural significance.

The exhibition brings together more than 70 iconic and lesser-known works, assembled from the eclectic richness of the Museum’s permanent collection, to highlight key touch points in craft’s history that have led to the current moment. — The exhibition brings together more than **70 iconic and lesser-known work**s, assembled from the eclectic richness of the Museum’s permanent collection, to highlight key touch points in craft’s history that have led to the current moment.

Dance of the Pacific Coast Highway at Sunset (2019) by Amber Cowan

Pitter-Podder (1968) by Patti Warashina / Bread Frog as a Coffee Break (1981-82) by David Gilhooly / Couch and Chair with Landscape and Cows (1966-1967) by Richard Shaw.

Leerdam Colour Series, 1970 by Marvin Lipofsky

“Craft Front & Center captures the creative revolution in materials, processes, and subject matter that has transformed our understanding and expectations of art,” said Elissa Auther, MAD’s Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and the William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator. “Like craft itself, the exhibition is down-to-earth and democratic. We want everyone to experience the joy, genius, humour, and more that objects made by hand bring to the world.”

Challenging traditional thinking of craft as separate from fine art, the exhibition reveals the field's deep engagement in art’s major movements, such as Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Postmodernism, while also launching its own revolutions, particularly the elevation of women and people of color as significant artists.

1/4 Pounder with Cheese (from the Great American Food Series, 1973) by Marvin Lipofsky (USA, 1938–2016). Blown glass, found McDonald's Quarter Pounder box (25.4 x 14 x 7.9 cm)Museum of Arts and Design, New York; gift of Theodora (Theo) and Sy Portnoy, 1998

MAD’s collection comprises more than 3,000 artworks in clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood, dating from the post-war studio craft movement through to contemporary art and design. With an aim to subvert traditional hierarchies in the arts, the collection advocates for the central role of craft in art and society.

Toward that end, Craft Front & Center is organized into eight themes exploring craft’s impact:

In the Formation of Identity: From the personal to the political, craft stimulates important conversations around race, gender, and sexuality.
In the Gallery: Beginning in the 1950s, artists engaged with traditional craft materials and created powerful assertions of materiality and process that attracted museums and collectors alike.
In the Home: Handmade objects are potent receptacles of emotions and memories, infused with human warmth that enliven and enrich the home.
What Can You Do with an Object?: A look back at the seminal exhibition Objects: USA (1969) and the works displayed whose innovations still resonate.
What Can You Do with a Thread?: Fiber artists past and present have generated works of amazing complexity and conceptual ingenuity.
What Can You Do with Clay? The funny and eccentric “Funk” movement was embraced by California ceramicists in the 1960s and remains a major influence on younger makers today.
What Can You Do with Glass? A focused retrospective of the career of studio-glass pioneer Marvin Lipofsky.
What Can You Do with Craft? A look at the modern and contemporary artists who have absorbed studio craft’s legacy and expanded its boundaries.

Each thematic section is punctuated with pivotal and rarely seen works from iconic makers, such as Betty Woodman, Marvin Lipofsky, and Magdalena Abakanowicz. The exhibition also casts a fresh eye on craft’s pioneers; celebrating Olga de Amaral, Charles Loloma, Patti Warashina, and others who pushed the boundaries of materials and sought more inclusive sources of inspiration.

*Gold Finger (1973) by Patti Warashina (USA, b. 1940). Glazed porcelain; hand-built (24.1 x 24.1 x 16.2 cm)Museum of Arts and Design, New York; gift of Theodora (Theo) and Sy Portnoy, 1998*

This exhibition is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and runs until February 13th, 2022.

OTHER SUMMER EXHIBITIONS