Call & Response: Craft as a Tool for Activism is a virtual, nationwide juried exhibition and artist marketplace, juried by Glenn Adamson, Ebitenyefa Baralaye, and Nate Watson.
We’re sharing the text from the museum’s website, below. Be sure to link through to see the online exhibit.
The national reckoning for social justice spurred by protests and the Black Lives Matter movement has made clear that all museums and arts organizations must do better to represent, engage, financially support, and communicate with their BIPOC communities.
“Craftivism” (as coined by Betsy Greer in her 2011 essay “Craftivist History” in Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art) celebrates the power of craft to bring about political change. This juried exhibition intends to highlight artists that are working at this crucial intersection of craft and activism, uplifting their political ideals and their communities through their medium of choice.
This open call to artists and craftspeople resulted in submissions employing a diverse range of mediums, practices, and concepts. With material practices ranging from neon signs to ceramics, concrete, cut paper, embroidery, textiles, clothing and fashion, jewelry, woodworking, social practice, and makeup artistry; the entries also spoke to diverse issues: ecology, racism, social injustice, police brutality, prison reform, feminism, trans rights, gun control, voting rights, immigration, gentrification and much more, painting a portrait of the issues that face Americans today.
Of these entries, our esteemed panel of three jurors (curator and writer Glenn Adamson; ceramist and teacher Ebitenefya Baralaye; and teacher, artist, and ED of Public Glass Nate Watson) selected 50 applicants to include in the virtual exhibition. Their selections include established and emerging artists from across the country.
Call & Response: Craft as a Tool for Activism Artist Marketplace will be active through September 30, 2021.
Susan Lenz, How Lucky Am I: White Privilege, 2020, Mixed: antique clipboard, 31 embroidered pages.
Dimensions: 14 3/4" x 9" x 4"
Kimberly Camp, Shango, 2019.
Image courtesy of Jack Ramsdale or Lonnie Graham