craftapalooza

This time last week, I was wandering the overwhelmingly huge American Craft Council show in Baltimore. The ACC Baltimore is the largest juried craft show in the country, which means next to nothing to me but greatly excited two of my fellow grad students, J and G. J majored in sculpture undergrad and G has a pottery degree, so I was mostly along for the ride, nodding and smiling and keeping busy by listing the trends I spotted in the exhibited crafts. They were: menorahs (it seemed like every other booth had at least one), kaleidoscopes, cairns, and mechanical devices (cranks, gears, etc).

Despite my lack of scholastic interest in contemporary craft (both my companions have done considerable research on the subject in the past), there were definitely some things at the ACC which captured my imagination.

1. The retablos of Nacario Jimenez, especially those with calaveras in them.
2. Bryan Cunningham's fantastic mixed media pieces.
3. Paul Sumner's metal birds.
4. Czech artist Tomas Savrda's found object kinetic sculptures.
5. Varied works (mirrors, 2-D, and 3-D) by Richard F. Rockford out of historic materials.
6. The whimsical found object pieces by Mullanium.
7. Watching a Jeffrey Zachmann kinetic sculpture could keep me entertained for days.
8. Timeshapes are magnificant--enormous wooden clockwork pieces by James Borden.
9. Each of the minuscule framed dioramas by Christine Originals seemed to tell a quiet story.
10. The beautifully strange cast bronze works by Scott Nelles.
11. This lamp by David Sleightholm reminded J and I of an airship. Turns out the artist is a friend of Amy's!
12. Of all of Dale Roger's pieces, I loved his Easter Island head best. It's ENORMOUS.

So while I may not be writing my thesis on anything I saw at ACC last week, I sure as heck had a great time seeing it all (and I mean all of it--700+ booths in 6 hours). It remains to be seen whether J and G will gang up on me come April...