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Museum Exhibitions

• The tour of Craft Today USA to 15 European cities over more than three-and-a-half years was an outstanding success. From its opening at the Musée Des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in May of 1989 to the closing presentation at the Gulbenkian Foundation is Lisbon in January 1993, the exhibition received wide acclaim from the visiting public, artists, art scholars, and the press. As the largest survey of contemporary American craft to tour Europe since the historically important Objects:USA , in the early 1970s. The exhibition of 200 works by l83 artists shared with the European Community a perspective on the current state of the craft movement in the United States.
• CRAFT TODAY: Poetry of the Physical, and exhibition of 186 artists, celebrated the handmade in the l980s. This survey show opened at the new American Craft Museum in New York City in October, 1986 and traveled to:
  • The Denver Art Museum 1987
  • Laguna Art Museum 1987
  • Milwaukee Art Museum 1988
  • J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky 1988
  • Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 1988
• The Tactile Vessel , New Basket Forms. An exhibition of works by 31 artists from the collection of the Erie Art Museum. After museum opening in 1989, the exhibition toured museums and art centers across America through 1993.
• Fiber Individualists , presented the work of eight artists with national reputations, who are known as innovators in fiber, handmade paper, and basketry.
  Wustum Museum of Fine Arts , 1986, Racine, Wisconsin.
• The New American Basket , U.S. Information Agency Tour of 7 African States,1986 - 1987. Organized by Brainerd Art Gallery, Potsdam, NY.
• Crafts USA in Iceland 1983 , Kjarvalsstadiv Museum Exhibition and Sale, Reykjavik, Iceland.

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Museum Collections

American Craft Museum , New York City
The artists donated MyGalaxy, in 1993. The Art Vessel was included in the
European tour, Craft Today USA, and is on display in the Gallery.

Erie Art Museum , Erie, Pennsylvania
Three Art Vessels were purchased by Jack Lenor Larsen for The Tactile Vessel
collection in 1988. In addition to a Torrey Pine vessel, a three palm vessel,
and a sea grass vessel were chosen.

Arkansas Arts Center- Decorative Arts Museum , Little Rock
Three Art Vessels in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Sanford M. Besser were donated
in 1995 as part of a gift of fifty-one “art baskets”. It is a representative body of
works by the major artists in the field.

Wustum Museum of Fine Arts , Racine, Wisconsin
An Art Vessel from the Fiber Individualist Exhibition was purchased as gift to the
permanent collection in 1985 by the friends of Mary Ann Naczinski as a memorial.

Sheldon Art Museum , Lincoln, Nebraska

Fine Arts Museum of the South , Mobile, Alabama

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Creative Individual Collectors

Jack Lenor Larsen , Author, Designer, New York City
Purchased many works since the 1970s.
World famous textile designer with major individual exhibition at the Lourve.

Fritz Scholder , Arizona and New Mexico
Purchased at Scottsdale Arts Center Show in 1981.
Native American artist and one of America’s leading painters.

Clare Boothe Luce , Hawaii
Purchased from Following Sea Gallery, Hawaii in 1983.
Her career spans the greater part of this century, and extends over
wide-ranging fields, from the world of magazine journalism
to theater to politics and diplomacy.

Sen-ei Ikenobo , Headmaster, Ikebana school, Japan
Gift from La Jolla Ikebana Society in 1982.

Bjorn Windbland , Rosenthal Designer, Denmark
Purchased from a gallery in Switzerland in 1982.

Edo de Waart , Conductor
Wedding gift from San Francisco Symphony in1987.


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Publications

American Crafts: A Source Book for the Home by Katherine Pearson,
published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1983

Architectural Digest , “Near the Wharf... In San Francisco”, March, 1982

Vogue, “Splendor in Crafts-Barbara Rockefeller”, Sept, 1983

Town & Country, Art & Antiques: “Table d’Art” , June, 1985

Creative Ideas for Living, A Life In Crafts: “Fine Artistry In Natural Baskets” , August, 1985

Metropolis, “The Evolving Basket” , June, 1989

Southwest Art, “Best of the West” , December, 1993

American Craft Museum, Appointment Calendar , 1988

The Year of American Craft Desk Diary, published by Harry C. Abrams, 1993





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Artists Statement

Both Francina and Neil were initially (are continually) attracted to the coiled fiber process by the repetitive rhythmic sequence utilizing locally abundant natural fibers. The vessel form, with its inner space protected by a thin walled outer surface, suggested seemingly endless variations in form/pattern/color.

Construction from many individual natural elements in which structure defines decoration aptly satisfies their creative impulse. This pure structural simplicity is described by the helix, a universal mathematical principle underlying galaxies as well as DNA. A basket created from a continuous helical coil of fibers represents a personal crystallization of space and time. Surprise-- whether elation or disappointment always awaits the completed work.

The sense of place, and renewal of the seasons learned from yearly gathering and harvesting shape their way of life. To create positive expressions with ones life energy is a joyful enterprise. Neil now sees basketry as a metaphor for discipline and order in their lives during these chaotic times.

24 February 1988

Prepared for exhibition of the permanent collection of contemporary American baskets, Erie Art Museum, August 1988.






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Philip Morris Companies Corporate Collection (from the Catalog)

The collection of vessel forms exhibited in the reception area of Philip Morris‘ New York Headquarters display the imagination and skill of American artists working in the craft media. Each work shows a unique approach to the container form. The techniques used in these works of glass blowing, woodturning, basketry and metal casting continue traditions that are thousands of years old, and which have become a vital area of artistic expression today. (Tectonic Dance, 1989 is included in this permanent collection. )

The artists here were also represented in CRAFT TODAY: Poetry of the Physical, and exhibition sponsored by Philip Morris and organized by the American Craft Museum. This major exhibition toured the United States, and a similar exhibition, Craft Today USA, is visiting twelve European countries as a cultural presentation of the United States.

With this display of objects from our permanent collection, Philip Morris continues is celebration of the arts and their ability to renew our lives.