Golden State of Craft: California 1960-1985

GOLDEN STATE
OF CRAFT:
CALIFORNIA
1960-1985
Craft and Folk Art Museum
September 25, 2011 - January 8, 2012
PRESENTED by Craft in America
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CRAFT AND FOLK ART MUSEUM

This catalog is published in conjunction with the exhibition “Golden State of
Craft: California 1960-1985,” organized by Craft in America in partnership
with the Craft and Folk Art Museum. Curated by independent curator, Jo Lauria,
the “Golden State of Craft” is on display at the Craft and Folk Art Museum
from September 25, 2011 to January 8, 2012 as part of the Getty initative,
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980.
Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented collaboration of more than
sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell
the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene. Pacific Standard Time is an initiative
of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.
This exhibition is generously sponsored by Helen and Peter Bing, the
Boardman Family Foundation, Forrest L. Merrill, and the Stolaroff Foundation.
Additional support is provided by Cathleen Collins.
This catalog is published by Craft in America with contributions by Jo
Lauria, Emily Zaiden and Sharon K. Emanuelli. Craft in America is a nonprofit
501(c)3 organization. Lenders of artworks in the exhibition and photo credits
are listed in the checklist.
www.cafam.org
www.craftinamerica.org
Printed by Susan Ross Printing, Manhattan Beach, California
Front/Back: Ruth Asawa, Untitled, mid 1960s
p. 2: Kay Sekimachi, Nagare I, 1967
p. 3: Mary Jane Leland, Zinnia, 1962-1963
p. 4: Paul Tuttle, Tablet Chair, c. 1984
p. 78: Katherine Westphal, The Puzzle of Floating World #2, 1976
p. 79: Gerhardt Knodel, Flexible Wallpaper, 1969
Craft in America
© 2011 Craft in America, Inc.
ISBN 978-0-615-52053-7

GOLDEN STATE
OF CRAFT:
CALIFORNIA
1960-1985
Contributions by
Jo Lauria
Emily Zaiden
Sharon K. Emanuelli

Foreword
6
On behalf of the Board of Trustees and staff of the Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM), I want to express my gratitude to
Carol Sauvion and Jo Lauria for conceiving of this exhibition and bringing it to the museum. In the future we will be paying
tribute to Jo and Carol in the same manner that we honor Edith R. Wyle and Eudorah M. Moore today. The Craft in America
staff put enormous effort into the task of compiling, writing, editing and fundraising for this catalog and CAFAM is thrilled
to benefit from their hard work. Sharon Emanuelli deserves special thanks for her impeccable research which illuminates a
part of the grand history of the crafts movement in Los Angeles from 1960-1985.
Suzanne Isken
Executive Director
Craft and Folk Art Museum
Pacific Standard Time is an opportunity for celebration and reflection. I am pleased that Craft in America is working closely
with the Craft and Folk Art Museum to present “Golden State of Craft: California 1960-1985” as part of the Pacific Standard
Time group of exhibitions. We can highlight an era that was truly a golden age for craft in our state. California was a birthplace
of the New Crafts Movement, when artists brought individual expression to an art form that had previously relied on traditional
methods to produce functional objects. The post WWII years and beyond, when craft programs were included in the California
university systems, was a time that educated studio artists to use the materials of clay, wood, glass, metal, and fiber to create new
art that was often non-functional and always personal.
“Golden State of Craft” is also an opportunity to honor two Californians who initiated the excitement that surrounded the crafts
at that time: Edith R. Wyle and Eudorah M. Moore. We cannot underestimate the importance of their contributions to the work
that emanated from California, introducing craft materials and innovations to the larger art world. How fortunate we all are that
these women worked to ensure the health and continuation of the handmade, what Eudorah refers to as the “unessential necessity.”
I would like to thank Corinna Cotsen for helping to initiate this exhibition; Peter and Helen Bing, Cathleen Collins, the
Boardman Family Foundation, Forrest L. Merrill and the Stolaroff Foundation for their support; Jo Lauria for her vision, Richard
Amend for his exhibition design and Emily Zaiden and the staff of Craft in America for their work to realize this moment. Please
visit the Craft in America Study Center to read and learn more about our golden state of craft.
Carol Sauvion
Executive Director
Craft in America

a
Paul Marioni
The Visitor, 1984
The artist intends this
other worldly figure to
appear non-threatening
and his utterance, the
“ooooooooo,” to be the
“haunting echo of man.”
7

8

a
Eudorah M. Moore in
one of her installations
at the Pasadena Art
Museum, c. 1969
Courtesy Times Mirror
Nelson Tiffany photograph
9
Protagonist for the Crafts
Eudorah M. Moore, who describes herself as a “protagonist for the
crafts,” has spent a great deal of her life advancing and promoting the
work of the hand. She recalls:
I think the way that I first became aware of the crafts, and therefore interested,
was as a child going with my mother up high into the Appalachian
highlands where there was an old chair maker who still spoke the Elizabethan
English…We used to go up and collect his chairs because my mother
loved them. It made me very, very conscious of the quality that went into
really deeply traditional crafts, like the fact that the chairs never had a nail in
them. The parts would bond together as the wood dried. They ended up being
what they called ‘settin’ chairs. You can picture the old boys sitting back
in their chairs and just settin’ against the house wall.
Armed with this innate consciousness and her unflagging optimism,
Moore, who graduated from Smith College, married and made her home
in Pasadena with her husband and four children, became a driving force
in what she likes to call the “New Crafts Movement”:
...a recognition of different kinds of contemporary crafts that were often
created as artworks by college educated people, and not just as functional
objects. That was a whole other level of consciousness when relating to the
crafts, and it’s the one that certainly I’ve spent my life in.
California had a leading role in the “New Crafts Movement.” The
central artists had gone back to college on the GI Bill and were applying
a college attitude towards these age-old materials. This made a huge
difference in what was produced. People who came back from the war
had the opportunity to move into the art department. There was enough
of a demand that all the crafts materials were included for the first time
in the university curriculum, where pure research was often the mode.
It brought a new dimension to the way people looked at the crafts. In
Moore’s perception:
...there was an efflorescence that was unbelievable. Art attitudes were assumed
rather than the craftsmen’s attitude, which was to make an object of use.
Moore became deeply involved in the life of the Pasadena community. She
was a founder and first president of the Pasadena Art Alliance. She
served on the boards of many cultural organizations including the Pasadena
Arts Council and the Otis Arts Association. She was instrumental
in the early planning and development of the new Pasadena Art Museum
(now the Norton Simon Museum) in the late 1960s, having initiated the
activities for its creation and then serving on its Board of Trustees. Perhaps
the most important work Moore would do began in 1961 when she, as a
board member, asked then director Tom Leavitt if she could reorganize
the “California Design” exhibitions that the museum had been putting on.

a
Installation view of
“California Design Eight”,
1962, Courtesy of
California Design
10
The first seven “California Design” exhibitions
had been annual shows of contemporary
furniture from the Los Angeles Furniture Mart.
Moore, however, had a different vision for the
exhibitions; they became triennial, were juried,
and potentially included virtually any object of
quality made or designed in California from tea
cups to small aircrafts to children’s play equipment.
Moore became Curator of Design at the
museum in 1962 and held that position for 15
years. She was also named Director of “California
Design” (which later became a separate
nonprofit organization) dedicated to exposition,
education and publication in the fields of architecture,
design and the crafts.
Her visionary work on the exhibitions led
to a unique coupling of design and craft. The
exhibitions and accompanying catalogs caused
reverberations throughout the United States.
Combining artist-designed furniture with handthrown
pots; wooden rocking chairs with hot
tubs; plastics with natural materials and photographing
(together with photographer Richard
Gross) these diverse and exciting objects in
California’s spectacular natural landscapes was
a breakthrough moment for craft and design.
Moore likes to describe her approach as a
bridge between design and industry, which was
demonstrated and verified by the “California
Design” exhibitions. Her championing of the
handmade elevated the work of dozens of artists
while illuminating the importance of the crafts.
The shows acted as a catalyst between manufacturers,
craftspeople, architects and the public.
They received international editorial attention.
Moore looks back on her ideas for the “California
Design” exhibitions:
It was very unusual, actually, to mix design and
craft, and it was particularly pertinent at the
time that we did it. I’m not positive that the two
fields would be able to establish such dialogue
anymore as they did then, but, at the time, as I
talked to industrial designers, I felt that the process
of design was very much the same as that of
the process of crafts. I can remember talking to
Charles Eames about this, and his saying ‘they’re
exactly the same. The only thing that’s different
is the foreseen hand. When I’m designing
these chairs, I’m designing them with the idea of
coming in multiples. Our idea is to get the cost
down. The process is the same, although the
a
final intent is different.’ And it was that dialogue
of the processes that kept the shows quite lively,
and why we included both.
The “California Design” exhibitions, in Moore’s
view, had a special ingredient, the craftsperson:
One of the things that intrigued me in putting
up the shows was that all the craftsmen came
up out of the woodwork and volunteered at the
museum and wanted to help, doing whatever
they could, not just for their own piece, but for
everybody else’s piece. I can remember installing
those shows at the museum and having literally
fifty different volunteers who were helping us.
There was that real sense of brotherhood.

Eudorah M. Moore
positioning the Arthur
Carpenter print stand
during a photoshoot, 1968
Courtesy of California
Design, Richard Gross
photograph
c
Logo for “California
Design Nine”
11
c
The manner in which artists were chosen to
exhibit in “California Design” was in itself
unique. Pieces were not judged by slides; rather,
the jurors considered the actual pieces that were
submitted in person. Artists brought their works
to locations in Northern and Southern California.
The pieces were deposited, juried, and
rejected pieces were picked up. Moore describes
the jurying process:
I felt very, very strongly that the only way to
jury an object was to look at that object. It
was such work as you can’t imagine. We had a
jury of three people for the crafts. We received
thousands of objects from which we chose an
exhibition of about five hundred. Then the photography
started. We would receive in September,
jury, and have the catalog ready for the show in
March. It was an arduous thing.
Because she understood the historical
significance of the “California Design” shows,
Moore insisted the exhibitions she directed
have catalogs. Those for “California Design
VIII, IX, X, XI, and ’76” are historical
records of the fertile imagination and skill of
the artists who were represented in the exhibitions.
In addition, the creative and forwardthinking
photography used in the catalogs
married craft and design with exteriors to
accentuate the beauty and originality of the
objects. The force behind this ingenious formula
was Moore.
In addition to the “California Design”
series, while at the Pasadena Art Museum,
Moore prepared and edited books and filmstrips
on design as well as organizing and
mounting a variety of other exhibitions and
activities in the crafts, including: “Islands in
b
the Land,” about traditional crafts; the international
fiber symposium, “Fiber as Medium”;
and the historical exhibition about the Arts
and Crafts movement before it was on anyone’s
radar, “California Design 1910.” As she
saw artists coming in with their objects at the
last design show in 1976, she realized that she
wanted to publish something that told about
the craftspeople themselves and their way of
life. This was the genesis of a book titled The
Craftsman Lifestyle: The Gentle Revolution.

a
Stan Bitters
Rock Stack Wall
Courtesy of California
Design, Richard Gross
photograph
b
Pamela Weir-Quiton
Georgie Girl Seated Doll
Drawer Chest, 1970
Filled with whimsy and
humor, this chest of drawers
is highly functional as both
bureau and bench. Courtesy
of California Design, Richard
Gross photograph
12
a
to identify the needs of the field. The findings of
this effort, known as the National Crafts Planning
Project, were brought to a National Crafts Congress.
One might wonder how the art versus
craft controversy, which was front and center
throughout her career, affected Moore’s approach
to the crafts. In a 2001 interview for
Craft in America, her opinion was strong:
b
From 1978 to 1981, Moore went on to
serve as Crafts Coordinator of the National
Endowment for the Arts in Washington,
D.C., with responsibilities for all craft-related
endowment grants and activities. Under her
leadership, a number of grant categories were
added including Building Arts and Crafts
Projects. She also developed an advocacy
program aimed at generating commissions
and bringing public attention to the crafts of
architectural scale and crafts integral to architecture.
She supported a number of activities
aimed at increasing scholarship and developing
better communication in the craft field. Moore
initiated and directed a broad participatory effort
I don’t think that there is any question but
that there is an ongoing art/craft controversy.
My point of view about this is the fact that the
entire creative act is one. My feeling is that the
term ‘art’ actually is an accolade. It doesn’t have
anything to do with intent, really. This person
is an artist. And, to me, that person can be a
craftsperson, maybe a potter, for instance. But
some of the people who practice in those different
categories are artists. And then, many people
who paint and make paintings are not really artists
at all. So, my feeling is that the word ‘artist’
is an accolade that is given by others. And the
word ‘craftsman’ is a noble word from my point
of view because it bears back to tradition and to
the formation of all objects of use with which we
surrounded ourselves.
I understand that some people think that the
word ‘craft’ is a pejorative word that has negative
implications and I disagree with that point of
view entirely because I think it binds this activity
to the human race. It allows possibility to
well up from below. It allows humanity to come
in rather than elitism.

c
Ruth & Svetozar
Radakovich
Children’s climber
Courtesy of California
Design, Svetozar
Radakovich photograph
13
Her views on creativity and art are compelling:
I think all art is energy transfer to some extent;
and the crafts, because of their hands-on nature,
are very much so. In some way, you can sense
when you look at a piece that has that energy,
you can feel it; it is transferred. But that’s
through time. You look at crafts through time
and you can sense the energy of the makers. And
I think this is one of the moving qualities of it;
the palpable qualities of craft. And also the fact
that the crafts essentially transcend time and
they transcend styles. When you touch a pot
that bears the imprint of the hand, it has that
strength of the maker.
Moore’s commitment to the arts continues as
she is often invited to participate in conversations
about the “California Design” exhibitions,
the climate for the crafts in America now and
the future of the handmade. When asked by
curators Jo Lauria and Suzanne Baizerman to
write an introduction to their book, California
Design: The Legacy of West Coast Craft and Style,
Moore wrote:
Now, thirty years after the last “California Design”
exhibition in 1976, it is interesting to note
that the best work of this period is re-emerging,
being re-evaluated and being found as sound
and interesting as ever. Time has silenced some
of the strong voices, others are still productive
and fresh, but review of the work reinforces the
belief that quality speaks across generations and
has enduring value.
In this statement, Moore could be speaking
about herself. Certainly her work, which stands
as a documentation of the golden age of craft
in California and the nation, is as sound and as
interesting as it was almost fifty years ago. The
quality of her work speaks across generations
and has enduring value.
c

14

a
Edith R. Wyle in her
1984 installation of
“Masks in Motion” at
CAFAM organized for the
Olympic Arts Festival
15
An Eye for the Handmade
“What I’m aiming for now…is to undeaden the senses. I want
to shock people into seeing and feeling and hearing.”
- Edith R. Wyle
Late in 1964, as weaver Bette Chase sat in Edith Wyle’s studio, distracting
her from painting, the ideas popped out. Edith pictured Bette sitting
at her loom in a gallery with museum-quality folk art and contemporary
crafts. She could run a small restaurant, too. Wyle intended only to be a
“silent partner”; she was committed to her art career. Though neither had
any experience with such a business, Edith was eager to figure it out and
Bette happily went along.
Frank Wyle — president of Wyle Laboratories, an aerospace company
— reluctantly agreed to support his wife’s venture if she could capitalize
it. In less than three weeks, she had raised $75,000 from 30 couples and
individuals, all friends interested in art.
The Egg and The Eye opened on November 1, 1965, with seven
hundred celebrants lined up at the front door and crowded into the tented
parking lot. It occupied the eastern half of the ground floor and mezzanine
of an historic building on the Miracle Mile, near the new Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Wyle was the buyer and
exhibit designer, Chase was the manager. Architect and “shareholder” Guy
Moore designed the interior. Others volunteered in the restaurant and
gallery and began to plan events. They had hastily installed shows of
Eskimo sculpture, furniture by J.B. Blunk, and rugs by Richard Phipps.
Sam Maloof’s furniture and Jerry Glaser’s wooden vessels shared a sales
area with ceramists Beatrice Wood and Harrison McIntosh. In the mezzanine
restaurant, Chef Rodessa Moore served an array of 30 omelettes,
each with a particular ethnic inspiration.
“Everybody is talking about The Egg and The Eye!” read a Vogue
Magazine headline. Art Seidenbaum extolled the combination of good
food and art in his popular Los Angeles Times Spectator column. Ten
weeks after opening, a panel discussion, “The Place of the Handcraftsman
in Today’s Society,” was taped for Pacifica’s radio stations in Los Angeles,
San Francisco, and Boston.
Wyle’s energy, her warm exuberance, confident aesthetic sense, intuitive
grasp of social conditions and networking ability drove the project.
Although she remained a supporter, Bette Chase would leave the partnership
in 1967. Dorothy Garwood, a former ceramics professor, was hired
as the contemporary craft specialist. Although Wyle could be caught
sketching during meetings and lectures, she never returned to her studio.
Trends in the field of Fine Art were moving in a direction foreign to me. Pop
art and ‘non-art’… left me [a ‘humanist-expressionist’ painter] increasingly
with a feeling of futility. Suffice it to say, I was vulnerable and groping for
something meaningful and honest with which to engage myself. A gallery
dealing exclusively with crafts and folk art became my answer.
Some collections were provided by importers and researchers but most of
the folk art and some contemporary crafts were collected on Wyle’s travels.
She became a certified dealer of Eskimo art after visiting the Canadian Inuit
of Cape Dorsett in 1967 with artist James Houston, who had discovered
Inuit sculpture for the outside world and introduced printmaking to them.

16
b
a
In April 1972, the Wyles were with the first
American group invited to China following
President Nixon’s historic détente. Other buying
trips took her to Israel, Yugoslavia, Norway, India,
Japan and Africa.
The role of display was crucial to Wyle’s
concept, which she based on a fine art model
that would “force the public to see the art” in
these objects and give prominence to the makers,
including those viewed as folk artists. Invitations
often featured portraits of the artists, rather than
their objects, perhaps reflecting this priority,
and names were clearly labeled in the gallery.
Craftspeople received their asking prices and
participated in setting retail values. Sam Maloof,
J.B. Blunk, and Carter Smith had their first solo
exhibitions in the intimate galleries. They also
staged influential group shows like “West Coast/
New Frontiers in Glass,” the first survey of studio
glass in the region in 1973, and the collage-style
clothing of “Three Designing Women” in 1972.
Much of the work shown was new to the
audience and there was an intense flow of ideas
among shareholders, staff and patrons. Yet, there
was always tension between business goals and
ambitious programming. In 1967, The Egg and
The Eye Association began charging membership
fees to meet demand for educational and social
activities, volunteers were publishing a quarterly
newspaper, and weekly film screenings were
offered. The staff created a wholesale business
with mail-order catalogs. Wyle organized the
first international group tour. An extensive guide
to craft lessons was published and they began
providing exhibitions to factories, banks, and
colleges, inspired by her concern that working
people have access to the arts and see their own
heritages represented.
“Multisensory” experiences were characteristic
of gallery programming. Ethnic foods were
served. Musicians, singers, dancers and theater
groups were hired and craft demonstrations,
workshops, and lectures covered all possible
aspects. From the beginning, The Egg and
The Eye provided a venue and gathering place
for artists and craftspeople, musicians, actors,
historians, anthropologists and collectors. Some
became important advisors, introducing Wyle to
an international milieu with similar interests. In
Wyle’s words:
Apparently, the need for such a place was acute.
As one of our members put it, ‘I live in such a
mechanized world that when I come to The Egg
and The Eye it’s like returning to the womb—
touching home base… Here things are made by
hand, and I’m with other human beings who
respond to these objects aesthetically, as I do.’

a
The first show at The Egg
and The Eye displaying
the installation of the
mezzanine’s ceramic
balustrade by Stan Bitters,
1965, Courtesy of Charles
E. Young Research Library,
UCLA.
b
The Egg and The Eye logo
was one of several iconic
images Milton Zolotow
created for the gallery
and CAFAM. Courtesy of
Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
It was a socially turbulent time, with rising
global awareness. As more young people were
traveling widely, a renewed craft movement
was underway, fueled by the pre-war influx of
European immigrant artists, influence from
Asian philosophies, the GI Bill for advanced
education and the resultant expansion of college
art departments. Along with major civil rights
legislation, Congress created the National Endowments
for the Arts (NEA) and Humanities
(NEH) in 1965.
As the gallery plans took shape, Wyle
made important personal connections. Sam
Maloof introduced her to Aileen Osborn Webb,
founder of the American Craftsmen’s Council
and the World Craft Council (WCC), and
other leaders. He sent letters to collectors and
craftspeople encouraging their support for the
gallery. Beatrice Wood, an old friend, gave her
mailing list of 900 names. Wyle became active
with the American Craftsmen’s Council and
on the board of Southern California Designer
Craftsmen. She attended the second meeting
of the WCC in 1966, joined the Board of
Directors in 1974 for two years, took associates
to the congress in Peru, and remained involved
into the early 80s.
In an April 1966 interview for the Los Angeles
Times, just five months after opening, Wyle mentioned
the desire to establish a museum.
The building was eventually purchased in
1969, doubling exhibition, sales, programming
and restaurant space. With that accomplished,
she spoke about her plans to the Miracle Mile
Association of business owners and began soliciting
support among community leaders.
While she perceived a need to preserve objects
that seemed increasingly rare as traditional cultures
had more interaction with the larger world,
and had at first depended mainly on her own
aesthetic judgment, Wyle also came to understand
the primary importance of the makers’ perspectives
in the presentation of their work. A 1974
proposal for the museum contained this appraisal:
Man is desperately searching for his roots…[He]
now knows it is not enough to be human; in order
to survive, he must become humane...Folk art and
crafts are vitally important to this search, for it
is in these always direct, often simple expressions
that man exposes his deepest needs to relate both
to his fellow man and the cosmos.
Since the 1930s there had been many significant
California craftspeople, some of them college
teachers, who helped set the national stage for a
post-World War II craft resurgence. Still, in the
1960s, commercial art galleries only occasionally
exhibited craft-associated media, usually ceramics,
and there were infrequent museum exhibitions. In
1965, when The Egg and The Eye opened, crafts
were rarely seen in the state outside of fairs.
News of The Egg and The Eye spread internationally,
but Wyle rejected requests to duplicate
it in other cities. It was probably the first art
gallery anywhere to combine contemporary and
traditional crafts with an international perspective,
and certainly to give equivalence to the
cultural aspects of cooking. Although the New
York-based WCC formed in 1964, joined proponents
of the village artisan and the urbanized
designer-craftsman, explicit linkage between the
two was rare. In 1965, there were no West Coast
museums dedicated to either field.
17

a
Installation from “John
Cederquist: Deceptions,”
1983, Jeffrey Gates
photograph
b
Opening reception for
“Made in L.A.”, 1981.
John Garrett’s weaving
is displayed on the wall
and Bernard Kester, guest
curator, is center left, in
the bow tie.
18
The Egg and The Eye Cultural Center was
incorporated in 1973, initiating the arduous
transition from business to educational institution.
The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM)
opened to the public on August 3, 1975, to exhibit,
collect and educate the public about world
folk art and contemporary crafts. Ideas for the
new museum were expansive. A collection, slide
registry, proper library, exhibition catalogs and
better documentation now seemed possible.
CAFAM was one of many new arts centers
founded across the country during the 1970s
and 80s in an increasingly complex social and
funding environment. Support came from local
interest in quality of life, government and
corporate enthusiasm for cultural involvement.
Recovery from recession was being led by California’s
newly identified “Pacific Rim” economy.
Concurrently, LACMA and others began to
develop their own collections of craft media.
More culture-specific museums were forming.
Sales outlets for traditional and contemporary
crafts had become more prevalent. California
property taxes, the main source for education
funding, were severely cut just as Los Angeles
was discovering itself to be a primary destination
for immigrants of all nationalities and
more than eighty languages were being spoken
by school children.
Wyle continued her far-sighted leadership.
She often spoke about her vision of “a living
museum” and “museum without walls.” She
supported the application of new forms and
the observation of process and ritual, working
a
continuously to take art out to the community
and to make the community feel welcome as
active, rather than passive, participants in the
museum. She grappled with terminology and
expanding definitions and found the museum’s
name problematic.
A hallmark of CAFAM programming
has been the search for shared themes among
cultures, both traditional and contemporary. In
1976, Mayor Tom Bradley announced that Los
Angeles had more ethnic and cultural groups
per square mile than any other city in the world.
This caused a shift in Wyle’s thinking, from a
focus on traditions where they originated, to
recognizing the local resources available for
cultural sharing. The immediate result was the
October 1976 Parade of Masks and, in 1977, the
b

c
This installation from
“American Porcelain”
features a Jerry Rothman
“Ritual Vessels” (third
from right).
19
c
Festival of Masks, co-sponsored by Los Angeles
County Department of Parks and Recreation,
which continued through the 90s. Cultural
groups were invited to large community meetings,
galvanizing participation by over 100 different
entities, representing multiple ethnicities
and traditions as well as experimental modes.
It was the region’s first major multicultural outdoor
event. First-year attendance was estimated
at 30,000 and grew in succeeding years.
Wyle’s ongoing interest in researching local
cultures resulted in the Preservation of Ethnic
Traditions (PET) project to document ethnically
based artisans in Los Angeles from 1979-82.
She was responsible for bringing “Japan Today”
— the first of several NEA/NEH-sponsored
“Today” festivals the museum would lead — to
Los Angeles in 1979, and coordinated local
organizations’ participation. These elaborate
undertakings involved many museums and performance
spaces, heads of state and diplomatic
corps as well as extensive fundraising.
Wyle retired in 1984 with the title of
Founder/Director Emeritus. Patrick H. Ela,
Administrative Director from 1975-82, and
then Executive Director, soon began a process
to re-evaluate the museum’s programs and
support structure. Wyle continued to serve on
the Board of Trustees until her death in 1999.
While common definitions of craft, folk art,
and design were employed, museum interest
overlapped into sculpture and painting as well
as popular culture. This “wavy line” approach
acknowledged the realities of creativity as well
as the relationship of the disciplines to each other
and to the larger fields of art, anthropology and
culture. The founding ideals of The Egg and The
Eye had been continued and amplified in the
Craft and Folk Art Museum. Regarding contemporary
crafts, a CAFAM narrative from 1981 noted:
The Egg and The Eye became the first real home
for contemporary crafts on the West Coast.
Because the basic assumption was that this art was
worthy of serious critical attention, the gallery was
influential nationally in publicizing and validating
an already fast-growing aesthetic movement.
That movement … became an enormous wave,
which is now changing the character of the entire
ocean that is the art world at large.

20

a
Merry Renk
Ate by Ate, 1976
To make this piece, Renk
used a torch to cut the
shapes that she interlocked
into place, creating
an amazingly delicateappearing
floral sculpture.
21
Curator’s Statement
This exhibition began as a lunchtime conversation among friends and colleagues.
Our group marveled at the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard
Time initiative, which would encourage institutions from Santa Barbara to
San Diego to develop exhibitions focusing on the art of Southern California
from 1945-1980. Carol Sauvion shared this information with the
group. She was interested in finding a way for Craft in America and the
Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) to be involved. Thus far, no participating
institution was addressing the history of California crafts.
Everyone at the table agreed that a recounting of the importance of crafts
in California could not be told without including two visionary women whose
leadership advanced the craft and design fields: Edith R. Wyle, founder of the
Craft and Folk Art Museum, and Eudorah M. Moore, director of the “California
Design” series of the Pasadena Art Museum. Through their dedication, ingenuity,
and savoir-faire they created a community in which craft and design flourished.
It was established that work made throughout California would be
considered, as the creative surge was statewide. Carol Sauvion initiated
a partnership between Craft in America and the Craft and Folk Art
Museum, facilitated by Corinna Cotsen, board member of both organizations.
Once the partnership was launched, the venue confirmed, and
funding secured, I was brought on to curate an exhibition that would
explicate the period of craft history from the 1960s through mid-1980s,
an era referred to as the postwar craft renaissance and a time defined by
an explosion of creativity and innovation. The entire spectrum of craft
work, from the handmade object of the studio artist to the prototype
made for manufacture by the designer-craftsman, would need to be
included if the story of this period were to be fully told.
Eudorah M. Moore once famously remarked: “…all of life is a door
to a door to a door,” and I needed to find the point of entry. Fortunately,
Joan Benedetti, CAFAM’s former librarian and archivist, and
Lois Boardman, last director of “California Design,” had the foresight
to safeguard their organization’s archives.
We began by creating a list of artists whose work had appeared in
shows at both sites — artists whom Wyle and Moore had validated as
the leading figures of the craft movement by their invitation to exhibit.
This select group represented the core of the checklist for “Golden State
of Craft: California 1960 -1985” but we extended it to include artists
whose work had shown at only one of the venues but who were identified
as major players in the advancement of the craft and design fields.
These artists are the source of the more than ninety compelling objects
on display in the exhibition. Collectively, they make a strong statement
for the integrity of the hand and are testament to the vigor and richness
of the New Crafts Movement that took root in California’s fertile soil.
Jo Lauria
Curator
Golden State of Craft: California 1960-1985
September 2011

22

a
Raul Angulo Coronel
Covered Vessel, 1982
Recognized as ceramic
pioneer, Coronel’s vessel
of impressive scale is a
testament to his virtuosity.
23
Craft in the Golden State
California at mid-twentieth century experienced a bold and vibrant renaissance
in the craft field. The New Crafts Movement, as christened by
Eudorah M. Moore, director of the “California Design” program of the
Pasadena Art Museum, had its roots traceable to the period in California
when the Arts and Crafts movement flourished from the 1880s to
the 1920s. The Arts and Crafts movement left its philosophical imprint
on the cultural consciousness of Californians. Widely influential and
broadly promoted throughout the state, the movement upheld beliefs
that affected patterns and philosophies of living: it endorsed a lifestyle
that favored rustic simplicity; placed emphasis on environmentalism
and the use of indigenous materials; advocated for the handcrafted over
the machine made; and honored nature as the wellspring of inspiration.
These tenets lingered on from San Francisco to San Diego but lost their
stronghold in the 1940s when Californians shifted their attention to the
exigencies of wartime efforts.
Within the decade that spanned 1940 to 1950, California underwent a
massive population expansion. At the beginning of the war, people poured
into the state to fill defense, aerospace, and shipyard jobs that had been
created by war-era industries. At the end of the war, thousands of returning
veterans chose to stay and make California their newfound home.
Many of them enrolled in college programs using funding provided by the
GI Bill of Rights to pay tuition. The population influx fueled a housing
boom, stimulated California’s economy, created an unparalleled period of
postwar prosperity and drove the expansion of the state’s college system.
Between 1947 and 1960, sixteen new college campuses were built. This
prodigious development was intended to fulfill the state’s mandate to make
“higher education accessible to all” (The Donahoe Higher Education Act
of 1960), and to accommodate the surge in enrollment that would occur
when “baby boomers” — those born after 1945 — reached college age.
Relevant to the crafts field, the postwar growth and expansion in
the schools was the major stimulus for engendering innovative craft
programs and nurturing a new generation of craftspeople. Educational
opportunities in the crafts became available as funding support for art
departments increased. Expanded new studios were shaped to facilitate
instruction in craft materials and processes. Students were offered training
in a wide range of disciplines including ceramics, fiber and textile
arts, woodworking, furniture making, metal arts, jewelry design and
glassblowing (introduced in the late 1960s). These early classes were
often taught by teachers who had no precedent to follow, and these
pioneering educators used their frontier ingenuity to secure necessary
equipment, supplies and resources. First and foremost, the objective of
the first wave of college craft teachers was to impart the technical hand
skills demanded by the craft, assuring a student’s mastery of materials
and methods.

a
Dominic L. DiMare
Untitled wall sculpture, 1969
A believer in the expressive,
talismanic power of textiles,
DiMare weaves together
wool and linen and shreds
twine to create this wall
sculpture of raw primitivism.
b
John Snidecor
Gold and Amethyst
Neckpiece, 1967
24
Starting in the late 1950s, the ushering
forth of the next era in the craft continuum
had its own distinctive energies, motivations,
and relationships with the broader art world:
the New Crafts Movement. In a published
interview for the journal, Design for Arts in
Education (October 1979), Moore outlined the
circumstances which she perceived as giving
birth to this new movement:
The second generation of craft educators
(and those who have followed) built upon the
foundation of teaching the formal values of
craft practices while broadening the scope and
reach of the programs. Through integrated
learning of associative subjects and world cultures,
the cross-disciplinary approach, teachers
endeavored to make the craft studio a laboratory
of creative thinking and experimentation.
Enabled and empowered, students were encouraged,
indeed expected to create thoughtful
work that had meaning and relevance to its
time and place. Craft work could now be freed
from the requirement of function and could be
judged on its aesthetic merit.
California has a centuries-old tradition of
emphasis on the ecological and the organic; a
love of nature and the out-of-doors inspired by
its climate; a diversity of ethnic and national art
traditions; an unstructured permissive attitude
toward new ideas in philosophy, religion, and
art; a school system in which crafts are taught in
art classes (almost unique in the nation); while
at the same time, Californians treasure their
heritage of rugged pioneer individualism. All
are circumstances which have contributed to the
flowering of a bold and brilliant New Craftsman’s
Movement in the state.
The years spanning the 1960s through the early
1980s were revolutionary times for the craft
field. At the core of the New Crafts Movement
was a profound shift in ideology that activated
changes within craft practices and aesthetics.
College-trained craft artists had been taught to
push boundaries, problem solve, and transcend
limitations. They had been prepared to become
participants in the wider discourse of contemporary
art, and as professional studio craft

c
Bernard Kester
Footed Bowl, early 1960s
d
Philip Cornelius
Untitled, mid-1970s
This container is an early
example of “thin-ware,”
a technique Cornelius
developed to push the
limits of his medium.
25
artists they were motivated to make work that
advanced the leading edge of possibility in their
field. Using cultural sources, other art genres,
and an adventurous spirit as their catalysts, they
leap-frogged old restraints of craft traditions and
opened the floodgates of change and creativity.
And change was evident in all disciplines; it
made inroads through diverse pathways.
Looking through the lens of history, the
flashpoints of transition and upheaval that
transpired during these decades ignited bright
new ways of thinking through crafts and
sparked to life the New Crafts Movement. The
exhibition “Golden State of Craft: California
1960-1985” explores and celebrates this period of
heightened critical inquiry and invention through
the display of craft objects exemplary for their aesthetic
vision and expert workmanship. Collectively,
these compelling pieces tell the story of when
craft crossed over into a golden era of innovation,
expressive energy, and creative diversity.
Assertive, unexpected, large scale, radically
altered forms began to emerge from studios.
Craft artists embraced new and unconventional
materials, advanced technologies, and experimental
processes. Ceramists translated the stylistic
aspects of Abstract Expressionism into massive,
gestural, forceful sculptures with spontaneouslyworked
surfaces. They manifested the aesthetics
of Funk in their offbeat sculptures that appeared
crafted in an irreverent and off-handed way, a
deliberate act of subversion that challenged the
positioning of skill and expertise in relation to
concept and content. Textile artists innovated
loom-weaving to create dimensional, off-the-wall
work, or abandoned their looms in favor of the
hand-weaving techniques of knotting, plaiting,
lashing and coiling. Jewelers looked to non-Western
cultures and created contemporary pieces
with inflections of exoticism and primitivism.
Furniture makers expanded the design vocabulary
producing forms that were more sculptural,
playful, and sometimes illusionistic by adding to
their material choices with metals and plastics
sourced from industry. Glassblowers shaped glass
into mysterious organic forms or into globular
vessels. These heady and exciting changes that
occurred within the walls of art studios, echoed
what was happening in the streets.

26

a
James Lovera
Untitled vase, 1962
Lovera’s experiments with
ceramic glazes, colorants
and kiln-firing technology
enabled him to pioneer
singular crater glazes.
27
The New Crafts Movement
“A pervasive and palpable optimism seemed to permeate the
air…There can be no doubt that the emerging new expressions
in craft and design impacted and changed the language of art.”
- Eudorah M. Moore
From the 1960s through the mid 1980s, an inspired group of artists
working in California made significant contributions to the American
Craft Movement, the art world, and American design. Working in a
range of materials and disciplines, these artists defined the ethos of the
era and the West Coast way of life through their creations. This confluence
opened the floodgates for experimentation and inventive, new
approaches to form. The messages that these artists presented resounded
across the country, becoming part of the national consciousness.
Were it not for two visionary women, the messages of this artistic
revolution might not have been heard. Eudorah M. Moore, director of the
Pasadena Art Museum’s “California Design” exhibition series from 1962
through 1978, and Edith R. Wyle, founder of the Los Angeles Craft and
Folk Art Museum (CAFAM), were critical advocates for emerging
craft artists and designers who helped foster the evolving California
aesthetic. Astute and passionate, they each created crucial venues for
showcasing the new craft and design movements when there were no
other regional forums.
All of the objects included in “Golden State of Craft: California
1960-1985” were selected because they were either exhibited in one of the
“California Design” shows or included in an exhibition at CAFAM during
the time period of 1960 to 1985. In many cases, works were shown at
both venues. Whether handcrafted or designed to be made by industrial
methods, the work of these innovators was imbued with a rare sense of
independence and ingenuity, unique to California’s frontier spirit.

a
Sam Maloof
Rocking Chair, c. 1973
29
Pioneering Mid-Century California
Craft: The Classics
“The plate is no less valid as a subject for art than the human figure in sculpture...In
other cultures and at other times pottery was held in high regard,
equal to the other fine arts; all works were judged solely on expressiveness.”
- Erik Gronborg, Objects USA
A ground-breaking group of artists emerged in California in the post-war
years who redefined what art could be. Many Americans had moved to
California during the war years to work for the defense manufacturing
industry and they became skilled laborers. These factories brought
a tremendous influx of capital into the state’s economy, which spurred
expansion, building and development. Once the war ended these workers
found new pursuits for their talents beyond the defense industry. The home
building boom that ensued after the war provided an alternative.
Additionally, the servicemen who passed through California as they
were shipped out during the war returned through the West Coast ports and
many decided to stay. Houses were constructed and neighborhoods plotted to
accommodate the growing families of returning veterans. The new construction
in turn created an expanded market for the domestic goods that filled
these dwellings. The sprawling, modern ranch houses required furnishings
and other accoutrements, from rugs and armchairs, to bowls and vases, patio
planters and poolside lounge chairs. The American dream thrived.
In this climate of domestic prosperity, innovators came forth who reimagined
what household goods looked like. They considered California’s
climate in this scheme and the more casual way of life that was possible
on the West Coast. Free of deeply entrenched craft traditions and
Eurocentric design biases prevalent in the Eastern states, the West Coast
was essentially a blank canvas where artists could assert their independence
and invent a California style. Even before the war, partially for this
reason, many of the first craft artists who came to the state, including
Marguerite Wildenhain and Gertrud and Otto Natzler, were actually
émigrés from Europe. They transported their mastery of European craftsmanship
to the West, where there was an inherent sense of experimentation.
In doing so, they had the best of both worlds.
Another transplant, Porter Blanchard, 34a brought his Massachusetts
training as a silversmith to Los Angeles where he then continued his
unrivaled work and trained his son-in-law, Allan Adler, 35d in the craft.
As Moore told House Beautiful, “A careful and overly cautious attitude
[exists] in the East. The Westerner asks, ‘Why not?’ ” California’s artistimmigrants
were beginning to make their mark and receive national
attention. An artistic movement in California was already taking shape
by the time the war was over.

a
Gertrud & Otto Natzler
Closed Form (O316), 1969
b
Arthur Espenet
Carpenter
Wishbone Chair, 1972
30
a
The role of schools in the development of
craft cannot be underestimated. The GI Bill
gave numerous art-oriented veterans the opportunity
to learn at the college level. Many of
them found their way to craft mediums. These
veterans showed an interest in learning ceramics,
woodworking, and metalsmithing among
other crafts, and the faculty responded, creating
additional positions in those disciplines.
Largely due to post-war funding support for
educational programs in the applied arts, craft
found its place in academia and gained legitimacy.
There was also a political dimension to
the expansion of craft. Many front-runners
in the pioneering pack of California craft
artists trained in the so-called “fine arts” but
chose to challenge this restrictive hierarchy
in their own careers, opting to work with
craft media rather than painting, sculpture,
and drawing. Recognizing fresh potential in
their move away from the mainstream, they
devoted themselves to mediums that were
traditionally marginalized within the arts for
having utilitarian origins. They set up studios,
like their painter and sculptor counterparts,
where they created work from concept to
finish, moving beyond pure functionalism
to a realm that emphasized meaning and
aesthetic expression.
Many of the new craft trailblazers were
the teachers who directly influenced up-andcoming
artists at Chouinard Art Institute,
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA),
Otis Art Institute, California State University
Long Beach (CSULB), Scripps College,
and other important schools. Once craft
artists held their own in academia, student
artists gained exposure to new vocabularies.
The relationship between teacher and
student in many ways became a modern
version of the age-old craftsman and apprentice
relationship. The connections that were
made were fundamental to the growth and
expansion of craft.

c
Alvin Pine
Gold Necklace, 1970
Hand fabricated with the
aid of a rolling machine,
this necklace reveals Pine’s
innovative use of tools and
metalsmithing.
d
Ellamarie & Jackson
Woolley
Untitled plate, c. 1960
The Woolleys’ process
was a close husband and
wife collaboration with
the aim to produce fresh,
yet timeless, enamels to fit
the modern scene.
31
d
b
c

32
a
b
The teachers at various campuses throughout
California were instrumental in laying the
foundation for communities of like-minded
artistic activity, exchange and communication.
Students went on to become teachers themselves.
James Bassler studied at UCLA where Bernard
Kester expanded the fiber program. Bassler
then he had his own career as a fiber instructor.
Laura Andreson 32b first brought craft to the art
curriculum at UCLA in the 1930s where she
mothered potters for decades, leaving an
indelible mark on numerous careers. Forging
the bridge from Craftsman-era art pottery to
studio pottery, a new chapter opened under her
wing. At CSULB, Mary Jane Leland taught
Gerhardt Knodel at the graduate level and he
also studied as an undergraduate at UCLA with
Kester. Knodel went on to advance fiber even
further through his teaching and leadership
at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield
Hills, Michigan. Marvin Lipofsky developed
the glass program at UC Berkeley and
mentored Richard Marquis. The first wave of
innovators paved the way for subsequent artists
who then extended the poetic and expressive
nature of craft mediums and techniques to
deeper levels, fueling the growth of the New
Crafts Movement.
Along the lines of the prevailing Modernist
tendencies, technical perfectionism and a classical
treatment of form were driving ideas for
many in this pioneering group of craftspeople.
Utility and the concept that form follows
function were critical. The stripping away of
unnecessary ornamentation and a purist respect
for material characterized much of the early
influential craftwork. There was also a very

a
b
c
d
Dextra Frankel
Untitled bowl, c. 1962
Frankel’s work in enamel
is notable for its jewel-like
surface of layered abstract
patterns that gives the
illusion of depth due to its
light reflective qualities.
Laura Andreson
Untitled vessel, 1978
Andreson’s work with
porcelain clays and glazes
yielded refined classical
shapes with distinctive
glazed surfaces that were
original and recognizable.
Marguerite Wildenhain
Untitled vase, c. 1972
Harrison McIntosh
Floating Disk, 1982
33
c
d
earthy aspect and organic feel to some of the
work being done at that time.
Marguerite Wildenhain’s 33c Bauhaus training
with its principles of rationalism, simplification
and functionalism were evident in her approach
to clay, which she passed on to many students at
Pond Farm artists’ colony, among them Harrison
McIntosh. 33d Harmony and process defined the
ceramic achievements of Gertrud and Otto
Natzler. 30a Gertrud’s delicate shapes met their
perfect match in Otto’s distinctive glaze treatments.
Allowing the clay bodies to be revealed
was a focal consideration to the Natzlers. Often,
they would let clay surfaces seep through,
organically melding them with the glazes.

34
b
a
c

a
b
c
d
e
Porter Blanchard
Coffee Pot and Creamer,
1960s
Otto & Vivika Heino
Untitled covered
container, c. 1963
Claire Falkenstein
Necklace, 1962
Falkenstein’s jewelry
forms are highly experimental,
and frequently
incorporate glass, a
material used in her large
scale metal sculptures.
Allan Adler
Pair of Candlesticks, c.
1959-1964
Arthur Ames
Untitled, c. 1970
Trained as a painter
and self-taught as an
enamellist, Ames carried
over the painting style of
geometric abstraction to
his enamel work.
35
d
Vivika and Otto Heino 34b were also renowned
for their experimentation with clay and glazes
and, as longtime teachers, they generously
passed their discoveries to a new generation of
potters. Arthur Ames 35e applied an abstract style
to his work in enamel during the era. He had a
vision of distilled geometric forms represented
in strong color that was very much in line with
traits of modern abstract painting.
Artists in this early group sought to refine
their craft to the highest level, as evident in Sam
Maloof ’s 28a mastery of wood. Arthur Espenet
Carpenter 31b put sound design and exceptional
craftsmanship at the forefront of his work,
going as far as to express skepticism about
furniture that was treated as more experimental
art, which he called, “artiture.” Strong, enduring
pieces were articulated with elegance and
simplicity by these artists, becoming the classic
icons of mid-century craft.
e

a
b
c
d
e
f
Travis Somerville
Untitled (dixie) 1998
oil and collage on ledger
paper
Adrian Frutiger
Meridian 1976
ink on paper
Adrian Frutiger
Meridian 1976
ink on paper
Travis Somerville
Untitled (dixie) 1998
oil and collage on ledger
paper
Adrian Frutiger
Meridian 1976
ink on paper
Adrian Frutiger
Meridian 1976
ink on paper
36

a
Evelyn & Jerome
Ackerman
California Poppies, 1970
37
Nature As Muse
California’s unrivaled climate and natural beauty had always been a magnet
for artists. Starting in the 1960s and surging in the 1970s, many craftspeople
working in California were driven by a back-to-the-land ideology that
complemented the drive to revive the handmade.
In terms of a physical landscape of inspiration, the variety of natural
assets the state offered was unparalleled, from the mountains to the sea, to
the redwood forests, serene deserts and endless brilliant blue skies. When
Arline Fisch first moved to San Diego from the East Coast, she could do
nothing but gaze at the ocean. As she described her feelings, “My world
had no containment…I’d come home from teaching and be mesmerized.”
The ocean was perhaps the strongest environmental presence that shaped
artists’ perspectives. Artists like Neda Al-Hilali were highly conscious of the
ocean when they worked. “It’s one of the few dependable things nowadays.
The tide keeps coming in. I pick up a lot of energy straight from the ocean.”
Even in California’s cities, nature crept in, allowing artists to feel
immersed and connected to the natural environment in the day-to-day.
One could live close to downtown but still feel as though he or she was
tucked away in a rustic studio surrounded by nothing but eucalyptus
trees. Dotted with orange, olive and avocado groves, the geography,
flora and fauna also provided an abundance of imagery as evident in the
California Poppies hand-hooked wool tapestry of Evelyn Ackerman. 37a
The sheer expansiveness of the large state with its relatively undeveloped
stretches symbolized freedom of expression. The immensity of the
landscape was a “psychic space,” in the words of Carol Shaw-Sutton,
and a spacious habitat of possibility for emerging voices in craft.
Enticed by the indoor-outdoor casual lifestyle, the imaginative and
independent craft community found an ideal home. California was
known for its patios, pools, decks and gardens that extended the home
outward into nature. Those outdoor areas needed their own furnishings:
streamlined pots and planters, like those that David Cressey 41e created
for Architectural Pottery and the birdhouses that Stan Bitters designed.
Cressey maintained his studio, one-of-a-kind work in addition to designing
studio-quality production pottery for the larger market.
Designers and craftsmen also focused on the beauty of bringing
the lanai inside the living room. Tropi-Cal’s rattan furniture and specifically
Miller Fong’s Lotus Chair 38b redefined stylish West Coast living
with exotic flair. The company promoted the notion that furniture
should be lightweight, moveable and durable for easy, year-round al
fresco living. Bitters 12a designed environmental tiles, adobe brick elements,
murals and other ceramics so versatile that they could be used
inside the home and out in the garden, truly erasing the boundaries
between interior and exterior.

38
a
The wealth of natural materials available in
the Golden State also influenced the kinds of
objects that were produced. Craft artists incorporated
indigenous materials into their work
including: clays and colorants for glazes, native
woods, gold and silver. The dramatic, chunky
gold jewelry of Ruth and Svetozar Radakovich 40b
spotlighted the opulence of California’s mined
mythical metal. Their combined visions and
inventive use of lost-wax casting caused a stir in
the fashion world.
The abundance of wood in Northern California
and inherent admiration for the qualities
of the material propelled designer-craftsmen like
Bob Stocksdale and Arthur Espenet Carpenter
to turn, saw, cut, carve and laminate compelling
art objects and elegant furniture forms.
Stocksdale, 39d who learned spindle-turning in
his youth, was a conscientious objector during
WWII, at which time he started making
bowls on a lathe. Stocksdale was passionate about
honoring color, grain patterns and growth variations
of all types of trees. He collected dramatically
figured woods so that he had a rainbow to
work with at his fingertips. His mission was to
find ways to best showcase these characteristics in
his turned wood objects and he became a master.
For Stocksdale and others, wood provided all of
the necessary ornamentation organically.
In Southern California, Frank E. Cummings
III 76a and John Nyquist 75a similarly created sleek,
gracefully rounded objects in wood. The finished
product is so refined that it is hard to believe it
is made from wood. Nyquist’s music stand is as
lyrical as the music that would be played at it.
Nyquist was motivated by the tactile and sensory
experience of working with wood. Cummings,
who studied handcarving in Ghana and other
parts of West and Central Africa, created a chair
that is as smooth and curvaceous as a shell that
would wash up on the California coast. The chair
feels monumental and ceremonial like a tribal

a
b
c
d
e
John Lewis
Moon Bottles, 1971
Miller Fong
Lotus Chair
Original design 1968,
re-design 1999
Malcolm Leland
Prototype Section of
Fascia from San Diego
Art Museum, 1965
Bob Stocksdale
Salad bowl, c. 1970
Brad Miller
Spheres in Compression, 1976
This sculptural arrangement
replicates growth structures
found in seeds, atoms and
bubbles.
39
c
e
throne. Their creations, sculptural, sensual and
tactile, can be appreciated as objets d’art, but
their primary intention is to be used as functional
furniture.
Artists re-envisioned the potential for
natural materials and also used them in modern,
creative ways. Using wood like shards of
stained glass, John Kapel 40a cut and assembled
various pieces to form a multi-toned, rhythmic
play of texture and shape with his door, created
in 1968 in response to an invitation to exhibit
at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, New
York. Pamela Weir-Quiton treated exotic
hardwood laminates like fabric for clothing
her mod Pamela Girls dolls, manipulating the
range of colors and patterns that exist among
wood varietals.
d

40
b
a
There was an entire universe to be considered
and addressed as a thematic subject for
craft, even beyond nature’s earthly offerings in
materials. This was the space age, with rockets
carrying humans to the moon, and satellites
launching into orbit. Along with the actual
voyages into outer space, the skies came to
symbolize new spirituality, mysticism, transcendental
meditation, and an existentialist
quest for fulfillment on higher planes. John
Lewis’ Moon Bottles 38a are moody contemplations
of the evening sky. Garry Knox Bennett looked
skyward to the clouds for his timepiece. During
the years when Bennett decided to shift his
career towards sculptural work that had functional
properties, cloud motifs were a focus for
many who were looking to the heavens, the
stars and the planets for inspiration.
In the photography for the “California
Design” catalogs, California’s striking natural
settings provided the backdrop for the
objects. Cabinets by Pamela Weir-Quiton 12b
take the shape of a seated girl towering over
rippled sand dunes while brilliant stoneware
forms by Ralph Bacerra 41c stand their ground
like a family of aliens making their way
across the barren Mojave. Donald Chadwick’s
red chair proudly faces the sun and soaks in
the rays. These images reinforced the power
of the vast and varied California landscape
as a font of inspiration for the rising talent
of the era.

a
b
c
d
e
John Kapel
Door, 1968
Kapel designed this piece
for “The Door” exhibition
sponsored by the U.S.
Plywood Corporation and
the Museum of Contemporary
Crafts, NY.
Svetozar Radakovich
Gold Cuff Bracelet, late
1960s
Ralph Bacerra
Stoneware forms, 1968
Courtesy of California
Design, Richard Gross
photograph
Faith Porter
Red Blush, 1968
In graduate school at
USC, Porter mastered
the technical formulas
of high-fire clay bodies
and glazes to ultimately
achieve translucency in
porcelain.
David Cressey
Untitled covered jar,
1960s
41
c
e
d

42

a
Michael Frimkess
Vase with Jazz Musician
(maquette), 1974
43
California Counter-Culture
“I believe the time has come for all people, and especially the artists,
to pull together and find a solution to an unprecedented world crisis.”
– Michael Frimkess
After fostering the Beatnik scene in the 1950s, California naturally
became the setting for the Counter-Culture Movement that followed
in the 1960s. Young people wished to challenge authority, re-think the
system and take down the establishment. The state was the epicenter of
many of the cultural revolutions that took place in that decade. The Free
Speech Movement, hippie culture, urban rioting, antiwar activism and
liberationist philosophies of feminism, Black Power and Chicano Pride
all collided, swelling to create a charged environment. Changes were
happening everywhere.
From Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip to Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue to the
Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, Californians were outspoken and trendsetting
in every way. The Doors, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane
and countless other bands made their homes in the Golden State. Art
and music provided a way to convey the message. Craft, which had deep
historical associations, became an outlet for artists who wished to communicate
worldviews, liberal ideology and a more righteous way of living.
For instance, fiber had always been part of the women’s realm in the home
and it took on heightened political meaning as artists from the women’s
movement reworked the medium and instilled new power.
Part of the notion of moving away from the mainstream mechanisms
meant avoiding industrial channels. Making objects by hand was one way
to circumvent the system. Craft was a way of challenging the perceived
materialism that had come to define American life at the mid-century.
Ideally, the handmade was personal, humane, enduring and meaningful.

44
b
a
The desire to remove oneself from the industrialized,
capitalist system and to look outside it
for more admirable paradigms became common
among artists in the 1960s. Pre-Columbian and
African tribal art were appealing because they
signified what was untainted and truthful. California
was such a diverse population to begin
with that it became a melting pot for eclectic,
innovative styles. The range of sources expanded
even more as artists traveled the continents and
studied world artistic traditions. There was an
upsurge of interest in non-Western, specifically
Indian, East Asian, African, and South American
native cultures, religions and traditions.
Looking at the world and the vast legacy of
craft, artists approached their creations using
ethnographic and archaeologic precedents. Fiber
artists dispersed across the globe looking to learn
ancient patterns, structures and dye formulas,
such as ikat, batik and shibori. Neda Al-Hilali
was drawn to the luxurious textiles of the Middle
East and the role they played in nomadic cultures.
She was fascinated by their importance as
indicators of status and tribal identity.
Early in his career, James Bassler 45c went to
India and Indonesia, where he saw cotton being
spun and intricate dye patterns being used. In
1970, James and his artist wife, Veralee, moved

a
b
c
d
Ed Rossbach
Newspaper, 1976
Dora De Larios
Europa and the Bull, 1962
James Bassler
Rebozo, 1975
Drawing inspiration from
pre-Columbian and
Peruvian textile traditions,
Rebozo re-interprets the
designs of head-coverings
customarily worn by
Mexican women.
J.B. Blunk
Mr Peanut, 1973
45
to Oaxaca, Mexico, where they were amazed by
the ubiquitous warp ikat shawls that were timeconsuming
to make and part of a long-standing
craft tradition. Over the years, Bassler has
continued to work with ikat and mine the globe
for other textile practices, including a number of
Peruvian weaving techniques, the use of natural
dyes, and Navajo blanket diagonal construction
known as wedge weave.
Ed Rossbach 44a led the drive for research
into Native American basketry among other
indigenous textile methods. When stationed
in the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska during
World War II, he became interested in basket
construction. After the war, together with
wife, Katherine Westphal 78 , who was also a
textile teacher, he traveled widely to learn
textile practices firsthand. His investigations
of woven techniques were then incorporated
into his work, writings and his teachings at
UC Berkeley. Rossbach inspired numerous
students, such as Lia Cook, who first became
interested in textiles after seeing weaving
processes in Mexico and who later went on to
study in Sweden.
Dora De Larios 44b experienced her first
thrown bisque vessels in Mexico and felt that
the country was “imbued with magic and
a spirit of energy.” California’s craft artists
instilled that energy into their work and
challenged authority, questioning pre-existing
artistic conventions and re-engaging artistic
principles from a fresh angle.
d
c

46
a
Japan’s deep and vast craft traditions provided
a tremendously rich basis for many artists
to begin their work. James Wayne 46c looked
to Japanese folk pottery and transitioned into
one-of-a-kind works in glass, as well as clay.
Paul Soldner 47d is credited for bringing the
sixteenth-century Japanese technique and
philosophy of raku to the states. J.B. Blunk
applied his studies and training in Japanese
ceramics in an inventive way by treating wood
as a medium for sculpture, and astonishingly,
using a chainsaw to create smooth, rounded,
finely finished volumetric pieces. Well known
for his monumental wood sculpture and outdoor
seating platforms, Blunk’s carved pine and
redwood sculpture, Mr. Peanut 45d , demonstrates
the artist’s passion for using the raw material
of woods felled on his property in Inverness or
rescued from nearby beaches. As famed artist
Isamu Noguchi noted, Blunk was a virtuoso
wood carver, “finding true art in the working
[of the] burled stumps of those great trees.”
b
c

a
b
c
d
e
Garry Knox Bennett
Red Baron, c. 1968-1969
Carter Smith
Red Rainbow, mid-1970s
James Wayne
Untitled vessel c. 1970
Gere Kavanaugh
Flowers Rug, c. 1965
Paul Soldner
Abstract Bowl, 1960s
47
e
d
In 1966, House Beautiful featured a California
“flower power” home. Poet and activist Allen
Ginsberg had coined the term in 1965 in reference
to peaceful anti-war protests. Flower power
came to be associated with hippie culture. While
nature was used as the inspiration, this was
not a mimetic copying, instead it was nature
on psychedelics featuring Technicolor overscaled
flowers and highly stylized landscapes
with arched rainbows and floating cloud forms.
These motifs became signatures, not just of
fashion and home design but also of a social and
political movement.
Bolder, brighter patterns characterized the textiles
of the era. Gere Kavanaugh’s 47c 1965 handhooked
rug of scattered vibrant flowers captures
the essence of the electricity that pulsed through
design during this period. Any room would
wake up with that jolt of color. Studio craft
artists and designer-craftsmen intersected with
this movement at varying times in their careers.
Flowers became iconographic of the Flower
Child era, appearing in every medium and at
every scale.
The physical manifestation of flower
power not only translated to representations
of flowers, it became equated with the whole
hippie scene and its related imagery, artifacts
and life view. Psychedelic tie-dyes became
the hippie uniform and they entered into the
domestic sphere as well. The shibori tie-dyes of
Carter Smith 46b were expertly executed versions
of the most iconic 1960s fabric treatment.
Drug culture became synonymous with the
hippie way of life, and along with it came a category
of associated paraphernalia and accessories,
artfully and humorously interpreted by Garry
Knox Bennett. 46a Bennett had the entrepreneurial
savvy to make smoking paraphernalia when
he began his career and was trying to find a
way to make a living at art. The roach clips and
pipes of Garry Knox Bennett are the ultimate
signs of the era.

48
In 1967 Peter Selz, then director of the University
Art Museum of Berkeley, California, organized an
exhibition called “Funk Art.” Selz was the first to
apply the term to the new art style:
Funk art...is largely a matter of attitude. Funk
art is hot rather than cool; it is committed
rather than disengaged; it is bizarre rather than
formal; it is sensuous; and frequently it is quite
ugly and ungainly.
a
b
Funk, by nature a counter-cultural artistic
movement, had roots in Dada and Surrealism.
Its artists were linked by their interests in provocative
content, subversion of the high-toned
New York art scene, and a deliberate offhandedness
in the way they worked. Materials were
often combined and used in unconventional
ways, sometimes in a purposely irreverent
manner to belie mastery of their craft. Funk
was viewed as vulgar and even juvenile by some
but it was transformative for creating a conduit
between art and craft.
Before there was Funk, there was movement
among a group of ceramic artists, largely
based at Otis Art Institute in the late 1950s and
connected with the work of Peter Voulkos, to
revolutionize the medium. These artists created
pieces that were gestural and intended as
sculpture rather than focused on the functionalism
and technical virtuosity that exemplified the
modernist approach to craft. Parallel to Abstract
Expressionism in painting of that era, which was
characterized by anti-figurative, intense expressions,
artists Michael Frimkess 43a and others
ambitiously worked high concepts through the
medium. Frimkess soon became known as a
master at the wheel who created classical Greek
and Asian forms but painted them with cartoonish
imagery that conveyed cutting and derisive
views about contemporary American life.

a
b
c
d
Robert Arneson
Untitled sculpture, 1961
Adrian Saxe
Hula Dick (Iron Blue),
1969
Marvin Lipofsky
California Loop Series
#4, 1970
The seductive surfaces
of the California Loop
series were inspired by
the eye-catching finishes
applied to custom cars
and hot rods.
Erik Gronborg
Covered Container, late
1970s
d
c
This was a moment that had a revelatory
impact on all craft. Artists decided that clay
could be used to capture a moment, an idea
or a feeling rather than just to be shaped into
a vessel. It became dramatic, spontaneous and
assertive instead of striving to be understated,
intentional and refined. Marvin Lipofsky 49c
brought analogous ideas to glass and liberated
the medium from strictly traditional functional
forms. Lipofsky also was an innovator for creating
glass amalgamations with other materials,
such as flocking, metals and plastic. When
asked about his work from the 1960s he stated,
“I did everything to deny its inherent beauty.”
A decade later, he explored the splendor and
seductiveness of glass, calling it “dangerous”
because he felt it was easier to get lazy when
approaching the material from that standpoint.
In a similar but even more overtly riotous
vein, craft artists working in the Funk style
furthered the trajectory and sought to overcome
the stultification of the craft ideals then in
fashion. Funk was a repudiation of the prevailing
notion of the humble craftsman who created
quiet, modest works that celebrated the purity
of materials. Funk artists made provocative and
defiant works that shouted about everything
that went against mainstream culture. Works
by Robert Arneson 48a (christened the “Father of
Funk”), Erik Gronborg 49d , and Adrian Saxe 48b
are quintessential exemplars of the Funk
aesthetic realized in clay.

50

a
Lia Cook
Fire Pocket Piece, 1984
51
New Ground: Experimentation &
Innovation in Materials & Processes
“When I look at something I’ve made or that someone else has made,
I think in terms of voices. The first voice I want to hear is that of the
person. I want to hear the material second and the process last.”
– Dominic DiMare, Gentle Revolution
By the 1960s, innovations in lightweight metals, molded plywood,
reinforced concrete, fiberglass, plastics and resins that evolved from the
defense and aerospace industries had revolutionized the design vocabulary.
A widely expanded choice of industrial materials and tools was now available
to those who had the inclination to experiment.
As a material, plastic was considered a miracle substance when it was
invented in the late 1930s. It was almost immediately put into wartime
production to manufacture parts for military airplanes. This new material
was quickly adopted by post-war consumer industries to produce a plethora
of domestic products and furnishings. Recognizing a peaceful repurposing,
plastic, fiberglass and acrylic were later taken to a new level by artists and
designers who capitalized on their inherent properties. They were lightweight,
easily molded and inexpensive.
Plastic became an essential medium for the modern designer-craftsman.
Using paper-thin acrylic sheets, Elsie Crawford 53e created futuristic, sculptural
lighting designs that floated like spaceships. Charles Hollis Jones 55e ,
with his transparent Adjustable Side Tables and Edison Lamp, used acrylic for
maximum clarity and its ability to magically deconstruct form. Jewelry artist
Arline Fisch’s Colorcore Formica Whale of a Necklace, 55d pushed the bounds
of what jewelry was, not just in reference to the valuable materials commonly
used in jewelry but also with the way that wearable pieces were
generally designed to be proportionate to the human body. These artists
demonstrated that plastic substances could provide an almost limitless
“meditation on material” in dexterous hands. New channels of possibility
were cleared for exploration.
Artists created entirely new forms during this era, often starting
from scratch in their consideration of physical space and the domestic
environment. Functionalism was reinvented. Gerhardt Knodel’s Flexible
Wallpaper 79 was a new means for ornamenting walls. His design empowered
the owner to rearrange the segments to his or her liking. The
airy panels were to be hung in such a way that they would move with
the air and create shadows that were constantly shifting.
Processes for manufacturing or working materials by hand were
revolutionized during these years. There was a proliferation of new
technologies, advanced tools and specialized equipment. Donald
Chadwick designed a prototype for a Side Chair 55b to be crafted with a
new urethane molding process, but it proved to be too challenging for
production in 1969.

a
b
c
d
e
Neda Al-Hilali
Yucca, 1984
Douglas Deeds
Series 3000 Chair (with
cushion), c. 1968-1970
Deeds refers to this series
as the “roundies” due to its
overall sculptural contours,
a silhouette made possible
by the material and process
of molded fiberglass.
Hiromi Oda
Untitled, 1972
Referencing nature and the
human body, Oda’s large
scale, dimensional works
crossed over into the realm
of sculpture.
Carol Shaw-Sutton
Spirit Canoe, 1980
These flexible willow
structures are interpretations
of the experiences
she had in the Sierra
wilderness symbolizing
the connection to the
flow of life.
Elsie Crawford
Zipper Light II
Designed 1965,
fabricated 1997
52
The early 1960s saw a wave of change in the
experimental fiber works being produced.
Craftspeople began to create three-dimensional,
free-hanging works that stood on their own merit
as art objects. This marked the intersection of
painting with textiles. Due to greater visibility
of textiles in exhibitions and with mentors at the
college level, such as Bernard Kester at UCLA,
Mary Jane Leland 3 at CSULB, and Ed Rossbach
at UC Berkeley, fiber artists became increasingly
prolific. There was a deep sense of discovery,
imagination, and encouragement.
Al-Hilali 52a began her career working with
fiber and transitioned into paper because she
was intrigued by the possibility of transforming
an unremarkable, industrial-made material in
avant-garde ways. She pressed and worked paper
to make it look like other materials, including
metal, stone and satin. “With paper, the visual
record of the construction method can be ma-
a
b
nipulated, disguised, altered,” Al-Hilali said.
Al-Hilali’s weavings comprised of plaited
paper towels to create a painted textile, or the
movement of Carol Shaw-Sutton 53d , John Garrett,
Ferne Jacobs 55c , and Hiromi Oda 53c to weave off
the loom or use knotting, crocheting, and other
fiber techniques in new and adventurous ways,
facilitated the creation of three-dimensional
pieces that moved away from the rectangular flat
forms heretofore associated with the medium.
Free hanging and relief wall weavings broke the
tyranny of the two-dimensional. Kay Sekimachi 2
created free-floating, complex ethereal forms using
an unexpected material, nylon monofilament.
Ruth Asawa 1 , not working in fiber but
rather in metal, treated copper and other wires
like yarn in her intricate, delicate sculptures that

53
e
c
d

a
June Schwarcz
Issey Miyake, 1983
54
electroforming. She often employed basse-taille,
which created surface variation. Using innovative
processes paradoxically allowed her to create
work that feels organic and also primitive.
The Studio Glass Movement pushed the
medium to the outer limits during these years,
using a range of new techniques, redefining the
possibilities, and conquering new themes. In the
words of innovator Paul Marioni:
a
belie the rigidity of metal. Fractal-like, they
expand outward and have both naturalistic and
futuristic qualities. These innovators led the
pack of artists who saw the possibilities of using
materials in unprecedented ways. Working in
the opposite direction, Lia Cook made fiber
appear like metal in her tapestry Fire Pocket
Piece 50a from 1984. In this case, she re-thinks
the material and manipulates it into a new state
to give it a metallic sheen.
In metal, June Schwarcz 54a became known
for experimenting with processes in her enamel
work, including electroplating, etching and
The nascent glass scene in California in the 1970s
was fantastic, incredible, unbelievable. Just,
WOW. We were in a period of intense learning
and growing and it was solely due to co-operation
(not competition). We were lucky enough to
infect others with our enthusiasm and thereby
start a ‘movement’ that is here to stay. As a result,
we are like one big family and are still excited and
have retained a deep respect and friendship. It was
truly an exciting period for art in California.
By the late 1970s personal computers and
other related advanced technologies became
increasingly available and artists like Cook
started learning software programs that were
developed to aid design and fabrication. This
opened up the new possibility of utilizing
traditional handcrafting techniques together
with newly developed digital processes. It both
challenged the survival of the handmade and
in ways, encouraged its revival. The language
of traditional creative expression was deeply
enhanced and forever altered.

c
d
e
Donald Chadwick
Side Chair/Dining Chair,
1969
Ferne Jacobs
Flame, 1982-1983
The slow, labored
process of knotting and
coiling, used to construct
this wall sculpture,
accords Jacobs a deep
relationship with the work.
Arline Fisch
A Whale of a Necklace,
mid-1980s
Charles Hollis Jones
Edison Table Lamp, 1968
The name of this piece
pays tribute to the
inventor of the practical
electric lightbulb.
55
d
b
c
e

56

a
John Cederquist
The Game Table, 1982
57
The New Wave
“In working, you employ all your faculties, use all your experiences and
let them thrive together. You live like a tree. Inevitably, if you are happily
alive, you will give fruit and continue to grow.”
– Neda Al-Hilali
The rebellious innovation of the 1960s in the craft world was propelled to a
new level with the irreverence of the 1970s and 1980s. Fusing the sly irony
of Pop Art and the in-your-face derision of Funk, Postmodernism bubbled
to the surface in the crafts, offering a new take on design and meaning.
Starting in the 1960s and swelling in the 1970s, artists challenged
technical traditionalism and Modernist tenets. The idea of eliminating
frivolous ornamentation, form following function, and the idea that
materials needed to directly communicate their identities were all key.
Postmodernism broke these concepts down. Artists who propelled
Postmodernism no longer wished to rely on the rationalism established by
earlier movements. Objects remained superbly crafted, but craftsmanship and
the subtleties of structure and material were no longer the focal interest.
Form and material were surpassed by concept, but work became more
refined. Objects were slick and urbane. In his 1986 intro to Craft Today:
Poetry of the Physical, Paul J. Smith, then director of the American Craft
Museum, wrote that the craftsman was at this time able to “transcend traditional
forms and techniques, creating works of genuinely new significance.”
The Modernist ideology of breaking from historic precedent went
under fire in the hands of the new wave of artists. Instead, these artists
embraced a playful pastiche of references. Postmodernism was
often garish and filled with motifs, signs and symbols. They made
iconoclastic statements with satire, whimsy and humor, often referring
to popular culture and quoting historic stylistic traditions. References
to Art Deco, Neoclassicism, Modernism and Early American
stylistic periods and forms became a language that artists would riff
upon. They reconsidered the past and created visual commentaries
through objects.
Artists also played with illusions and tricks to make materials and
forms appear unlike what they actually were. John Cederquist’s 56a
use of trompe l’oeil two-dimensional design in his masterfully crafted
furniture was groundbreaking. Depth perception and perspective were
reconsidered in his work as he asked the viewer to question what is
real. His pieces challenged form, appearance and the nature of craftsmanship
with elegance and wit.

a
Elsa Rady
Black Fan Bowl, c. 1983
b
Peter Shire
Pinwheel, c. 1980
58
a
b
Work from this era flaunted saturated pigmentation
in the face of Modernism’s cool, sedate
tones. Bold glazes and laminates were used
in all colors and patterns to enliven furniture.
Shocking bolts of primary color and neon were
pushed together. The juxtaposition of discordant
shapes and geometrics was typical, as was the
unexpected use of materials and surface ornamentation.
Much of the work along these lines
was largely driven by the community of ceramic
artists at Chouinard, including Ralph Bacerra,
Adrian Saxe, Elsa Rady 58a , Mineo Mizuno 59d
and Peter Shire. Bacerra became known for
vibrant, dense patterning while Saxe made
heady, witty vessels that touched on the canons
of clay and considered the concept of consumption
in the most excessive eras of history.
Ever the constructionist, Paul Tuttle created
his Tablet Chair 4 as an assemblage of floating
geometrical planes that came together to perform
the function of being a writing chair, executed
with a streamlined-Moderne sensibility. The
roundedness of the piece channels Art Deco
furniture, but one can also view the chair as
“visual geometry” - an assemblage of semicircles
supported by lines that delineate the structure.
Peter Shire’s Pinwheel 58b teapot, whimsically
composed of colorful circles and triangles that
produce a riot of spinning shapes and shades,
is exemplary of Shire’s “Memphis” aesthetic,
which epitomized Postmodernism. Shire was
one of the lead designers for the Memphis
Group, an Italian design firm that drove the
development of postmodern principles. The
Pinwheel teapot makes references to scraps
of sheet metal. The overall formal nature of a
teapot and the class connotations associated
with it are considered in his interpretation of
the form. Craft had moved away from functionalism
in these years, but Shire goes even further
to create designs that often hide their utilitarian
purposes. Craft had entered a new dimension of
conceptualism beyond practicality and tactility.

c
Stephanie DeLange
Pair of Clipped Cylinders,
1981-1982
DeLange makes a contemporary
statement with
these cylinders by opening
up the vessels with slits
cut by pinking shears.
d
Mineo Mizuno
Square Plate with Two
Cups, 1978-1980
Mizuno uses blocks of color
to amplify architectural
structure, and the graphic
depiction of peppers to
play with conventions of
the still life genre.
e
Richard Marquis
Personal Archive Unit:
Bottle with Funnel, 1984
A leader of the studio glass
movement, Marquis’ work
evolved to include witty
pastiches of curio cabinets
containing glassblown
pieces and found objects.
59
c
d
The proliferation of wealth in the 1980s
created a new outlook for craft. It allowed many
more craft artists to work independently and
form financially stable careers. There was more
patronage than ever before while collectors, auction
houses and galleries created a new market
for craft. Artists found that they could actually
make businesses out of their expressions.
The years between 1960 and 1985 were a
vital and vibrant moment in the craft continuum.
For some, this era was an evolution.
For many, this was the period in which they hit
their stride. And for others, it was the beginning,
when they were just starting out, experimenting
and finding their voices. Many artists in this
group went on to create work that was very
different from what they were generating
during this period. Within these decades, it
is apparent that massive changes took place.
Artists digested these social changes individually
through their work. This was a time when
culture and craft intersected powerfully. The
awareness that the times were changing came
through loud and clear in the art that was
created and it propelled craft into uncharted
realms of discovery and possibility.
e

TIMELINE & FAMILY TREE
CCA (CCAC)
COOK
LIPOFSKY
GUERMONPREZ
FREY
VOULKOS
CORONEL
BENNETT
SEKIMACHI
ARNESON
Late 1930s
Van Keppel-Green showroom and retail shop opens. The showroom and shop marry craft and the
most modern design and is the premier showcase for indoor-outdoor, adaptable furniture
1950
Multi-media artist and jeweler Claire Falkenstein goes to Paris until 1963 and meets Jean Arp,
Alberto Giacometti and other artists
c. 1950
Wildenhain decorates her tall-footed vessels with figurative imagery
Arthur Espenet Carpenter starts selling turned bowls and furniture he creates
Arthur Ames teaches at Otis College of Art and Design, and continues making mosaic murals with
wife, Jean Goodwin
Laura Andreson begins to throw porcelain. By the end of the decade she is the West Coast expert
1951
Raul Coronel studies at the California College of Arts and Crafts (as of 2003, California College of
the Arts or CCA)
1952
Peter Voulkos gets his MFA from CCA and co-founds an artist-in-residence program in Montana
called the Archie Bray Foundation
Glen Lukens takes leave of absence at USC and Vivika Heino replaces him
1954
Peter Voulkos is head of the Ceramics Department at Otis and a new era
begins in studio ceramics
Otis Art Institute changes its name to Los Angeles County Art Institute
Designer Craftsmen of California organizes

HIRED
MOVEMENT
INSTRUCTED
“California Design 1” exhibition is launched as an annual program of the
Pasadena Art Museum
MILLS
FALKENSTEIN
The San Francisco Museum of Art holds a solo exhibition on the work of
studio jeweler and metal artist Merry Renk
June Schwarcz learns to enamel with lessons from a friend and by studying
Kenneth Bates’ Principles and Practices
1956
Crystalline glazes become a part of the Natzler repertoire
ARNESON
1957
Studio furniture-maker Arthur Espenet Carpenter
moves from San Francisco to Bolinas
1958
Arline Fisch’s work is included in the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York City
“Young Americans 1958” exhibition
John Nyquist participates in “California Design VII” when he is a senior at Long Beach
State. He subsequently participates in all the California Design exhibitions
Allan Adler’s business thrives. He has twenty-five workers; eighteen are silversmiths
STUDENT
TEACHER
INDEPENDENT
SCHOOL
After studying painting and ceramics at CCA, Viola Frey earns her MFA from Tulane,
where she studied with painter Mark Rothko
1959
Peter Voulkos begins teaching design and sculpture at UC Berkeley (UCB) at the urging of Ed Rossbach
Kay Sekimachi’s work is featured in Craft Horizons
Harrison McIntosh brings his classic, understated thrown stoneware pottery style to Otis to teach for the summer with Peter Voulkos
Stan Bitters receives his BA in painting from UCLA and goes on to San Diego State for three years and Otis for one year before
becoming a professional ceramics designer
1960
NASA launches its first communications satellite
Michael Frimkess begins making his “melting pots”
Ruth and Svetozar Radakovich move to Encinitas, California and build a studio
Ron Nagle studies ceramics under Peter Voulkos

USC
LUKENS
PETERSON
HEINOS
CORONEL
PORTER
DE LARIOS
UCB
1961
ROSSBACH PRESTINI VOULKOS
COOK
The Funk movement takes root
when Robert Arneson constructs
an imitation of a glass bottle during
a demonstration at the California
State Fair
Claire Falkenstein creates the iron
and colored-glass gates for Peggy
Guggenheim’s Palazzo Venier dei
Leoni in Venice, Italy
FALKENSTEIN
Los Angeles County Art Institute
becomes Otis Art Institute of Los
Angeles County
Ralph Bacerra studies at Chouinard
Art Institute with Vivika Heino
Vivika and her husband Otto found
the annual Chouinard Pottery Sale
James Wayne enrolls in a ceramics
class as a non-arts major
1962
US combat missions begin in Vietnam
The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs
Chouinard merges with California Institute of the Arts and receives financial
support from Walt Disney
Architectural Pottery builds the largest envelope kiln to fire the oversized planters
by David Cressey
Ruth Asawa begins experimenting with tied-wire and electroplating techniques.
J.B. Blunk begins creating wood sculptures with a chainsaw
Eudorah M. Moore becomes Curator of Design at the Pasadena Art Museum and is also named
Director of “California Design”

CHOUINARD
HEINOS
M. LELAND
BACERRA
RADY
MIZUNO
SHIRE
SAXE
WILDENHAIN
MALOOF
BLANCHARD
1963
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech
John F. Kennedy is assassinated
Paul Soldner leads the revival of the low-fire Raku technique
in pottery
1964
The first Free Speech protest takes place
at UCB
CORONEL
Don Chadwick sets up a design practice
1965
The Watts Riots wreak havoc on
the South Los Angeles area
Ferne Jacobs takes a weaving course
at Barnsdall Park that inspires her to
become a fiber artist
MCINTOSH
Carter Smith learns to tie dye from his
mother, artist and arts leader Eloise
Pickard Smith
The Egg and The Eye opens as a commercial
gallery with inaugural exhibitions:
“J.B. Blunk, Sculptural Furniture”;
“Kenojoak, Eskimo Sculpture”; and
“Richard D. Phipps, Rugs”
JOHNSON
1966
“The Ceramic Work of Gertrud & Otto
Natzler,” their first museum retrospective
in the US, opens at LACMA
ADLER
Faith Porter mounts her master’s
exhibition at The Egg and the Eye and
Sam Maloof’s first solo show opens
“Abstract Expressionist Ceramics” opens
at the University of California, Irvine
1967
Marvin Lipofsky founds the glass
department at CCA while also on the
faculty at UCB

MCINTOSH
AMES
VOULKOS
AL HILALI
SOLDNER
FRIMKESS
BITTERS
MASON
ROTHMAN
OTIS
1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
Neda Al-Hilali receives her graduate degree from UCLA but continues to be associated with the university through
intermittent teaching for many years while teaching at Otis
Elsa Rady establishes her own studio
1969
President Nixon takes office and aims to negotiate withdrawal from Vietnam
Apollo 11 lands on the moon
Woodstock music festival is held in Woodstock, New York
Frank E. Cummings III starts teaching furniture making at Cal State Fullerton, through 2000
“Objects USA,” the first survey of American craft, opens and a book is published in conjunction
Richard Marquis learns the traditional Venetian glass techniques as a Fulbright Fellow in Murano
Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot magazine is published
Pamela Weir creates life-size wooden dolls for the lobby of Altadena Federal Savings and Loan
1970
The Energy Crisis affects peaks in oil prices throughout the decade
Gerhardt Knodel becomes artist-in-residence of the fiber department at Cranbrook Academy of Art
Arline Fisch visits Denmark and begins to reinterpret textile constructions through metal
Dominic DiMare, a self-taught studio weaver, begins making handmade rag papers, which he incorporates
into his sculptures
c. 1970
Richard DeVore begins focusing on thrown and sculpted, asymmetrical shallow bowls and cylindrical vases
Philip Cornelius begins producing his signature “thinware,” fired “right to the edge”

UCLA
KESTER
BASSLER
AL HILALI
KNODEL
ODA
SAXE
BITTERS
CHADWICK
ANDRESON
1971
The “Fiber as Medium” symposium takes place at UCLA along with “Deliberate
Entanglements,” a show organized by Bernard Kester featuring large-scale work
CRESSEY
Alvin Pine makes a gold necklace for “California Design.” John Nyquist buys
the necklace for his wife Shirley
Gertrud Natzler dies and Otto stops working until the following year
Lia Cook studies fiber with Ed Rossbach at UCB
c. 1971
Arthur Espenet Carpenter makes furniture with rounded finishes that become known as the “California roundover style”
1972
October: The Watergate scandal is uncovered. Walter Cronkite reports
it on the CBS News
Chouinard Art Institute holds its final commencement ceremony and closes
BLUNK
The Renwick Gallery opens with Lloyd Herman as director. The featured
show is “Woodenworks: Furniture Objects by Five Contemporary Craftsmen”
featuring the work of Arthur Espenet Carpenter, Wendell Castle, Wharton
Esherick, George Nakashima and Sam Maloof
The Baulines Craft Guild is founded by Tom D’Onofrio, Arthur Espenet Carpenter
and others. It becomes the California Contemporary Craft Association
DELANGE
The Pacific Basin Textile Art Center is established in Berkeley, California
The Center for Folk Art and Contemporary Crafts is founded in San Francisco
and later called San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum
Paul Marioni shifts his focus from flat glass to blown glass

CSUSD (SDSC)
SHAW-SUTTON
RADAKOVICH
FISCH
DIMARE
BITTERS
SOLDNER
CLAREMONT
CORNELIUS
DIMARE
MCINTOSH
JACOBS
JACOBS
1973
CAFAM is founded in Los Angeles by Edith
R. Wyle, incorporating the Egg and the Eye
restaurant and shop
The Crafts Program is established by the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and
the first fellowships are awarded
Adrian Saxe becomes chair of the Ceramics
Department at UCLA
The Fiberworks Center for the Textile Arts,
Berkeley is formed by Ed Rossbach, Gyöngy
Laky, and others
1974
President Richard Nixon resigns. Gerald Ford
becomes President and pardons Nixon
The Bead Journal (later Ornament Magazine) publishes
its first issue
The Oakland Museum exhibition, “Bodywear,” shows
clothing as art through the work of West Coast artists
1975
The Crafts Report, Fine Woodworking, Golddust
(later Metalsmith), Interweave, and Fiberarts are first
published
The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) is established
with board members Edith R. Wyle (Chair) and Bernard
Kester (President)
Faith Porter shifts from traditional pottery and porcelain
to innovative assemblage work
Late 1970s
Ceramics begin to show characteristics
of post-modernism,
largely driven by former Chouinard
students: Ralph Bacerra, Adrian
Saxe, Elsa Rady, Mineo Mizuno
and Peter Shire

NATZLER
ANDRESON
CSULB
M.J. LELAND
SNIDECOR
PINE
NYQUIST
KNODEL
CEDERQUIST
CUMMINGS
1976
The last “California Design”
exhibition is held
The first “Parade of Masks” is
organized by CAFAM and the first
festival is held the following year
1977
Joan Mondale, potter and wife
of Vice President Mondale, visits
CAFAM
The White House invites fourteen
studio artists, including Dora De
Larios, to design a set of dinnerware
Ann Robbins continues to search
the country to bring fine crafts to
the CAFAM store
The San Jose Museum of Quilts
and Textiles begins
1978
The Art institute of Los Angeles County
becomes Otis Art Institute of Parsons School
of Design
Elizabeth Fortner organizes “Atmospheres,”
a major exhibition of two hundred contemporary
craft artists that is sponsored by Bank
of America and displayed in the lobby of
their World Headquarters in San Francisco
The California Crafts Museum is founded
with Jeanne Low as its president and a
space within the Palo Alto Cultural Center.
A retrospective of jeweler Merry Renk is the
opening exhibition
Sue Meyer, Virginia Breier and Dorothy
Weiss start Meyer, Breier, Weiss Gallery in
San Francisco
“Ken Price: Happy’s Curios” is shown at
LACMA
Eudorah M. Moore serves as Crafts Coordinator
of the NEA through 1981, focusing
on craft-related grants and developing an
advocacy program

MARQUIS
SCHWARCZ
1979
Garry Knox Bennett deliberately mars a padauk cabinet as a critique of perfectionist woodworking
Judy Chicago’s multimedia installation depicting Western women’s history, The Dinner Party, tours internationally
The Bead Journal becomes Ornament Magazine
1980
Jim Bassler incorporates his research of the Navajo wedgeweave process into his woven work
WAYNE
SMITH
CAFAM begins quarterly publication of Craft International
1981
John Cederquist makes furniture using trompe l’oeil effects of depth and scale distortion
CAFAM holds “Made in L.A. Contemporary Crafts,” curated by Bernard Kester
The Memphis group debuts their work in Milan, ushering in the post-modernist style. Peter Shire becomes a collaborator
The California Crafts Museum presents a major exhibition, “The Handcrafted Book in California.” The exhibition, in two parts, “Part I: Art and Craft”
and “Part II: Concepts and Visions” takes place at the Palo Alto Cultural Center
1982
A Sam Maloof rocking chair with long runners is the first piece of contemporary furniture chosen for the White House Collection.
President Ronald Reagan is photographed in the rocker
WEIR
MARIONI
ASAWA

1983
November: “Home Sweet Home,” is a citywide vernacular architecture project produced by CAFAM, conceived by Gere Kavanaugh and co-curated by Kavanaugh and
Charles Moore. The project includes exhibitions at twelve L.A. area galleries and museums and a nationally publicized symposium at UCLA
Adrian Saxe is awarded an artist’s fellowship and a six-month residency at the Sevres porcelain manufactory outside Paris
1984
The Summer Olympic Games are held in Los Angeles
Edith Wyle announces her retirement and becomes Director Emeritus. Patrick Ela is named Executive Director and adds design (both architecture and product
design) to CAFAM’s program
1985
Sam Maloof becomes the first craft artist to receive the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
June Schwarcz, Bob Stocksdale, Eudorah M. Moore and others are each declared a “Living Treasure of California” by the State Assembly
CARPENTER
KAVANAUGH
RENK
STOCKSDALE

Exhibition Checklist
70
Dimensions are listed as height (or length) x width
(or diameter) x depth
Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman
California Poppies, 1970
Designed by Evelyn Ackerman for ERA Industries
Hand-hooked wool tapestry, produced in Thailand
35” x 39”
Collection of the artists
Jay Oligny photograph
Allan Adler
Pair of Candlesticks, c. 1959-1964
Sterling silver
11” x 3”
Collection of Tobey Cotsen Victor
Jay Oligny photograph
Neda Al-Hilali
Yucca, 1984
Paper, plaited, pressed, painted
51” x 51”
Collection of James and Veralee Bassler
Photo courtesy of the artist
Arthur Ames
Untitled, c. 1970
Copper, enamel
24.37” x 24.37” x 1.37”
Collection of Scripps College, Claremont, CA
Gift of Mrs. Jean Goodwin Ames
Photo © Long Beach Museum of Art 2011
Laura Andreson
Untitled covered jar, 1973
Porcelain, glazed
7.75” x 5”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Laura Andreson
Untitled vessel, 1978
Porcelain, glazed
8.5” x 8.87”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Robert Arneson
Untitled sculpture, 1961
Earthenware, glazed
26.5” x 14” x 8”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Jay Oligny photograph
Art © Estate of Robert Arneson/Licensed by
VAGA, New York, NY
Ruth Asawa
Untitled, mid 1960s
Bronze, copper tied wire
17.5” x 9.5”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Jay Oligny photograph
Ralph Bacerra
Animal Sculpture, c. 1976
Porcelain, glazed
35.5” x 28” x 15.75”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
James Bassler
Rebozo, 1975
Silk warp ikat, silk wool weft
36” x 44.5”
Collection of the artist
Garry Knox Bennett
Winged Heart, 1976
Brass, glass, bone, paint, clock mechanism, gold,
silver plate
27.5” x 31” x 3”
Bennett Family Collection
Garry Knox Bennett
Red Baron, c. 1968-1969
Steel, copper, brass, paint, decal
5.25” x 4” x 10.5”
Bennett Family Collection
A.J. McLennan photograph
Garry Knox Bennett
Hanging Cloud, 1973
Brushed aluminum
58” x 95 ” x 0.12”
Bennett Family Collection
Garry Knox Bennett
Cloud Lamp, 1973
Brushed aluminum, wood, plastic spheres
49” x 28”
Bennett Family Collection
Garry Knox Bennett
Selection of Roach Clips, 1964-1967
Hand-hammered brass, silver, copper, gold, glass
beads, bone
3.25 - 8.75” x 0.62” - 3” x 0.12”
Bennett Family Collection
Stan Bitters
Birdhouses, 1962
Stoneware, unglazed
Courtesy of Ten10 Gallery
Stan Bitters
Rock Stack Wall
Refabricated 2009 from original design
Stoneware, glazed
5 units, 66” x 12”
Courtesy of Ten10 Gallery
Porter Blanchard
Coffee Pot and Creamer, 1960s
Sterling silver, ivory
Coffee Pot: 9.87” x 8.25” x 5.37”
Creamer: 5.5” x 4.37” x 4”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill

J.B. Blunk
Mr Peanut, 1973
Bishop pine, redwood
32” x 43” x 29”
Collection of the estate of J.B. Blunk
Courtesy of Reform Gallery
Mario DeLopez photograph
Arthur Espenet Carpenter
Wishbone Chair, 1972
Shedua wood, leather strapping
31.25” x 22” x 22.5”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Arthur Espenet Carpenter
Set of Four Models (scale: 0.12” to 1”)
On loan from the estate of Arthur Espenet Carpenter
Vanity, 1984
Rosewood, mirror
6.5” x 6” x 2.5”
Couch for Mill Valley Library, 1965
Walnut
3.25” x 11.87” x 4”
Altar for Old St. Mary’s Church, 1967
Rosewood
5.25” x 9.25” x 4”
Desk, early 1970s
Mutenye hardwood
3.87” x 8” x 4”
John Cederquist
The Game Table, 1982
Maple, purple-heart inlay, dye, birch plywood
48” x 32” x 21”
Collection of Gloria and Sonny Kamm
Mike Sasso photograph
Donald Chadwick
Side Chair/Dining Chair, 1969
Prototype manufactured by Stow Davis
Wood, fabric, foam
30” x 20” x 20”
On loan from Chadwick Studio
Lia Cook
Fire Pocket Piece, 1984
Cotton, rayon; woven, pressed, dyed, stiffened
37” x 50” x 1.5”
Courtesy of the artist
Philip Cornelius
Untitled, mid-1970s
Porcelain, glazed
10” x 8”
Collection of Eudorah M. Moore
Raul Angulo Coronel
Covered Vessel, 1982
Stoneware, glazed, thrown, slab
35” x 8.5”
Collection of Michael and Mindy Hickman
Jay Oligny photograph
Elsie Crawford
Zipper Light II
Designed 1965, fabricated 1997
Acrylic
26.5” x 12”
Collection of Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Gift of the artist (AC1997.259.2)
Photo © 2009 Museum Associates / LACMA /
Art Resource, NY
David Cressey
Untitled covered jar, 1960s
Stoneware, glazed
20.25” x 9.25”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Jay Oligny photograph
Frank E. Cummings III
Oak Chair, 1971
Hand-carved Japanese oak
31” x 30”
Collection of the artist
Douglas Deeds
Series 3000 Chair (with cushion), c. 1968-1970
Manufactured by Architectural Fiberglass
Molded fiberglass
29” x 29” x 28”
Collection of Damon and Marian Lawrence
Jay Oligny photograph
Douglas Deeds
Park Bench with Back, 1965
Manufactured by Architectural Fiberglass
Molded fiberglass
25” x 82” x 28”
Collection of Damon and Marian Lawrence
Stephanie DeLange
Pair of Clipped Cylinders, 1981-1982
Porcelain, celadon glaze
14”-15.5” x 4”
Collection of the artist
Dora De Larios
Europa and the Bull, 1962
Stoneware, glazed, thrown segments
10.5” x 9.75” x 5”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Jay Oligny photograph
Dominic L. DiMare
Untitled wall sculpture, 1969
Wool, linen, natural fiber twine, horsehair, woven
54” x 21” x 8”
Collection of Eudorah M. Moore
Jay Oligny photograph
Claire Falkenstein
Necklace, 1962
Brass, silver, steel, pink glass
11” x 6.5” x 1.5”
Collection of the Long Beach Museum of Art
Gift of the Falkenstein Foundation
Photo © Long Beach Museum of Art 2011
Arline Fisch
Front & Back Pectoral, 1971
Hammer formed, etched sterling silver
15” x 8”
Collection of the artist
Arline Fisch
A Whale of a Necklace, mid-1980s
Colorcore laminate, fabricated
34” x 15”
Collection of the artist
William Gullette photograph
Miller Fong
Lotus Chair, #6532
Original design 1968, re-design 1999
Stainless steel frame, synthetic wicker
34” x 52” x 40”
Courtesy of the Fong Brothers Company
Photo courtesy of California Design
Richard Gross photograph
Dextra Frankel
Untitled enamel bowl, c. 1962
Etched and enameled metal
2.5” x 10”
Collection of Lea Petmezas
Jay Oligny photograph
Charles Frankel
Untitled bronze bowl, c. 1962
Lost wax cast bronze
6” x 8”
Collection of Dextra Frankel
Jay Oligny photograph
Michael Frimkess
Vase with Jazz Musician, 1974
Color test maquette for Blues for Dr. Banks
Stoneware, glazed
5” x 9” x 5”
Collection of Scripps College, Claremont, CA
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer
John Garrett
Untitled woven basket, c. 1981
Vinyl, acrylic and enamel paint, woven onto wire
frame
84” x 15”
Collection of Eudorah M. Moore

Erik Gronborg
Covered Container, late 1970s
White stoneware with decals
14.5” x 3.5”
Private Collection
Jay Oligny photograph
Otto and Vivika Heino
Untitled covered container, c. 1963
Stoneware, glazed
16.5” x 13.5”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Ferne Jacobs
Flame, 1982-1983
Coiled waxed linen thread
48” x 8” x 5”
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Nancy Margolis Gallery, NYC
Susan Einstein photograph
Charles Hollis Jones
Adjustable Side Tables, 1975
Steel, Lexan
17”-21” x 13”-18” x 13”-16”
Collection of the artist
Charles Hollis Jones
Edison Table Lamp, 1968
Polished chrome, smoked Lucite panel shade
33” x 18” x 14”
Collection of the artist
John Kapel
Door, 1968
Walnut
88” x 33.5”
Collection of John Kapel
Courtesy of Reform Gallery
John Maeda photograph
Gere Kavanaugh
Flowers Rug, 1965
Hand-hooked wool rug
72” x 45.75”
Collection of the artist
Jay Oligny photograph
Gere Kavanaugh
Zinnia Table, c. 1966-1967
Designed by Gere Kavanaugh
Fir banister rails, glazed ceramic tiles made by
Stonelite Tile
16” x 46”
Collection of the artist
Bernard Kester
Footed Bowl, early 1960s
Stoneware, glazed
8.5” x 11.87”
Collection of Tim and Angie Meikle
Gerhardt Knodel
Flexible Wallpaper, 1969
Silk panels; dyed, screen printed with pigments,
flocked, pressed
8 panels, each 96” x 12”
On loan from the artist
Mary Jane Leland
Zinnia, 1962-1963
Cotton, hand-screen printed design
126” x 45”
Collection of the artist
Jay Oligny photograph
Malcolm Leland
Prototype Section of Fascia from San Diego Art
Museum, 1965
Aluminum, anodized bronze
24” x 10.5” x 4”
On loan from the artist and Cardwell Jimmerson
Contemporary Art
John Lewis
Moon Bottles, 1971
Hand-blown glass
Tallest bottle: 6” x 4.5”
Collection of Pamela and Gregory Weir-Quiton
Marvin Lipofsky
California Loop Series #4, 1970
Blown glass, paint, rayon flocking, floatation
foam, epoxy
14.5” x 10.5” x 8”
Collection of the artist
M. Lee Fatheree photograph
James Lovera
Untitled vase, 1962
Porcelain, glazed
9.62” x 10.5”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Sam Maloof
Rocking Chair, c. 1973
Walnut
45” x 27.25” x 46”
Private Collection
Photo courtesy of Beverly Maloof
Sam Maloof
Set of scale models: rocker, drop leaf table, pedestal
table, low back chair
Designed by Sam Maloof c. 1970-1980s, made by
Mike Johnson 2005-2006
Collection of Beverly Maloof (Mrs. Sam)
Paul Marioni
The Visitor, 1984
Blown glass
9” x 6”
Collection of the artist
John Maeda photograph
Richard Marquis
Personal Archive Unit: Bottle with Funnel, 1984
Mixed media assemblage
33.5” x 20” x 9”
Collection of Gloria and Sonny Kamm
Photo courtesy of the artist
Harrison McIntosh
Floating Disk, 1982
Stoneware, glazed; chromed steel
13” x 10.62” x 10.62”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Brad Miller
Spheres in Compression, 1976
Stoneware, glass, wood
10.5” x 15.5” x 5”
Collection of the artist
Mineo Mizuno
Square Plate with Two Cups, 1978-1980
Earthenware, glazed
Plate: 1.5” x 11” x 11”
Cups: 4.25” x 2.25” x 3”
Alan Mandell Collection
Jay Oligny photograph
Gertrud and Otto Natzler
Closed Form (O316), 1969
Set of six miniatures (C89, A74, C22, C29, C84,
B49), 1965-1967
Miniatures: 0.75”-1.75” x 0.62”-3”
Vessel: 4.12” x 6.37”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
John Nyquist
Music Stand with Double Ledge, c. 1979
Teak, rosewood, ivory, spindle turned,
band-sawed, carved
61” x 22” x 17”
Collection of John and Shirley Nyquist
John Walcek photograph
Hiromi Oda
Untitled, 1972
Cotton, flax
96” x 21”
Collection of the artist
Jay Oligny photograph
Alvin Pine
Gold Necklace, 1970
Forged 14k gold, beads, garnets, pearls
11” x 6”
Collection of John and Shirley Nyquist
Jay Oligny photograph
Faith Porter
Cloud, 1968
Porcelain, glazed
4.5” x 7.75”
Collection of the artist

Faith Porter
Red Blush, 1968
Porcelain, glazed
9” x 7”
Collection of the artist
Jim Porter photograph
Svetozar Radakovich
Double Front Doors, commissioned by Mr. and
Mrs. Stanley Hayes, 1973
Teak, hand-forged metal hardware, glass inserts
93” x 60”
Collection of Jean Radakovich
Svetozar Radakovich
Gold Cuff Bracelet, late 1960s
14K gold with gold chain and turquoise bead,
forged, constructed with lost wax cast elements
2.25” x 2.5” x 2.62”
Collection of Jean Radakovich
Svetozar Radakovich
Study for Climber, early 1960s
Painted steel
15.5” x 15” x 14”
Collection of Jean Radakovich
Ruth Radakovich
Untitled gold brooch, late 1960s
14k gold, two green hexahedron mineral stones
2.5” x 2” x 1.12”
Collection of Jean Radakovich
Elsa Rady
Black Fan Bowl, c. 1983
Porcelain
6” x 12”
Alan Mandell Collection
Jay Oligny photograph
Merry Renk
Ate by Ate, 1976
Welded bronze
25” x 25” x 4”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
M. Lee Fatheree photograph
Merry Renk
Marbled, 1960
Soldered copper wire, glass marbles
25” x 18” x 6”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Ed Rossbach
Newspaper, 1976
Mixed media with recycled newspaper
7” x 24”
Courtesy of browngrotta arts
Photo © Tom Grotta
Jerry Rothman
Ritual Vessel, c. 1980
Stoneware, glazed
13” x 20” x 15”
Collection of Scripps College, Claremont, CA
Gift of Jerry Rothman
Adrian Saxe
Hula Dick (Iron Blue), 1969
Porcelain, glazed
14.5” x 9” x 9”
Boardman Family Collection
Jay Oligny photograph
June Schwarcz
Issey Miyake, 1983
Hammered, etched, enameled basse-taille
6” x 7.12”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Jay Oligny photograph
Kay Sekimachi
Nagare I, 1967
Nylon monofiliment, wood bead, double,
quadruple, tubular weave, slit tapestry
69” x 13”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Jay Oligny photograph
Carol Shaw-Sutton
Spirit Canoe, 1980
Willow, waxed linen, lashing
28” x 57” x 16”
Collection of the artist
Peter Shire
Pinwheel, c. 1980
Earthenware, under-glaze, over-glaze
13” x 14.5” x 4.5”
Collection of the artist
Carter Smith
Red Rainbow, mid-1970s
Silk, shibori tie-dye, finger pleating
90” x 42”
Collection of the artist
Carter Smith
Iris, mid-1970s
Silk, shibori tie-dye
90” x 42”
Collection of the artist
John Snidecor
Gold and Amethyst Neckpiece, 1967
Gold, amethyst
9.5” x 6”
Collection of the artist
Paul Soldner
Abstract Bowl, 1960s
Earthenware, glazed, raku fired
2.87” x 9.5” x 11.5”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Jay Oligny photograph
Bob Stocksdale
Salad bowl, c. 1970
Honduran mahogany
11.37” x 22.75”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Jay Oligny photograph
Paul Tuttle
Tablet Chair, c. 1984
Walnut, cane, steel
37” x 24” x 25”
Private Collection
Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Modern Auctions
James Wayne
Untitled vessel, c. 1970
Free blown glass
5.75” x 7.75” x 5.5”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
Pamela Weir-Quiton
Pamela Girls (set of 6), 1965-1967
Various exotic hardwoods
14” x 2” x 1.5”
Collection of the artist
Pamela Weir-Quiton
Georgie Girl Seated Doll Drawer Chest, 1970
Brazilian rosewood, zebrawood, maple, ebony
58” x 16” x 30”
Collection of Ted and Alice Fong
Photo courtesy of California Design
Richard Gross photograph
Katherine Westphal
The Puzzle of Floating World #2, 1976
Cotton, transfer printed and quilted
85” x 65”
Courtesy of browngrotta arts
Photo © Tom Grotta
Ellamarie and Jackson Woolley
Untitled plate, c. 1960
Copper, enamel
1” x 8.5”
Collection of Scripps College, Claremont, CA
Gift of the artists
Photo © Long Beach Museum of Art 2011
Marguerite Wildenhain
Untitled vase, c. 1972
Earthenware, glazed
8.62” x 6”
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill
M. Lee Fatheree photograph

Acknowledgments
74
We are profoundly grateful to the following for their valuable support for
this exhibition and catalog:
Without Helen and Peter Bing, the Boardman Family Foundation, Cathleen
Collins, Forrest L. Merrill, and the Stolaroff Foundation, this exhibition and
catalog would not have been possible. The Board of Directors of both Craft
in America and CAFAM have provided a font of support for the exhibition.
In researching the show, we were fortunate to be enlightened by the direct
input of Eudorah M. Moore, Bernard Kester, Lois Boardman, Sharon
K. Emanuelli, Joan Benedetti, Patrick Ela, Nancy Romero, and Frank S.
Wyle. We appreciate the assistance of Genie Guerard and the staff of the
Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library,
UCLA. Special thanks to Carolyn L.E. Benesh, Robert K. Liu and the
staff of Ornament Magazine, who have written about the California
craft movement for the past 35 years, for contributing information from
their archives. Michael Fargo created the title for the exhibition.
Special thanks to board member Corinna Cotsen, independent curator Jo
Lauria, and independent exhibition designer Richard Amend. We would
like to recognize the work of the exhibition team that created the show.
From the staff of CAFAM we are grateful to Executive Director Suzanne
Isken, Exhibitions Coordinator Sasha Ali, Director of Public Programs
Holly Jerger, Development and Marketing Associate Lindsay Crook, Yuko
Makuuchi and Maryna Hrushetska. From the staff of Craft in America,
we would like to thank Project Coordinator Denise Kang, Study Center
Director Emily Zaiden, Study Center Assistant Kayleigh Perkov, Rosey
Guthrie, Beverly Feldman, Patricia Bischetti, Christina Carroll, and
Judy Hing. Our tireless research interns, Angelica Alcaraz and Stephanie
Huerta have been essential.
The lenders to the exhibition have been incredibly generous and accommodating
throughout the process. Forrest L. Merrill deserves special
recognition for lending a large part of his collection to the show, and his
assistant Dane Cloutier provided detailed information and drove objects
to Los Angeles to be photographed. We are grateful to Evelyn and Jerome
Ackerman, James and Veralee Bassler, the Bennett Family Foundation,
the Estate of J.B. Blunk, the Boardman Family Collection, browngrotta
arts, Cardwell Jimmerson Contemporary Art, the Estate of Arthur
Espenet Carpenter, Chadwick Studio, Lia Cook, Frank E. Cummings
III, Stephanie DeLange, the Falkenstein Foundation, Arline Fisch,
Alice and Ted Fong, Miller Fong, Dextra Frankel, Michael and Mindy
Hickman, Ferne Jacobs, Charles Hollis Jones, Gloria and Sonny Kamm,
John Kapel, Gere Kavanaugh, Gerhardt Knodel, Damon and Marion
Lawrence, Mary Jane Leland, Malcolm Leland, Marvin Lipofsky, Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, Long Beach Museum of Art, Beverly
Maloof, the Alan Mandell Collection and assistant Tobey Wheeler,
Paul Marioni, Tim and Angie Meikle, Brad Miller, Eudorah M. Moore,
Joanna and Scott Nadeau of Ten10 Gallery, John and Shirley Nyquist,
Gerard O’Brien of Reform Gallery, Hiromi Oda, Lea Petmezas, Faith
Porter, Jean Radakovich, Scripps College, Carol Shaw-Sutton, Peter Shire,
Carter Smith, John Snidecor, Tobey Cotsen Victor, Pamela and Gregory
Weir-Quiton, and the numerous private collections that lent us objects.

a
John Nyquist
Music Stand with Double
Ledge, c. 1979
75
We would also like to thank Kirk Delman, Christy Johnson, Candice
Reichardt, Sue Ann Robinson, and Bobbye Tigerman for facilitating the
loan process, and Dr. Billie Sessions for sharing her expertise and assisting
our research.
The catalog was skillfully created by designer John Maeda. Photographer
Jay Oligny captured the beauty of the objects. Thanks to Jill DeDominicis
for her editing.
We are deeply indebted to all of the artists who provided images and
information about their work.

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