Shan Goshorn, Tulsa, Sealed Fate, Basket
VisionMakers: High Craft Comes to Tulsa by Beth Downing
It’s fitting that the rebirth of VisionMakers is happening in the blink-and-it’s changed Brady District in downtown Tulsa. It is particularly appropriate since the 2010 rendition of this high craft exhibition is being organized by the newly minted Brady Craft Alliance (www.bradycraftalliance.org). Led by Chairwoman Myra Block Kaiser, the Brady Craft Alliance (BCA) formed in 2009 only to dive into the exhibition game by bringing Modern Materials across the turnpike from Oklahoma City to show at Living Arts. On the heels of that success, the BCA is putting on VisionMakers 2010
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to display some of Oklahoma’s best and brightest fine craft artists. The Brady Craft Alliance chose New York City’s Jeannine Falino as this year’s juror, who currently serves as the Curator of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. She is a guru of the decorative arts and has worked with artists from around the country in her curatorial pursuits.
show welcomes the inevitable question of the demarcation between art and craft and how, for instance, a piece of needlework could be “art.” (For those that have seen what modern fine craft artists can do, you already know the answer: there are mind-blowing things that can be done with a needle and thread. For those that haven’t, get thee to the opening reception on September 11th and you’ll soon find out what you’ve been missing).
Given the rich history of VisionMakers – it started more than 20 years ago – it is no wonder that the newly chic area of fine craft has been well-spotlighted in Oklahoma. The
This fundamental question – what is art – is far too large to be answered by any one person, medium or single exhibition. But fine craft follows in the esteemed footsteps of