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The creation and touring of an exhibit of the range
and scope of Tradition/Innovation
has been a significant undertaking. Planning began in
January, 2006 and has involved artists, curators, museums,
folklorists, historians, researchers, and photographers
from throughout the Southern region and beyond, as well
as a team of staff members from the
Southern Arts Federation.
Tradition/Innovation was created
thanks to the vision of two artistic curators,
and two education curators. Developing the artistic
intention of the project, selecting the artists
and with them, the artwork for the exhibit, and
bringing a unique and nuanced artistic and creative
perspective to Tradition/Innovation
was the role of our co-curators. The project’s
education curators designed and created the rich
array of materials, including the Visitors
Guide, Audio
Tour and Learning
materials for students, educators and adults
on the exhibit website.
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View statements from Kathleen
Mundell and
Jean
McLaughlin |
| Craftsmanship
draws on a complex set of skills developed over
a lifetime of practice. With “elegance and
authority,” the contemporary and traditional
artists featured in this exhibit have worked on
refining these talents into a body of work. But
such mastery involves more than just obtaining
technical proficiency. It also calls for an understanding
about materials, place, cultural practices and
connections to both local and global communities.
In the process, a foundation for creative work
is built, as well as an understanding of ways
of living in a particular place and time.
Some of the artists
featured in Tradition/Innovation are
rooted in a respect for traditional technique,
materials and a connection to a specific place
or culture. Others explore and expand ideas
of form, function and community. Whether it
be in the studio or at the kitchen table, each
artfully balances skill, vision and tradition.
Collectively, these works and their makers are
part of our living artistic heritage, reminding
us of the many creative ways to work and live.
Kathleen Mundell
Director, Cultural Resources, Inc.
Co-Curator: Traditional Arts
Close
Window
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The
South has attracted and nurtured hundreds of
artists. Its educational institutions, landscape
and community life have enabled creativity to
flourish and artists to dig deeply into imagination
and psyche to produce bodies of remarkable,
original works. Through this exhibition, the
mastery of craftsmanship is underscored, and
individuality—the voice and fingerprint
of the maker—is eloquently conveyed. Serious
craftsmanship requires many years of attention
to acquiring technical skills and facility with
materials as well as a profound grasp of history
and tradition. The works in this exhibition
demonstrate the power of objects to tell an
artist’s story of passion and commitment,
of years spent mastering material and process,
of keen observation and reflection, and a desire
to bring others into the process through use,
touch and dialogue.
Jean McLaughlin
Director, Penland School of Crafts
Co-Curator: Contemporary Crafts
Close
Window
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Jean
McLaughlin curated the exhibit’s
Contemporary Craft component. She is Director
of Penland School of Crafts, a center for
contemporary craft education |
| located in
the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
Prior to 1998, McLaughlin worked with artists
and visual arts organizations through the
NC Arts Council for 16 years. She has a Bachelor’s
degree in studio art from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master’s
degree in liberal studies from North Carolina
State University. She currently serves on
the board of the Craft Emergency Relief Fund,
the Mitchell County Community Foundation,
and the UNC Center for Craft Creativity and
Design. She is an advocate for the needs of
artists and, when possible, writes and serves
on panels to promote their work. |
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Kathleen
Mundell curated the exhibit’s
Traditional Arts component. She is the Director
of Cultural Resources, Inc., a non-profit
working with communities on |
| developing
strategies that help sustain their local culture.
Mundell holds a Master’s Degree in Folklore
from Indiana University and has over twenty
years experience in the fields of public sector
folklore and community arts. She has produced
a radio series, folk festivals, educational
programs and fourteen exhibitions on traditional
culture and folk art. Previously, Mundell
directed the Traditional and Community Arts
Program at the Maine Arts Commission. A 15-year
collaboration with Maine’s Wabanaki
basketmakers resulted in a multi-tribal effort
to preserve the ash basketry tradition, and
in the creation of the Maine Indian Basketmakers
Alliance. Based on her work with Maine's Wabanaki
and New York's Akwesasne basketmaking communities,
Mundell is currently working on "North
by Northeast: Haudenosaunee and Wabanaki Traditional
Arts" to be published by Tillbury House
Press in 2008. |
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Martin
Rollins
served as the exhibit's Education
Co-Curator. Rollins currently serves as an
arts educator at Isaac Shelby Elementary School
in Louisville, Kentucky. |
| Previously
he served as Associate Curator of Education
at The Speed Art Museum, also in Louisville.
Rollins received his Bachelor’s of Fine
Arts degree from The Louisville School of
Art and a Master’s of Fine Arts degree
from the University of Cincinnati. As an artist-in-residence
for the Kentucky Arts Council, he worked in
settings throughout the state of Kentucky.
He has also served on the faculties of the
Kentucky Institute for the Arts in Education
and the Kentucky Governor’s School for
the Arts, and has taught at the University
of Louisville and the University of Cincinnati.
As a working painter, Rollins has exhibited
his work both regionally and nationally. |
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Judy
Sizemore served as the exhibit's
Education Co-Curator, and scripted the Audio
Tour. Sizemore is the Kentucky Arts Council’s
Outreach Director for Eastern Kentucky. In
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she has coordinated numerous multi-county
arts education programs and assisted school
districts to align their arts and humanities
curriculum with state standards. She is a
literary artist and has conducted creative
writing residencies, presented professional
development workshops, and served as an educational
consultant to the Kentucky Arts Council, the
Kentucky Historical Society, the Kentucky
Archaeological Survey, and Kentucky Educational
Television (KET). Sizemore has coordinated
ten Arts and Humanities Academies for the
Kentucky Department of Education and has received
the Governor’s Award for Arts in Education
and the Hambleton Tapp Award for Creative
Teaching of Kentucky History. She is the author
of over 300 published short stories, essays
and articles, five resource guides for teachers,
and a book of poetry. |
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The artists
participating in Tradition/Innovation
have been generous in opening their studios, sharing
their process, and telling their stories for this
project.
Medium
Galleries – Organized by media (baskets,
glass, wood, etc.), these virtual galleries include
pictures of the artists at work, and provide insight
into the artists’ relationship to the materials
they work with. Book artist Kristy Higby describes
the way her work connects the poem and the reader.
“When a particular poem on a page in a printed
book makes you stop, draw in a breath, and not want
to turn the next page it deserves to stand alone.
The artist's book allows for that and adds a physical
and tactile dimension to the poem’s voice.”
Artist
Pages - Each page shares the artist’s
background, images of their work in the exhibit,
and links to more information about them.
Purchase
– You can enjoy Southern crafts and traditional
art in your daily life. The artists featured in
Tradition/Innovation
make many of their works available for purchase.
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The staff
team of the Southern
Arts Federation that developed Tradition/Innovation
includes:
Tog Newman, Chair
Gerri Combs, Executive Director
Mollie Lakin-Hayes, Project Manager
Teresa Hollingsworth, Exhibit Director
Jenna Knight, Exhibit Assistant
William E. MacLeod, Information Technology Director/Webmaster
Ann-Laura Parks, Development & Communications
Director
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