AAPI Craft Directory

Asheville, NC’s Center for Craft is the founding partner of Warren Wilson College’s Master’s in Critical Craft Studies—the first and only low-residency graduate program in craft history and theory. They are developing a directory of self-identified Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) working through craft today, and will continue to gather listings until August 31, 2021.

This project is a directory and a tool on what conversations come next? How does research catalyze community, action, and visibility? 

Why focus on Asian American and Pacific Islanders working through craft? 

According to the Pew Research Center, Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing groups in the US since 2000. Despite nearly 23 million Asian American in the US population, a recent study by Leading Asian Americans to Unite for Change (LAAUNCH) found that 58% of their respondents could not name a prominent Asian American (Hint: Vice President Kamala Harris). 

Drawing inspiration from the Black Power Movement, students at the University of California, Berkeley are credited with unifying pan-Asian groups under the term “Asian American” in the 1960s. This grouping deliberately rejected the outdated, geographically-based, and problematic term “Oriental.” 

In the 1980s, the U.S. Census expanded the category, combining Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Today, this governmentally-determined grouping feels too broad to many, as it includes more than 20 countries and thousands of Pacific Islands, each with unique histories, cultures, languages, and craft histories.

This project is intended to catalyze conversations, be a conversation starter and to bring people of AAPI heritage together.

If you are working through craft and of AAPI heritage, add your information.

If you are a craft researcher, please consider this directory a tool for making connections. Instead of reading about the Center for Craft , talk directly with them to understand who the AAPI are, what we make, and how we shape American Craft. 

Michael Janis ward 5 dc
ROLODEX. Craft a Conversation at the Center for Craft, Jun 4–Aug 20, 2021

Currently, at Asheville’s Center for Craft in the John Cram Partner Gallery is ROLODEX. Craft a Conversation. This exhibit, curated by Namita Gupta Wiggers is this project is centered on the people of the AAPI craft communities, their descriptions of themselves, and their connections to craft – rather than on the objects they create.

Center for Craft, 67 Broadway St, Asheville, NC 28801.

Image of ROLODEX. Craft a Conversation, at the John Cram Partner Gallery.

Michael Janis, Tim Tate: Inside Outside Upside Down

Phillips Collection Inside Outside, Upside Down JULY 17-SEPTEMBER 12, 2021.

Virtual Opening and Awards Presentation July 16, 2021, 7-8 PM

Join The Phillips Collection as they celebrate the opening of “Inside Outside, Upside Down” and announce the prize winners of our juried invitational. Click HERE to jump to Phillips Collection Opening Event RSVP page.

Tim Tate ward 3
Tim Tate, “Justinian’s Oculus”

This juried invitational celebrates The Phillips Collection’s 100th anniversary in 2021, building on the legacy of founder Duncan Phillips and his commitment to presenting, acquiring, and promoting the work of artists of the greater DC region.

Michael Janis DC ward 5
Michael Janis, “How We Take Care of Each Other” 2021, kilnformed glass, glass powder imagery

Inside Outside, Upside Down makes vivid the turmoil, strength, and resiliency of the human spirit in the face of the past year’s global covid-19 pandemic and social upheaval. All artworks in the show are recent works produced between March 2020 and February 2021. Works by WGS artists Tim Tate and Michael Janis have been selected for the exhibition.

Michael Janis, Washington, Dc ward 5
mMichael Janis, DETAIL “How We Take Care of Each Other”, 2021

Jurors
Phil Hutinet, Founding Publisher of East City Art
Abigail McEwen, Associate Professor of Latin American Art, University of Maryland
Elsa Smithgall, Senior Curator, The Phillips Collection
Renée Stout, DC-based Artist

Guest Curator
Renée Stout is an internationally renowned artist who has been based in Washington, DC, since 1985. Originally trained as a painter with a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, Stout currently works across a variety of media, including painting, drawing, mixed media, sculpture, photography, and installation. She is the recipient of many awards, including an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award and the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award.

Featured Artists
Cathy Abramson
Simone Agoussoye
Maremi Andreozzi
Carol Antezana
Desmond Beach
Julia Bloom
Michael Booker
Kimberly Brammer
Nikki Brugnoli
Florencio Campello
Carlos Carmonamedina
Sandra Chen Weinstein
Peter Cizmadia
Wesley Clark
Dominick Cocozza
Robin Croft
Sora DeVore
Sarah Dolan
Mike Dowley
Nekisha Durrett
Tae Edell
Bria Edwards
Kate Fleming
Chawky Frenn
Amelia Hankin
Michael Hantman
Leslie Holt
Michael Janis
Jane Kell
Jean Jinho Kim
Katherine Knight
Ara Koh
Kokayi
Gary Kret
Kate Kretz
Catherine Levinson
Kirsty Little
Kim Llerena
Aaron Maier-Carretero
Timothy Makepeace
David Mordini
Barbara Muth
Werllayne Nunes
Zsudayka Nzinga
Jennifer O’Connell
John Pan
Judith Peck
Shedrick Pelt
Kristina Penhoet
Marta Pérez García
Lydia Peters
Junko Pinkowski
Dominick Rabrun
Mojdeh Rezaeipour
Marie Ringwald
Janathel Shaw
Joseph Shetler
Nicolas F. Shi
Tim Tate
Julio Valdez
Jessica Valoris
Ian White
Richard L. Williams Jr.
Colin Winterbottom

The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC.

Inside Outside, Upside Down is organized by The Phillips Collection.

This juried invitational is part of the museum’s centennial exhibition, Seeing Differently: The Phillips Collects for a New Century.