FEATURED IN VISIONARIES EPISODE
VISIONARIES documents the ways in which artists and influencers inspire new generations to envision the limitless possibilities of craft. Featuring textile designer and founder of LongHouse Reserve Jack Lenor Larsen, curator Helen Molesworth and Black Mountain College, weaver Kay Sekimachi, collector Forrest L. Merrill, and book artist Felicia Rice.
BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
Black Mountain College was an experimental school (1933-1957) founded on the principles of balancing academics, arts, and manual labor within a democratic, communal society to create "complete" people. The environment was so conducive to interdisciplinary work and experimentation that it proved to be one of the most important settings for twentieth-century artists in their quest to revolutionize modern art.
JACK LENOR LARSEN
Jack Lenor Larsen is a textile designer, and an author/collector/ promoter of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship in all its forms. LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, NY, was founded by Larsen and serves as a case study exemplifying a creative approach to contemporary life and is filled with an important collection of craft objects and treasures from around the world.
FORREST L. MERRILL
Collector Forrest L. Merrill has a deep appreciation for the vessel form as well as for the exceptional artists who create them. But even more important are the personal relationships he forges with these artists and his desire to share his unique collection with a public for whom art education and exposure to art is disappearing.
FELICIA RICE
Felicia Rice, book artist, book arts educator, sole proprietor of Moving Parts Press in Santa Cruz, CA, collaborates with visual and performing artists and writers to create book structures that combine word and image.
KAY SEKIMACHI
Kay Sekimachi is a fiber artist and weaver, known as a “weaver’s weaver” for her unusual use of the loom in constructing three-dimensional sculptural pieces. Sekimachi’s primary sources of inspiration are the shapes, forms and natural colors gleaned from her Japanese heritage. She is recognized as a pioneer in the resurrection of fiber and weaving as a legitimate means of artistic expression.