Craft Schools

Craft Schools : Where We Make What We Inherit

In an age of rising technology, join the author, a museum curator with a passion for all things handmade, on a travel odyssey across the United States that stops at 100 sites significant to craft education.

From Haystack Mountain School of Crafts perched on the craggy coast of Maine to the renowned Institute of American Indian Arts in the desert of New Mexico and the Krenov School of Fine Woodworking among the redwoods of Northern California, learn about craft teachers, their schools, their students, their studios, and their work.

This abundantly illustrated and robustly researched book offers an in-depth look at educators and organizations, both well-known and utterly grassroots, that teach a wide range of hands-on skills from boatbuilding and basketry to furniture making and weaving. Over 500 images, the majority of which have never been published, help narrate a journey that starts in the rich history of postwar studio craft held in many museum collections and continues over thousands of miles in homes, studios, and schools. 

Come along for the ride as chapters crisscross the United States via Amtrak to visit contemporary craft teachers who make craft accessible, expansive, and alive. Part travelogue and part craft history that expands with each mile logged, this book features interviews with well-known and newly discovered craft artists in each geographic region of the United States. 

Readers will discover:
• Craft schools and educational opportunities in all fifty states.
• Personal and intimate interviews and short essays that shine a light on artists, designers, and educators as well as their works.
• Full-color photography of the artists, their studios and classrooms, and their works 

A concurrent Instagram has chronicled the journey over the last five years and offers a glimpse into the world of craft artisans and schools. Take this book with you in your travels and let it serve as your personal guidebook to the world of craft.​

Size: 5.5in x 9.5in  |  Pages: 788  |  300 color photographs