Work

Delivered at the commencement ceremony for the California College of the Arts, March 2018.

There’s a word we use for the convergence of tradition and optimism: that word is craft.

Originally in The Magazine Antiques, March 2018.

Our Ozymandian moment.

A designer sets up shop in Banglatown, Detroit. Maybe his studio is his real work of art.

Another young talent joins the most exciting generation of American designers we've seen in a long while. His work is stylish and intensely made, but tends to slouch into the room, as if it were no big deal.

Commissioned by the Crafts Study Centre, March 2018. 

A ceramic artist engaging in constant improvisation.

From Crafts Magazine, March/April 2018.

In a starkly divided America, reverence for hand craftsmanship might be one of the few remaining universals.

Originally published with Hyperallergic, February 2017, reviewing an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A shrewd designer balances craft and commerce.

Commisioned by Frieze Magazine, September 2017.

Forget left/right politics. Let's talk about complex and simple.

Commissioned by Friedman Benda on the passing of the great furniture artist.

Originally in The Magazine Antiques, January 2018.

Reconsidering decorative arts in the age of #MeToo.

From Crafts Magazine, January/February 2018.

As Clark points out, there is nothing inevitable about the Confederate battle flag’s power. It is just one fragment taken from a complex history.

Commissioned by Frieze, January 2018.

She never abandoned studio pottery; she took it along with her, as if guiding a well-loved friend by the hand.

Originally commissioned by Rago Auctions, January 2018.

Albert Paley's formal maneuvers replicate themselves in breathtakingly extended series, each a riff on all the others, like a physically manifested Coltrane solo.

Previously unpublished.

Nasreen Mohamedi photographs an Indian loom. If this was indeed a found composition, as appears to be the case, then the finding itself was an act of genius.

Originally commissioned by Phillips Auction, December 2017.

A short text on a monument: Peter Voulkos's 1958 masterwork of ceramic sculpture, Rondena.

Originally published with Hyperallergic, December 2017.

In 1996, at the age of 26, Anissa Mack entered every single category in the Durham Agriculture Fair. But there was a big difference between her and the other entrants, and it was not just the volume of her craftwork. Mack was making art.

Originally published in Art in America magazine in December 2017.

Paola Antonelli has described the MoMA exhibition “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” as a show of the “super normal.” Nearly every visitor will be wearing variations on the very objects that are on display. It is a risky project—and what it risks is being boring.

Originally published in Disegno in December 2017.

It’s early days yet, but it looks as though the sheer awfulness of recent events is ushering in another vital age of protest design.

Originally published in frieze online, December 2017.

The website Scary Mommy remarks that the Everyday Objects collection “is here to confuse you and make you feel poor.” Well, yes – but no more so than a lot of contemporary art is.

A previously unpublished essay, inspired by Pryde’s nomination for the Turner prize in 2016.