For residents of the US, a three-part program entitled “Craft in America” airs tonight on your local PBS station. I have not seen the program yet but am excited about the prospect of a three-part documentary on craft followed by an associated two-year, eight-city museum tour and a companion book with a prologue by longtime craftsman, craft advocate, former president of the United States and personal hero of mine, Jimmy Carter. For those of you who do not live in the US or who miss the program, the website offers a DVD and links ot other resources. There’s also a preview of the program that can be seen online.
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I was going to post about this too. I’ve seen ads for this on my local PBS station(s) for weeks and was very excited when an air time was finally announced. My DVR is set to record.
Thanks for the reminder! I heard about it earlier, and didn’t want to miss it!
Thanks, Weeks! Glad to see this today…
Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood (hope I got that right!) of Craft Sanity (http://www.craftsanity.com/) just did an interview with Carol Souvion, the visionary behind
the documentary ‘Craft in America’. great podcast!
If you just found out about this (like me) check your local PBS listings to see if it will be re-aired. Our station often repeats shows in the middle of the night a few days later.
I happened upon this purely by chance and it was a very well done, interesting and thought provoking series, although I would have liked to have seen a little more content dealing with the fibre arts. They touched briefly on quilting and weaving in the Community episode, but neglected knitting etc. altogether. I think they missed out big time. If one craft embodies the spirit of community, I would think it would be knitting. However, I still think that knitting, despite the evidence to the contrary, gets demoted to the realm of ‘hobby’. I identified a great deal with all of the issues that were discussed in every episode with regards to my own craft, but rarely get to see it dealt with in a way that carries any weight, like a series such as this one.
Thank you for this post.
I stayed up to watch, and I found it very interesting. Especially the
more historical footage.
WHoa.
That was a long two and a half hours.
Little man woke up somewhere in the quilting story.
Really inspirational.
I am moving to the woods and starting a craft campus.
Anyone wanna finance it?
Thanks for the tip!
Craft in America was so moving. I cried several times. People who have spent years mastering a craft, connecting to their roots, preserving their cultures, passing on stories, creating community and innovations and art, have alot of wise but humble things to say about it. And the work is stunning.
I loved the series too and just like Elizabeth, I was moved emotionally too by the crafters and the amount of effort and care that went into their work. How great is it that larger media outlets are taking notice of crafts and those who do them?!?