Taking Shape: Celebrating the Windgate Fellowship
May 30 – August 30, 2014
Artist Hall & Lobby at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
4848 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002Opening Reception
Friday, May 30, 5:30 – 8:00 PM
The opening will also feature La Frontera in the Main Gallery and Texas Masters Series: Sandie Zilker in the Front Gallery. Open studios by current resident artists to follow talks.Hours & Admission
Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM – 5 PM, and Sunday, 12 – 5 PM.
Summer Hours:Closed July 4th and Sundays, July 6th – Labor Day.
Admission is free.
(HOUSTON, TX) March 24, 2014 –This summer, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) is pleased to host Taking Shape: Celebrating the Windgate Fellowship, an exhibition that recognizes the considerable emerging talent in the field of craft. Organized by The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (CCCD) in Asheville, North Carolina, Taking Shape is the first group display of Windgate Fellows’ work, spanning a range of approaches, media, and processes. The exhibitionfeatures a selection of recent objects, completed by 2006 – 2010 CCCD Fellows, revealing a cross section of up-and-coming perspectives on craft.
CCCD asked Cindi Strauss, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Decorative Arts and Design at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to jury the exhibition.Strauss notes, “Craft continues to shift and respond to cultural and economic changes in the world, with younger artists often taking the lead in forging new paths to address these fundamental differences. Taken as a whole, the work in the exhibition clearly embodies the maxims used to describe craft in recent years.”
The Windgate Fellowship provides essential resources and experiences to the next generation of makers at an influential stage in their careers. To this day, the Fellowship, supported by the Windgate Charitable Foundation, remains the largest source of funding for emerging American craft practitioners. Since 2006, CCCD has annually awarded a total of $150,000 to 10 undergraduate seniors working in craft.
HCCC also receives support from the Windgate Charitable Foundation. With this funding, HCCC is able to award a three-year curatorial fellowship that allows a recent graduate student to assist with the coordination, installation, art handling, and registration of exhibitions. To date, two fellowships have been awarded. Current Fellow, Kathryn Hall, has played an instrumental role in bringing Taking Shape to HCCC and has curated six exhibitions in the past year and a half, gaining a wealth of experience in her brief tenure.
Taking Shape is a testament to the success of the Windgate Fellowship and the commitment of the Windgate Charitable Foundation to help organizations like CCCD and HCCC foster the craft community and shape the future of craft.
Taking Shape Featured Artists
Tom Alward, Josh Copus, Andrea Donnelly, Dustin Farnsworth, Jenny Fine, Erin Rose Gardner, Kathleen Janvier, JooHyun Lee, Aaron McIntosh, Nate Moren, Alexis Myre, Elizabeth Staiger, Amelia Toelke, and Thoryn Ziemba.
About Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft is a nonprofit arts organization founded to advance education about the process, product and history of craft. HCCC serves as an important cultural and educational resource for Houston and the Southwest—one of the few venues in the country dedicated exclusively to craft at the highest level. HCCC provides exhibition, retail and studio spaces to support the work of local and national artists. In addition, HCCC is a wonderful resource for art educators and provides mission-related educational programs in schools and underserved communities. Visitors enjoy viewing innovative exhibitions, visiting the resident artist studios, creating their own crafts in monthly HANDS-ON HOUSTON events, and shopping for one-of-a-kind gifts and home décor in the Asher Gallery.
Located in the Museum District at 4848 Main Street, HCCC is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM – 5 PM, and Sunday, 12 – 5 PM. Summer Hours:Closed July 4th and Sundays, July 6th – Labor Day. Admission is free. Free parking is available directly behind the facility, off Rosedale and Travis Street. HCCC is three blocks south of Wheeler Ave. MetroRail station on Main Street.
HCCC is funded in part by grants from The Brown Foundation; Houston Endowment, Inc.; the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Texas Commission on the Arts; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Kinder Foundation; the Morgan Foundation; Windgate Charitable Foundation; and the Wortham Foundation. For more information, call 713.529.4848 or visit www.crafthouston.org. Follow HCCC on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @CraftHouston.
About The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design
Located in its new home in Asheville, North Carolina, The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of craft by encouraging and supporting research, critical dialogue, and professional development. CCCD’s programs strive to support the best examples of research and practice in the field. Learn more at https://www.craftcreativitydesign.org/.
