FourSite: 4 Artists | 4 Materials | 4 Sites

May – September 2010

The summer months will bring a visual transformation to the San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design. Four California artists will enhance the bricks and mortar of our galleries with installations intended as encompassing experiences. Using traditional craft materials of paper, fiber, metal and wood, this large-scale exhibition will re-contextualize these mediums, pushing their limits to new artistic heights. Be prepared to fully engage once you enter our Museum space, and to enjoy a new level of excitement at SFMC+D.

Curator: Mariah Nielson

Fashioning Felt

October 2010 – February 2011

This exhibition will explore the varied new uses of felt—an ancient material, believed to be one of the earliest techniques for making textiles. Made by matting together wool fibers with humidity and friction, felting requires little technological expertise and is an extremely versatile material. Fashioning Felt will begin with historic examples of felts, showcase innovations in handmade felts, and feature contemporary uses of industrial felt in a range of fields, including product design, fashion, architecture and home furnishings.

Fashioning Felt was organized by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

The Exhibition was made possible by the generous support of

Funding was also provided in part by The Coby Foundation, Ltd.,

Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown, and the Mondriaan Foundation

Additional support was provided by the Consulate-General of The Netherlands, the Information Centre of Danish Crafts, The Netherland-America Foundation, The Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, and The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States.

Curator: Susan Brown, Assistant Curator, Textiles, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Exhibition Design: Ted Cohen

Michael Cooper: A Sculptural Odyssey, 1968 – 2008 documents the career of a seminal Bay Area sculptor through a selection of more than twenty-three of his most exquisitely crafted and thought provoking works, from early explorations of functional forms to recent large-scale mixed media installations. Michael Cooper is best known for his complex and adroitly crafted wood sculpture, works which depict seemingly commonplace objects but with a twist. His fantastical “vehicles,” which include pistol-packing tricycles, flying machines that don’t quite take off, remarkably detailed motorcycles, as well as preposterously mobile forms of “furniture,” underscore Cooper’s role as one of the most innovative artists working in wood today.

Organized by curator Hal Nelson for the San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design, A Sculptural Odyssey will tour to two other institutions after its initial presentation in San Francisco. The fully illustrated catalogue includes essays by the curator and Eudorah Moore, organizer of the pioneering California Design exhibitions; Glenn Adamson, Head of Graduate Studies at the V&A in London; John Lavine, Editor of Woodwork and an interview with the artist by writer and independent curator Karin Nelson. The exhibition is made possible by a generous grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation.

Curator: Hal Nelson
Exhibition Design: Ted Cohen

After the west was won, the pioneer spirit seeped into western style and culture. New West Coast Design II shows that the design world has garnered its share of trailblazers. As the sequel to the New West Coast Design: Contemporary Objects exhibit of 2008, it follows in the weighty footsteps of the Pasadena Museum’s California Design series (1950-1970) and the DeYoung’s Designer Craftsmen of the West (1957), curated by Elizabeth Moses.

The 2008 collection featured popular California iconography like surfboards and a motorcycle. The 2010 exhibit will highlight the best in abstract and inventive furniture, jewelry, ceramics and fashion from dozens of designers who’ve adventured off the map.

Co-Curators: Ted Cohen and Kathleen Hannah Exhibition Design: Ted Cohen

Fiberart International 2010 is a juried exhibition of contemporary works of fiber art that documents trends and innovations in the field. Craft traditions and art are blended in this exhibition, which includes innovative work, such as installation, craft and sculpture by emerging and established national and international artists. The work is rooted in traditional fiber materials, structure, processes and history, and it elicits unexpected relationships between fiber and other creative disciplines. This exhibition is organized by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, Inc. and is juried by educational and artistic designers and leaders.

Jury: Mary Ruth Smith, PhD., Vibeke Riisberg PhD. and Rebecca A.T. Stevens, PhD.
Exhibition Design: Ted Cohen