CounterCraft: Voices of the Indie Craft Community

This exhibition showcases the boundless imagination of the makers and designers in the DIY culture and the principles upon which it has developed. The “indie craft” movement encourages makers to express their unique viewpoint on the world through one-of-a-kind objects created with elevated technical skill, new or traditional craft techniques, and a modern design aesthetic. 

This exhibition is curated by Faythe Levine, a multi-media artist and curator with deep ties to the Indie Craft Movement. Faythe directed the documentary, Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design (2009) and authored the book by the same name. 

The exhibition features the following artists:
Elaine Bay
Ginger Brooks Takahashi
Tracy Bull
Liz Collins
Betsy Greer
Heidi Kenney
Xander Marro
New Craft Artists in Action (NCAA)
Erin M. Riley
Caitlin Rose Sweet

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Faythe Levine's book,  , considers that today's crafters are no longer interested in simply cross-stitching samplers or painting floral scrolls on china. Instead,the contemporary craft movement embraces emerging artists, crafters, and designers working in traditional and nontraditional media. Levine traveled 19,000 miles to document what has emerged as a marriage between historical technique, punk culture, and the D.I.Y. ethos. For Handmade Nation (along with the documentary film of the same name) she and Cortney Heimerl selected 24 makers and 5 essayists who work within different media and have different methodologies to provide a microcosm of the crafting community. The book features photographs of the makers, their work environment, their process, their work, and discussions of how they got their start and what motivates them.