“From the Ground Up: Peters Valley School of Craft” to include 75 Works in Various Mediums, On-Site Artist Residencies
CLINTON, NJ (Sept. 2020) – Hunterdon Art Museum will exhibit “From the Ground Up: Peters Valley School of Craft” from Oct. 4 – Jan. 10. “From the Ground Up,” will be the first-ever exhibition examining Peters Valley’s fifty-year history and key moments that have defined the institution – from its earliest formation as an experimental craft colony, to the building of its renowned Japanese wood-fired or Anagama kiln in 1980, to the prominence of women blacksmiths at Peters Valley in the early 2000s.
The exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Essner. “From the Ground Up” will combine historical ephemera with significant works in fiber, jewelry, ceramics, wood, photography, and metal by artists involved at Peters Valley, as well as on-site artist residencies to allow further engagement with artists working in craft-based materials.
“We’ve been working with the Hunterdon Art Museum and Essner for the past two years to ensure this milestone exhibition includes pieces that communicate the rich history and development of contemporary craft in America,” says Peters Valley Executive Director Kristin Muller. “The interactive artist residencies will also exemplify to visitors the experiential aspects of Peters Valley’s immersive studio workshops.”
“I’m thrilled to be able to shed light on so many stories of artistic transformation that have happened at Peters Valley. The school has engaged hundreds of artists and thousands of students over its fifty-year history, yet its story has never been told,” says Essner. “‘From the Ground Up’ captures the vital spirit and historic contributions of this important craft institution.”
Selected artists whose work will be in the exhibition are Vivian Beer, Bruce Dehnert, Fawn Navasie, Luci Jockel, Kirk Mangus, Emil Milan, Shiro Otani, Malcolm Mobutu Smith, Stephen Shore, Toshiko Takaezu, Louise Todd Cope, MJ Tyson, and Andrew Willner.
Artist residencies during the exhibition will include weaver Cynthia Alberto and her Brooklyn-based weaving studio Weaving Hand, jeweler Lauren Eckert and woodworker Janine Wang.
Set in the wooded landscape of the Delaware Water Gap National Park in Layton, NJ, Peters Valley was first proposed in 1970 as a planned colony of artists and craftspeople. The resident blacksmiths, ceramists, fiber artists, metalsmiths, woodworkers, and photographers who populated the site’s 18th and 19th-century buildings created a vibrant community engaged in creating. Over time, as Peters Valley’s educational mission moved from the margins to the center, it grew into the craft school it is today, which brings together artists of local, national, and international renown with students for immersive materials-based workshops.
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About Peters Valley School of Craft
Peters Valley School of Craft is a non-profit educational center for the exploration, promotion, and practice of fine craft, located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Funding for Peters Valley is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and New Jersey Historic Trust, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Charles Lawrence Keith & Clara Miller Foundation, the Marie & John Zimmermann Fund, the Lenore G. Tawney Foundation, the Greater Pike Community Foundation, the New Jersey Cultural Trust, the Windgate Foundation, and by the generosity of its members and individual donors.
Exhibition Credits
This exhibition was made possible in part by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional support for this exhibition was provided by the Windgate Foundation, the Marie and John Zimmermann Fund. The exhibition catalogue was funded by the Windgate Foundation and John Sheridan and Andrea DuFlon. In kind sponsorship has been provided by The Graphics Office and McSquared.