The next time you find yourself hate-reading a fawning profile of a photogenic young Brooklyn potter whose hot-pink-rimmed wares are transforming the “stuffy world of ceramics into a cool new craft” (or something to that effect), navigate yourself away from there, and instead visit the website of the Museum of Contemporary Craft (MoCC) in Portland, Oregon. Here you will find a digital record of nimble cultural production that will knock your socks off. If you’re not already familiar with this small but mighty 79-year-old institution, its website will introduce you to an array of exhibitions, events, and programs that have helped shaped high-level thinking about craft practice in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The rest is definately worth a read. The promotion and preservation of an ongoing narrative of craft in a way that educates the public about traditions and techniques of making are vital to the future of craft. This is part of SP's strives to do with each and every journal published, and what makes the closing of institutions like MoCC such a sad loss. MoCC was aquired by Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in 2009, and the College vows to incorporate MoCC's programs and collections into the [new] Center for Contemporary Art & Culture. Lots of "C" there, but not the most important one: Craft.