American Craft – August 01, 2019

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this 24-episode series

of interviews with makers

is refreshingly diverse in just

about every aspect – age,

ethnicity, medium, focus. The

makers range from midcareer

artists such as Roberto Lugo

and Susie Ganch to longtime

eminences such as Tom Joyce

and Cynthia Schira; the five

traditional mediums get their

due, but so do the increasing

use of digital applications to

the handmade.

Inspiration and the creative

process are, unsurprisingly,

common subjects among the

makers, but they also venture

further afield, exploring wider

issues such as sexism, social

class, and ethical production.

The series is produced by

a consortium of five craft

that can curl into themselves

like pill bugs or don’t include

a seat. More than 100 bikes are

highlighted, accompanied by

exquisite, almost taxonomic

photography. Flipping through

the pages will make you long

for what fashion designer and

avid cyclist Paul Smith long-

ingly refers to in the foreword

as “the freedom that cycling

and the open road gives you.”

~robert o’connell

Magos (King’s Day, when the

three wise men visited Jesus),

the farming communities of

Oaxaca celebrating Catholic

saints’ days. The handmade

masks themselves are beautiful

and endlessly evocative, but

they are all the more powerful

for being situated on a living

body, not sealed behind a

museum’s glass. ~RO

a bicycle is a beautiful

object, all balance and propor-

tion, round wheels offsetting

the straight lines of the frame.

That elegance speaks to Michael

Embacher, author of Cyclepedia:

90 Years of Bicycle Design: “My

fascination with the bicycle

is with the simplicity of the

idea – efficiently transforming

human energy into maximum

mobility – and how this trans-

lates into design,” he writes in

the introduction.

This updated edition (the

book was originally published

in 2011) includes 15 more bicycles

from the author’s vast collection.

Embacher covers everything

from sleek racing and touring

models to bikes that fold or dis-

assemble to surprising designs

Make/Time

Podcast series by CraftSchools.us

craftschools.us/podcast

Cyclepedia: 90 Years

of Modern Bicycle Design

By Michael Embacher

Thames & Hudson, $20

in the introduction to

Phyllis Galembo’s stunning

bilingual book of photographs

of ritual adornment, Sergio

Rodríguez-Blanco bemoans

how an object’s connection

to deeply meaningful religious

and social practices can become

emptied of its significance.

“A consumerist society tends

to de-ritualize and exoticize

any object,” he writes.

Galembo’s portraits work

as correctives. Her lens cap-

tures masks from across Mexi-

co, worn by members of the

communities for whom they

hold meaning: the Purépecha

people observing Los Reyes

Mexico, Masks | Rituals

By Phyllis Galembo

Radius Books, $45

Reviews

From Our

Library

schools and hosted by Stuart

Kestenbaum, who led one of

the schools, Haystack Moun-

tain School of Crafts, for 27

years; his low-key, thoughtful

approach fits the format per-

fectly. While the series will

clearly interest professionals

in the field, its overarching

theme is universal: what mak-

ing means to us as human beings,

and why it matters.

~judy arginteanu

24 american craft aug/sept 19

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