Buszek discusses ‘craft’ at Smithsonian symposium

Maria Elena Buszek

Maria Elena Buszek, an associate professor of art history at the College of Arts and Media at the University of Colorado Denver, was an invited speaker last month at a symposium at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.

The event focus was the future of craft in the United States, organized by the Renwick Gallery. Last year, Duke University Press published Buszek’s book on the subject, “Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art.”

For the symposium, Buszek  invited the artists Sonya Clark, Elaine Reichek and Michael Strand to participate in a discussion of their very unusual craft practices, “which as the title of the session suggests, moves craft ‘beyond crafting.’” Buszek’s session and others were recorded and archived by the Smithsonian, and are available to see.