Craft Horizons

{{Infobox magazine | title = Craft Horizons | logo = | logo_size =  | image_file = Craft Horizons cover 1949 by Emile Norman.png | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = ''Craft Horizons'' cover featuring detail of work by Emile Norman, 1949 | editor =  | editor_title =  | previous_editor = Aileen Osborn Webb, Mary Lyon, Belle Krasne, Conrad Brown, Rose Slivka | staff_writer = | photographer = | category = Arts and crafts | frequency = | format = | circulation = | publisher = American Craft Council | paid_circulation = | unpaid_circulation = | circulation_year = | total_circulation = | founder = Aileen Osborn Webb | founded = 1941 | firstdate = November 1941 | finaldate = May 1979 | finalnumber = | company = | country = USA | based = | language = English | website = {{URL|https://digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/p15785coll2}} | issn = | eissn = | oclc = }}

'''''Craft Horizons''''' was a periodical magazine that documents and exhibits crafts, craft artists, and other facets of the field of American craft.<ref name="AAAJ"/> The magazine was founded by Aileen Osborn Webb and published from 1941 to 1979. It included editorials, features, technical information, letters from readers, and photographs of craft artists, their tools, and their works. The magazine both "documented and shaped" the changing history of the American craft movement.<ref name="MMAA">{{cite web |title=Selected articles from Craft Horizons magazine |url=https://mmaa.org/crafthorizons/ |website=Minnesota Museum of American Art |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> It was succeeded by ''American Craft'' in 1979.<ref name="MMAA"/>

==History== ''Craft Horizons'' was founded and initially edited by Aileen Osborn Webb, who also founded the organization now known as the American Craft Council.<ref name="Memoriam">{{cite journal |title=In Memoriam: Aileen Osborn Webb |journal=Design for Arts in Education |date=October 1979 |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=2 |doi=10.1080/07320973.1979.9939982 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07320973.1979.9939982?journalCode=vzae20 |access-date=4 September 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/17/archives/aileen-o-webb-leading-figure-in-national-crafts-movement-87-husband.html |title=Aileen O. Webb, Leading Figure In National Crafts Movement, 87 |last=|first=|date=August 17, 1979|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-16|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> ''Craft Horizons'' began as an untitled newsletter in November 1941,<ref name="AAAJ">{{cite journal |last1=Zaiden |first1=Emily |title=An unyielding commitment to craft: Aileen Osborn Webb and the American Craft Council |journal=Archives of American Art Journal |date=2011 |volume=50 |issue=3–4 |pages=10–15 |doi=10.1086/aaa.50.3_4.23355884 |s2cid=191929927 |url=https://issuu.com/knowlie/docs/fall_2011_aaa_journal |access-date=4 September 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref> sent out to artists who had purchased stock in, and consigned works to, America House.<ref name="Neyman"/> One of Webb's earliest initiatives in support of craft, America House was a New York retail shop that featured pieces from artists around the country.<ref name="ACCL">{{cite web |title=Craft Horizons, November 1941 (Volume 1, Number 1) |url=https://digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/p15785coll2/id/30/ |website=American Craft Council Library |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="Neyman">{{cite journal |last1=Neyman |first1=Bella |title=The (America) House that Mrs. Webb Built |journal=The Magazine ANTIQUESThe Magazine Antiques |date=June 9, 2020 |url=https://www.themagazineantiques.com/article/america-house-from-our-archives/ |access-date=6 September 2021}}</ref> The shop was intended to provide a marketplace for rural artists in particular.<ref name="Norton">{{cite web |last1=Norton |first1=Deborah |title=The School for American Craftsmen (SAC) |website=Ganoksin |url=https://www.ganoksin.com/article/school-american-craftsmen-sac/ |access-date=16 September 2021}}</ref>

Among other content, Volume 1, Issue 1 featured an essay by Richard F. Bach, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, asking “What is a Craftsman?”. Throughout its nearly forty-year history, ''Craft Horizons'' sought to create networks of craftspeople and to stimulate discussion around the nature of craft as well as the work of craftspeople.<ref name="MMAA"/>

The first titled issue appeared in May 1942, with a print run of 3,500 copies.<ref name="Zaiden">{{cite web |last1=Zaiden |first1=Emily |title=American Craft Council and Aileen Osborn Webb |url=https://www.craftinamerica.org/profile/american-craft-council-aileen-osborn-webb |website=Craft in America |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> In 1947, Mary Lyon, a daughter of S. S. McClure, became the first professional editor of ''Craft Horizons''.<ref name="Hintze"/><ref name="Lyon">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/22/archives/mary-lyon.html |title= Mary Lyon |last=|first=|date=March 22, 1977|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-16|issn= }}</ref> During the 1940s and 1950s, Aileen Osborn Webb still continued to write editorials. She often addressed professional and economic issues, such as the need for high standards of design, fair wages, education of the public, and craft-focused exhibitions. In 1951 ''Craft Horizons'' began working with Westbury Publishing and went from a quarterly periodical to publishing six times a year.<ref name="Hintze"/>

[[File:Karasz-Alchemy.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Mariska Karasz, Detail of wall panel "Alchemy", from the front cover of ''Craft Horizons'', 1953.]]

From 1954 to 1955, ''Craft Horizons'' was edited by Belle Krasne, who left to marry Irving S. Ribicoff.<ref name="Krasne">{{cite web |title=Belle Krasne Ribicoff papers, 1942-circa 2010, bulk 1945–2004 |url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/belle-krasne-ribicoff-papers-13705/biographical-note |website=Smithsonian |access-date=5 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="Marriage">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/06/28/archives/belle-krasne-bride-of-irving-s-ribicoff.html |title=Belle Krasne bride of Irving S. Ribicoff |last=|first=|date=June 28, 1955|work=The New York Times|access-date=2021-09-05|page=22}}</ref> She was succeeded by Conrad Brown.<ref name="Koplos">{{cite book|title=Makers: A History of American Studio Craft |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i7rqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 |page=225 |last1=Koplos |first1=Janet |last2=Metcalf |first2=Bruce |year=2010 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-3413-8 |access-date=2021-09-05}}</ref> From 1959 to 1979 the editor in chief of ''Craft Horizons'' was Rose Slivka, the associate editor since 1955. At a time when the field of craft was growing rapidly, Slivka is credited with helping to define its philosophy and terminology. She also moved the focus of the magazine away from an emphasis on traditional techniques, foregrounding artistic forms and innovative expression.<ref name="Johnson">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/04/arts/rose-slivka-85-writer-and-champion-of-crafts-as-fine-art-dies.html|title=Rose Slivka, 85, Writer and Champion of Crafts as Fine Art, Dies|last=Johnson|first=Ken|date=2004-09-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-16|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

''Craft Horizons'' was innovative in its inclusivity of women. It was founded by a woman, its first board of directors included a majority of women, all but one of its editors-in-chief were women, and its editorial coverage was generally balanced in its presentation of men and women.<ref name="Moses">{{cite journal |last1=Moses |first1=Monica |last2=Shaykett |first2=Jessica |title="The Good Making of Good Things" Opens at the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design |journal=American Craft |date=January 26, 2017 |url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/post/good-making-good-things-opens-center-craft-creativity-design |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref>

It was also innovative in its breadth and focus. Previous craft periodicals were associated with particular movements or aesthetic points of view (e.g. ''Ver Sacrum'', ''The Craftsman'', Henry L. Wilson's ''The Bungalow''). Publications in the hobby craft movement focused on do-it-yourself patterns, plans and techniques (e.g. ''Needlecraft'', ''Stitchcraft'', ''The Deltagram'' and ''The Home Craftsman''). ''Craft Horizons'' was the first periodical to put craft into a conceptual framework, addressing its meaning in society, and connecting aesthetic concerns and practical skills.<ref name="Archer"/> It became a public forum for debates and disagreements about the nature and practice of craft, documented in its editorials, reviews and letters.<ref name="Monica">{{cite journal |last1=Moses |first1=Monica |title=Read. Roar. Repeat. |journal=American Craft |date=November 15, 2016 |url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/read-roar-repeat |access-date=5 September 2021}}</ref>

In terms of its design trajectory, photography began to appear soon after World War II and color photography was introduced in the late 1940s. The design of the early magazine and its covers was influenced by Sydney Butchkes. He began working with the magazine as early as 1947 and was the first credited art director as of November 1948. The first issue to appear in 1950 marked a major shift: rather than a traditional artwork, it featured abstraction, a stencil by Joan Miró. In 1956, the magazine's look and logo were redesigned by Ivan Chermayeff and Robert Brownjohn.<ref name="Archer">{{cite journal |last1=Archer |first1=Sarah |title=Craft in the Abstract |journal=American Craft Inquiry |date=2018 |volume=1 |issue=2 |url=https://www.sarah-archer.com/writing/2018/8/29/craft-in-the-abstract |access-date=5 September 2021}}</ref>

''Craft Horizons'' became a resource for scholars as well as for artists, enthusiasts, and casual hobbyists.<ref name="Good">{{cite web |title=The Good Making of Good Things: Craft Horizons Magazine, 1941–1979 |url=https://mmaa.org/goodmakingofgoodthings/ |website=Minnesota Museum of American Art |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> While it began with a focus on the traditional craftwork of the United States, ''Craft Horizons'' soon developed an international focus, driven in part by the many designers who left Europe due to World War II.<ref name="Archer"/> It reached an international audience as well as connecting far-flung members of the North American art craft community.<ref name="Hintze">{{cite web |last1=Hintze |first1=Stephen Brandon |title=Cultivating the crafts: Aileen Osborn Webb and the instituting of American Craft, 1934–1964 |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/17144 |website=Corcoran College of Art & Design. Department of History of Decorative Arts (Click view/open) |date=2008 |hdl=10088/17144 |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref>

As of 1960, ''Craft Horizons'' was officially incorporated as a publication of what was then the American Craftsmen's Council (ACC). In 1976, Aileen Osborn Webb stepped down from the chairmanship of the ACC and was succeeded by Barbara Olsen Rockefeller.<ref name="History">{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/post/our-history |website=American Craft Council |date=January 24, 2012 |access-date=5 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="Rockefeller">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/24/obituaries/barbara-rockefeller-ex-head-of-craft-council-dies-at-55.html |title= Barbara Rockefeller, Ex-Head Of Craft Council, Dies at 55 |last=|first=|date=January 24, 1986 |work=The New York Times|access-date=2021-09-05}}</ref> Webb died on August 15, 1979.<ref name="NYT"/> Also in 1979, the ACC was rebranded as the American Craft Council, ''Craft Horizons'' became ''American Craft'', and Rose Slivka wrote her last editorial for it.<ref name="Zaiden"/>

==''The Good Making of Good Things''== ''The Good Making of Good Things: Craft Horizons Magazine, 1941 – 1979'' chronicles the nearly 40 year history of ''Craft Horizons'' magazine. This exhibition presents objects created by makers in the context of articles, reviews, and letters from the magazine. It was curated by Elizabeth Essner, Lily Kane, and Meaghan Roddy.<ref name="Moses"/> It has appeared at the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (CCCD) in Asheville, North Carolina (2017), the Ceramics Research Center at the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, Arizona (2018), and the Minnesota Museum of American Art in Saint Paul, Minnesota (2019).<ref name="MMAA"/><ref name="Haugen">{{cite journal |last1=Haugen |first1=Barbara |title=The Good Making of Good Things |journal=American Craft |date=February 18, 2019 |url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/good-making-good-things |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref>

The title of the exhibition was inspired by a quotation in an editorial by Rose Slivka, who wrote: {{blockquote | The meaning of the good making of good things by hand is a communicable act—valued and marketable—a palpable chain through which each human being touches the other and is known through hand and craft.<ref name="Moses"/><ref name="quotation">{{cite journal |last1=Slivka |first1=Rose |title=The Crisis of the Arts in Asia |journal=Craft Horizons |date=1975 |volume=35 |issue=2 |page=16 |url=https://digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/p15785coll2/id/9960/ |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> }}

== Archives == * [https://digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/p15785coll2/search Digital archives] for issues of ''Craft Horizons'' (1941–1979) and ''American Craft'' (1979–1990)

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Visual arts magazines published in the United States Category:Defunct magazines published in the United States Category:Magazines established in 1941 Category:Magazines disestablished in 1979 Category:Arts and crafts magazines Category:Arts and Crafts movement