Breaking Ground: A Century of Craft Art in Western New York

―Artist interviews with Wendell Castle, Albert Paley, Wayne Higby, and Michael Taylor ―Definitive history of this rich artist's community in New York State that fostered some of the leading artists in the furniture and studio craft movement in America ―Of interest to all craft museums, schools, and libraries as well as collectors and art historians ―Includes the work of artists whose work has been collected by the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.; New York City's Museum of Arts and Design and Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among many others. It was in the rolling hills and small cities of western New York State that the studio craft movement took root and thrived. In the early 1900s it pulsated with Charles Fergus Binns's New York State School of Clay-Working at Alfred University; Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft community; Gustav Stickley's furniture workshops, and Steuben Glass in Corning. In the middle-to-late 20th century, Alfred nourished such important ceramists as Daniel Rhodes, Ted Randall, and Robert Turner; the school is still ripe with talented artists including Val Cushing, Anne Currier, Andrea and John Gill, and Walter McConnell. In 1950, the School for American Craftsmen (SAC) moved to Rochester recruiting from Europe Tage Frid, John Prip, and Franz Wildenhain to build its departments. Today the area is a nexus of craft activity with such artists as Tom Markusen, Andy Buck, John Eric Byers, and Concetta Mason.