Blog Archives
Umbrella’s Art Crimes
Umbrella
1983-2005 (incomplete)
umbrellaeditions.com
Librarian Judith Hoffberg created Umbrella in 1978 as āa means of intercommunication for art historians, artists, librarians and anyone else who is interestedā in ānews and information relative to a part of art history that usually never gets discussed in the mainstream.ā This meant artist books and mail art, mostly, but the journalās blue and blackĀ pages were open to more.
In the listings section of each issue is the heading Lost and Found, under which went news briefs related to artistic heists and recoveries. Below is a sampling of the reach of artās underworld.
Umbrella ran in print to 2005 and then online until 2008. Hoffberg passed away in 2009.
Find our incomplete collection (30+ issues) of the irregular journal in Periodicals.
The Sienese Shredder
The Sienese Shredder
nos 1-4; 2006-2010
www.sienese-shredder.com
The Sienese Shredder #1 hasĀ a mango cover with a fox and a clock. Inside, right off the bat, is History and Truth (a commencement address), followed by GĆ©rard de Nervalās Chantilly (āfilled with very old retired servants, walking their limping dogsā), postcard collages by John Ashbery, music by Alan Shockley, the marketing of surrealism, Ron Padgett, Harry Mathews, A Parliament of Refrigerator Magnets, delirious episodes in contemporary art, a poem played out through a lyrical Twister, a Duchampian chess challenge bearing a cupid, Honeyās Metaphoric Energy Transfer, The New Crustacean, and more, ending after over 200 pages with J-K Huysmans, of Against Nature, in Haarlem.
Flip through the next three and find currency collages, mute critics, bughouse poets, Whitmanās glasses, Toilet Rolls, Macintoshages, octopussarian impulses, de Kooningās last drawing, epitaphs by William Beckford, eyeballs, giant-size mini books, spools by Crumb, and Jesus Christ. These arenāt even the highlights.
Founded and edited by Brice Brown and Trevor Winkfield, The Shredder ran for four issues, 2006-2010. Each issue contained an audio CD. āContents can include writings by visual artists; art by writers; poets as installation artists; photographers as poets, and the range of contributors moves from the well-known and up-and-coming to the unknown or forgotten,ā says the website (which has excerpts and issues for sale).
The complete series is available in ourĀ Periodicals archive.

Raphael Rubinstein, In Search of the Miraculous: 50 Episodes from the Annals of Contemporary Art (Issue#1)
American Craft
This bimonthly magazineāfounded in 1941āwas originally known as Craft Horizons but later changed to American Craft in 1979.Ā It is dedicated to the advancement of the āage-old human impulseā to create things by hand. With an emphasis on nature and primitive art,Ā Craft HorizonsĀ drew harsh contrast to the mass-produced products of its time.
The magazine celebrates the use of unconventional materials, emerging and veteran artists, and helped define Craft as a concept, documenting the way it has evolved and sustained into the present day. Ā Issues typically include insight on upcoming exhibitions, book reviews, events, and craft-related films as well as organizations and schools engaged in advancing the craft medium.Ā It also gives novice writers and artists a place to showcase their work, as the magazine takes freelance writings and photography submissions for consideration towards each issue.Ā Readers are also occasionally able to purchase affordable and innovative handmade goods featured in the magazine.
Funded by the nonprofit organization, The America Craft Council, American Craft is currently in its 72nd volume of publication and has over 14,000 issues (including the 38-year publication of Craft Horizons), making it one of the largest collections of art, craft, and design books in the country.
The Visual Arts Library is fortunate to own 46 of these volumes–dating back to 1962-and our current subscription ensures that our collection will grow with the publication.

American Craft, Volume 71, Issue Number 06. December/January 2012
Some artists view craft primarily as an activity, rather than an object. Left: Anne Wilson’s “Wind Up: Walking the Warp, Houston” (2010). Six dancers wound thread through the steel frame in this performance-turned-installation. Middle: Kelly Lamb (supported on her left by B Teamer Jeff Zimmerman) learns how to dance on molten glass as part of the performance art group’s 1997 “Tricks” video. Right: Mung Lar Lam hangs her geometric sculptures, made with cotton cloth, an iron, and starch, during an “Ironings” performance in 2010.

American Craft, Volume 71, Issue Number 06. December/January 2012
Randi Solin, a Washington D.C. born artist, studied at the New York State College of Ceramics. Solin creates abstract expressionist art she sees as “closer to paintings than fragile bud vases.”

Craft Horizons, Volume 22, Issue Number 05. September/October 1962
Left: Blue and white porcelain vase with relief decoration, 9 3/4″ high, from Bennington, Vermont, c. 1850. Right (top): Hard paste porcelain vase, 15″ high, embossed with gold and jewel work by Union Porcelain Works, Greenpoint, New York, c. 1884. [Left Page:] Right (bottom): porcelain pitcher, 8 1/4″ high, with relief decoration–Niagara Falls design–by United States Pottery Co., Bennington, Vermont, c. 1853-1858. [Right Page:] Left (top): painted vase, 8 3/4″ high, produced by Rockwood Pottery, Cincinnati, Ohio, and decorated by Artus Van Briggle, c. 1990. Left (bottom): blue “art nouveau” bowl, 5″ high, by Artus Van Briggle, Colorado Springs, Colorado, c. 1915. Right: hand-carved pale yellow “art nouveau” vase, 10 7/8″ high, by William Grueby, Boston, Massachusetts, c. 1910.

Craft Horizons, Volume 22, Issue Number 05. September/October 1962
Left: “Bottle Garden” by Sari Dienes of Stony Point, New York.

Craft Horizons, Volume 22, Issue Number 04. July/August 1962
Nicholas Vergette’s mixed media architectural murals. Left: Mosaic of ceramic and wood set in unglazed clay, 6′ x 4′. Center: Mosaic of blue, green, and orange shapes, 54′ x 26′. Right: Ceramic and wood mosaic, 6′ x 4′.

Craft Horizons, Volume 22, Issue Number 01. January/February 1962
Polish woodcarving, truly sculptural in its vigorously expressed from, captured the imagination of viewers in a comprehensive exhibition of Polish folk craft in every medium at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, November 28-January 14. In toys, kitchenware, animals, religious and secular figures, peasant carvers throughout the country practice an art that is at once traditional and contemporary. One of the most interesting centers of creative activity is the School of Kenar, located in the mountains of southern Poland, which gives training only in woodcarving and sculpture. There, craftsmen are producing work of such inventiveness and formal strength that it belongs with the sophisticated and informed sculpture of the international art community.

American Craft, Volume 72, Issue Number 01. February/March 2012
Top left: The crowd at the second Toledo Museum of Art glass workshop in June 1962. Front row, from left: Rosemary Gulassa, Harvey Leafgreen (a retired Swedish glass-blower recruited to help teach), June Wilson, Robert C. Florian, and Harvey K. Littleton. Back row, from left: John Karrasch, Octavio Medellin, Clayton Bailey, Stanley Zielinski, Norm Schulman, Diane Powell, Edith Franklin, and Erik Erikson. Bottom left: Fritz Dreisbach’s “Rich Golden Amber Mongo,” 1989 14 x 12 in. dia. Right: Harvey K. Littleton’s “Gold and Green Implied Movement,” 1987 31.25 x 19 x 14 in.

American Craft, Volume 72, Issue Number 02. April/May 2012
Kansas City Art Institute graduate and fiber artist, Yulie Urano’s knitted works serve as an exploration of her dual cultural identity. Urano uses her hands as knitting needles and knits her garments directly onto her body. Left: “Soft”, 2009, cotton. Top left: “Green”, 2010, cashmere. Middle left: “Orange”, 2010, cashmere. Right: “Grey”, 2010, silk.

American Craft, Volume 72, Issue Number 03. June/July 2012
From the humble wax crayon, Christian Faur creates sophisticated photo-realistic portraits.

American Craft, Volume 72, Issue Number 03. June/July 2012
Jiyoung Chung’s sculptural art re-envisions an ancient paper making technique. Left: Chung’s pieces are hung several inches away from the wall, creating dimension; the shadows they cast and subtle movements they make have a haunting effect. Middle left: “Whisper-Romance VI-II”, 2007, handmade paper, paper yarn, 2.8 x 2.1 feet. Right page: Right: “Whisper-Romance IV: Perspective”, 2007, handmade paper, paper yarn, 2 x 1.5 feet. Middle: “Whisper-Romance II-XXX”, 2007, handmade paper, paper yarn, 3.1 x 2 feet. Left: “Whisper-Romance: The Life”, 2009, handmade paper, paper yarn, 2.9 x 2 feet.

American Craft, Volume 73, Issue Number 02. April/May 2013
Michael Janis’s glass works, which employ the late-Renaissance technique of mirror anamorphosis, distorted images surround a silvered glass cylinder, in which the images may be seen in an undistorted form. Left: “The Optimism of Language”, 2012, fused glass, glass powder, silver, steel, 2 feet dia. x 7 feet. Right: “Lessons Learned and Unlearned”, 2012, fused glass, glass powder, silver, steel, 2 feet dia. x 7 feet.

American Craft, Volume 73, Issue Number 02. April/May 2013
In striking sculpture, Michael Peterson expresses the imagery and the energy of the natural world. Right: “Coastal Stack V”, 2008, madrone burl, 4 x 2.8 x 2.5 feet.

American Craft, Volume 71, Issue Number 06. December/January 2012
TV’s Nick Offerman stays grounded in craft.