Collections

Objects

The Museum currently stewards a growing collection of close to 1,300 objects of modern and contemporary craft from 1937 to the present. Largely made up of mid-century ceramics, the collection also includes works in clay, fiber, glass, metal and wood from the Pacific Northwest and beyond. In 2008, the Museum published Unpacking the Collection: Selections from the Museum of Contemporary Craft, the first publication to document the Museum’s collection and its connections to the American Craft Movement and dramatic changes in artistic practice over the past 70 years. In 2011, the exhibition and publication 75 Gifts for 75 Years honored the legacy of the Museum while adding 75 additional gifts to the collection. The Museum currently organizes two exhibitions drawn from or connecting to the collection each year. Exhibitions are curated by the Museum Curator, guest curators or organized as art installations in collaboration with artists, craftspeople and designers around questions or themes that connect the collection with broader cultural questions. In addition to using works in the collection, exhibitions about the collection often include works from private collections and public institutions to provide additional context.

Archives

The Museum’s archives include thousands of slides, photographs, correspondence, board minutes, exhibition posters, print materials and other ephemera that supports the behind-the-scenes aspects of Museum work. The archive provides insight into shifts in exhibition practices, the display of craft, graphic design history, and economic and lifestyle shifts over the Museum’s seven-decade history. Ongoing research by curatorial staff and interns connects the archives to the public through inclusion in exhibitions, and support for researchers investigating such areas as craft history or the history of visual arts in the Pacific Northwest.