Wayne Art Center: CraftForms 2023 And Ingrained Furniture

RADNOR, PA —Wayne Art Center is gearing up for the 28th anniversary of CraftForms 2023, the International Jury Exhibition of Contemporary Fine Crafts, consisting of artists from 29 states, Nigeria, Taiwan, Mexico, and Israel.

The display will include basketry, ceramics, decorative fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, metal, mixed media, paper, wearable art, and wood.

The show opens on Saturday, Dec. 2, and continues until Saturday, Jan. 20 at the center, at the Wayne Art Center, 413 Maplewood Ave., Radnor Township.

The public is invited to a preview from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec.1. The preview features talks from curators of the exhibits.

First Garden By Kathy Spoering, a tapestry designer and weaver who lives in the Colorado Rockies with her husband and two cats.

The art is being selected by juror Jean McLaughlin, the former director of North Carolina’s Penland School of Craft.

After 45 years in nonprofit art management, McLaughlin is giving back to the art world as a volunteer, consultant, writer, and curator. She serves on several art-related boards and enjoys traveling, swimming, walking, gardening, and cooking.

The exhibit was started to provide a venue for both established and emerging artists to share their creative endeavors with the center on the Main Line and the greater Philadelphia community.

Ingrained Exhibit

InGrained, an exhibition showcasing works by 24 Pennsylvania artists, including loaned works by master craftsmen Wharton Esherick and George Nakashima., will be on display in the Ethel Sergeant Clark Smith Gallery.

Curator Mark Sfirri is a highly regarded furniture maker, wood sculptor, and the former director of Bucks County Community College’s Fine Woodworking Program.

A library ladder created by the late Wharton Esherick whose studio is now a museum on a 12-acre wooded area on Valley Forge Mountain. His motto was, “If it isn’t fun, it isn’t worth doing.”

Also on display in the Vidinghoff Lobby Gallery will be Attraction to Abstraction, the center’s annual juried exhibition of large abstract works. Juror Marianne Mitchell has shown works nationally and internationally and is currently on the faculty at Wayne Art Center.

The museum is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information is available here. Tickets for the preview party are available here.

Correction: A library ladder was created by Wharton Esherick