Article and photos by Kendel Ohlrogge, Notes from Beyond the Pale
The Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement (the first museum in the world dedicated to this movement( just opened, and its great. I didn’t know anything about the arts and crafts movement, which arose in the late nineteenth century to artistically and culturally counteract the Industrial Revolution. The movement’s artists and craftsmen/women believed that industrialization produced inferior machine-made objects, and that handmade objects, with ornament derived from nature, had artistic, therapeutic and moral benefits for both workers and consumers. Comprising 5 stories within 137,000 square feet the place is huge, with over 800 pieces of furniture, lighting, pottery and more (I got most of my steps in today going through it).
It gave me a chance to think too about whether some sort of movement could arise in the future to counter our current 3D-printed, IKEA-disposable, non-heirloom products and lifestyle. I kind of doubt it, but who knows? Maybe in a hundred years my unicorn sculpture will be in a museum.
The museum is at 355 Fourth Street North, St. Petersburg, and can be found online at museumaacm.org.
