Live from Harvard: Craft and the Museum with Ethan Lasser & Ezra Shales
Art in the Age spirits mentioned in our discussion of "handcrafted" in marketing
This week on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have a live episode focused on craft and the museum with Ethan Lasser and Ezra Shales. We discuss the need for touch-friendly learning in museums, the role of craft in Boston's history, and the ways museums create meaning through the presentation of objects. This episode was taped in front of a live studio audience at Harvard Ceramics in Alston, MA.
(L to R) Ben Carter, Ezra Shales, Ethan Lasser
Ethan Lasser is the Margaret S. Winthrop Associate Curator of American Art at the Harvard Art Museums. He was previously the curator at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and served as adjunct professor of Art History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was instrumental in the formation of Object Lab, a program focused on using hands-on research to teach American art and craft history. Lasser is a graduate of Williams College and received a Ph.D in the history of art from Yale University.
Ezra Shales is an Associate Professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Simultaneously an artist, art theorist and historian, Shales writes about the productive confusion that lies at the boundaries of art, craft, and design. He holds a BA from Wesleyan University, a MFA from Hunter College and a Ph. D from Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture. He has taught at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and has contributed to numerous journals, catalogues and other publications.