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The 14th annual lecture series features lively discussions by established and emerging artists, noted museum curators, critics and scholars in the Tiffany Room at the Park Avenue Armory.
Seating is on a first-come basis and is complimentary with Fair admission.

Sculpture as Ornament
A review of the iconoclastic artists who translated the excitement of surrealism and modernism into wearable jewelry. Their work will be seen in Crafting Modernism: Mid-century American Art and Design at the Museum of Arts and Design, NY in October 2011. Jeannine Falino, Curator, Museum of Arts and Design, NY

Dream Work
UK artist Christie Brown will illustrate the development of her recent sculpture rooted in a fascination with museum culture, and the parallel between the modernist practices of archaeology and psychoanalysis.

The Hand and the Glove
UK artist Michael Eden will describe how he fuses traditional craft skills with the most advanced digital technology to create dynamic, powerful and intriguing objects.

The Pursuit of Porcelain
Artist Chris Antemann focuses on the 18th c. tradition of porcelain rooms and its direct influence on her installation, "The Pursuit of Porcelain" exhibited at SOFA by Ferrin Gallery. This diminutive version of a porcelain room will be filled with a collection of porcelain figurines that illustrate some of the cultural and historical ways in which porcelain has seduced society.

Sometimes
New Zealand artist Lisa Walker makes jewellery out of a vast collection of materials - plastic, wood, paper, gold, fabric, clay, dirt, dust, aluminum, paint - the list goes on. Her talk will be a retrospective look at pieces and projects of the last 20 years, looking at what extremes are possible, questioning and researching what jewellery means, what it can be.

Tapestry Becomes Modern Art
Grace Glueck, art critic, Ann Lane Hedlund, author of Gloria F. Ross & Modern Tapestry (Yale, 2010) and master weaver Archie Brennan explore the ambitious career of Gloria Ross (1923-98), renowned editeur of tapestries who organized collaborations with acclaimed modernist painters and sculptors like Helen Frankenthaler (Ross's sister), Kenneth Noland, Louise Nevelson, and other traditional-yet-innovative weavers in France, Scotland, and the Southwestern United States.

Geoffrey Mann - The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Geoffrey Mann's portfolio challenges the known perceptions surrounding the marriage of craft and digital technology. Rather than representing technology as a replacement or evolution of the human element, this presentation will explore an alternate domain of human mastery through the quintessentially contemporary means of narration and observation.

Sergey Jivetin and Jennifer Trask: Two Visions
Jewelry artists Jennifer Trask and Sergey Jivetin discuss their individual ideologies and shared studio practices.  Trask will talk about the evolution of her most recent series, "Embodiment", which encompasses both sculptural and wearable works. Jivetin will elaborate on the role of experimental techniques and materials.

The Art of Not Making
With a recent return to a highly crafted aesthetic in art, 'the artist'is increasingly remote from the physical act of production, with specialists doing the heavy lifting and fine detailing. Dr. Michael Petry, Director of MOCA London will explore the relationship between artist and artisan, creativity and production, asking the important question: What is art work?