Janet Kardon 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - PRINTER VERSION
Published in New Art Examiner, October 1989, 28-31.
The American Craft Council (ACC)'s three-year search for a director of the American Craft Museum ended with the appointment of Janet Kardon. Kardon, who received her B.S. in education from Temple University and an M.A. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania, has been the director of the University of PennsyIvania's Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) for the past ten years. Exhibitions she curated during her tenure include: Laurie Anderson, Works from 1969-1983 (1988), David Salle (1986), and Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment, which was recently canceled by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, its third stop on a six-city tour. She has served as the United States commissioner for the Venice Biennale (1980), as chair of the selection panel for international exhibitions for the United States Information Agency (1987) and as vice-chair of the visual arts panel of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. On numerous occasions she has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts (visual arts panels: 1975, 1978. 1979, 1980; the inter-arts panel: 1985; and museum panels: 1984, 1985, 1988, and 1989).
For all her credentials in the fine arts world, however, Kardon is a virtual newcomer to the crafts field. Charles Peebler, chairman of the board of trustees of the American Craft Council said that Kardon was chosen for her accomplishments as the director of the ICA. More than likely he is referring to her capacity as a fundraiser. While at the ICA she increased by fourfold its programs, staff and budget. Kardon's final accomplishment was the raising of $2.9 million of a $3.5 million capital campaign to relocate the ICA to a larger, more visible space in 1990. The widely reported rumor that the American Craft Museum is still deeply in debt from its 1986 move to its new space across the street from the Museum of Modern Art in New York—a rumor that no one at the ACC, including its treasurer George Saxe, would confirm or deny—could lead one to conclude that the most important factor in the choice of a new director was a good track record in fundraising.
There seems to be no question about Kardon's administrative and fundraising skills or that the American Craft Museum is sorely in need of them. But the museum also needs someone who is conversant in the craft language, someone who not only has a broad historical and cross-cultural view of crafts, but also insight into the peculiar dilemma that contemporary American craft faces in our culture. Said Peebler in announcing the board's decision: "Janet Kardon represents a very important statement about the future of the American Craft Museum."
Rob Barnard: What do you think distinguishes a craft object from a painting or a piece of sculpture?
Janet Kardon: I think that traditionally craft distinguishes itself from those other expressions because of its affinity to the medium of the process, and by the very intent and definition of the artist who is making the object.
RB: If I'm working in clay and I'm firing it in a kiln and I say that my intention is to make craft, then I'm a craftsperson regardless of what I make.
>>
© 1980 - 2025 Rob Barnard . All Rights Reserved. Site design: eismontdesign
Published in New Art Examiner, October 1989, 28-31.
The American Craft Council (ACC)'s three-year search for a director of the American Craft Museum ended with the appointment of Janet Kardon. Kardon, who received her B.S. in education from Temple University and an M.A. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania, has been the director of the University of PennsyIvania's Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) for the past ten years. Exhibitions she curated during her tenure include: Laurie Anderson, Works from 1969-1983 (1988), David Salle (1986), and Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment, which was recently canceled by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, its third stop on a six-city tour. She has served as the United States commissioner for the Venice Biennale (1980), as chair of the selection panel for international exhibitions for the United States Information Agency (1987) and as vice-chair of the visual arts panel of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. On numerous occasions she has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts (visual arts panels: 1975, 1978. 1979, 1980; the inter-arts panel: 1985; and museum panels: 1984, 1985, 1988, and 1989).
For all her credentials in the fine arts world, however, Kardon is a virtual newcomer to the crafts field. Charles Peebler, chairman of the board of trustees of the American Craft Council said that Kardon was chosen for her accomplishments as the director of the ICA. More than likely he is referring to her capacity as a fundraiser. While at the ICA she increased by fourfold its programs, staff and budget. Kardon's final accomplishment was the raising of $2.9 million of a $3.5 million capital campaign to relocate the ICA to a larger, more visible space in 1990. The widely reported rumor that the American Craft Museum is still deeply in debt from its 1986 move to its new space across the street from the Museum of Modern Art in New York—a rumor that no one at the ACC, including its treasurer George Saxe, would confirm or deny—could lead one to conclude that the most important factor in the choice of a new director was a good track record in fundraising.
There seems to be no question about Kardon's administrative and fundraising skills or that the American Craft Museum is sorely in need of them. But the museum also needs someone who is conversant in the craft language, someone who not only has a broad historical and cross-cultural view of crafts, but also insight into the peculiar dilemma that contemporary American craft faces in our culture. Said Peebler in announcing the board's decision: "Janet Kardon represents a very important statement about the future of the American Craft Museum."
Rob Barnard: What do you think distinguishes a craft object from a painting or a piece of sculpture?
Janet Kardon: I think that traditionally craft distinguishes itself from those other expressions because of its affinity to the medium of the process, and by the very intent and definition of the artist who is making the object.
RB: If I'm working in clay and I'm firing it in a kiln and I say that my intention is to make craft, then I'm a craftsperson regardless of what I make.
>>
© 1980 - 2025 Rob Barnard . All Rights Reserved. Site design: eismontdesign