Friday, Dec. 27, 2024 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / Stream now with the PBS app
"Collectors" reveals the essential role that craft appreciators play in the community. It examines how collectors affirm and inspire the artists they support and how the art enriches the lives of the collectors in turn. The episode highlights collections from Chicano art to teapots to wooden spoons, looking at what drives collectors and how their support furthers artists at all stages of their careers.
We open in Cincinnati, Ohio, with Carolyn Mazloomi, an artist, collector and curator and the founder of the Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN). We meet Cynthia Lockhart, a quilt artist who has found community with the WCQN, and Sara Vance Waddell, a collector of women’s art, and learn how the three women have developed a friendship through collecting that has provided inspiration and encouragement in their lives.
In Baltimore, Maryland, we meet several dynamic young collectors and the artists they support at the American Craft Council’s annual show, American Craft Made Baltimore.
This celebration of craft provides an opportunity for artists and collectors to meet in person and connect over the art that brings them together.
We meet Sonny and Gloria Kamm and their vast collection of teapots in Los Angeles, California. They lead us to artist Peter Shire and discover the joy he finds in creating unique objects, from teapots to mugs to furniture.
In Washington, D.C., we visit the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and meet three collectors who have donated work to the museum, Fleur Bresler, Judith Chernoff and Jeffrey Bernstein.
They explain why sharing their collections with the public is an essential part of their connection with artists and introduce us to Norm Sartorius, a wood artist who makes fascinating and original spoons.
Returning to California, comedian and collector Cheech Marin takes us to the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum. Cheech has made a lifelong project of collecting and encouraging Chicano artists and found a home for his collection at the Riverside Art Museum. Yolanda González, Francisco Palomares, Frank Romero and Jaime “Germs” Zacarias are among the featured artists we meet from his collection.
Watch On Your Schedule: CRAFT IN AMERICA "Collectors" is available to stream on the PBS app, pbs.org/craftinamerica, and craftinamerica.org.
Craft in America is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit arts organization founded in 2004 with the mission to promote and advance original handcrafted work through programs in all media. The Peabody Award-winning, Emmy-nominated CRAFT IN AMERICA documentary series first aired nationally on PBS in 2007 and has produced 33 hour-long episodes to date. These programs are filled with artists, techniques, and stories from diverse cultures, blending history with living practice. Craft in America on Facebook / Instagram
