Art in the Making

a publication by EVOKE Contemporary

Showcasing a wide diversity of art and craft, Art in the Making is an exhibition (and book) based on the conviction that there is no right or best or most important way to make art. Fine arts are no longer limited to painting and sculpture, as they were for so long. Living in an age in which handmade things are vanishingly rare, the co-publishers of the book, The Fisher Press and The John Stevens Shop, have chosen to add to the description of fine art any practice done by hand with care and mastery. What is considered art today therefore includes a far wider range of thoughtfully made things, from ceramics and furniture to musical instruments, handmade books, handmade knives, clothing—even cooking. It is no longer the tool that qualifies any given practice as an art, but the skill and understanding of the person who wields it.

The aim in assembling this collection of artists’ essays in Art in the Making—and the artists’ art in the exhibition—is to offer the reader and the viewing public, an entirely different perspective: one not so dependent on the interpretation of outside commentators, but one that instead would directly present the unfiltered ideas, methodologies, and creative drives of the artists themselves.

Included in the exhibition are paintings, sculpture, ceramics, furniture, photography, conceptual art, handcrafted knives, a quilt, a musical instrument, and artist essays associated with each artwork.