A New Handmade Arts Campaign Wants to Unite Object Makers Across America
A new campaign wants to connect glassblowers, ceramicists, wood carvers, weavers, metalworkers, and more artists across the nation. New York-based art gallery R & Company has announced “With Our Hands,” a new digital campaign that calls on object makers across the U.S. to submit 15-second videos of their hands in action, showcasing the art they make and sharing why they make it. The goal is to rally object makers across the country to claim their medium, find community within each other, and “help enrich the fabric of America” during such fraught times, according to the gallery.
“We keep hearing how divided America is, but we are actually united in the diversity, resourcefulness, and innovation of the objects we as Americans make with our hands,” said R & Company co-founder Zesty Meyers. “We want object makers, whether just starting out or highly accomplished, to feel like they are part of a movement. We want to help break down divisions between the arts in this country. This nation needs so much healing right now and this is what we can do to help.”
Meyers added, “Creation, no matter how large or small, arises from a desire to shape a different world — an impulse never more important than today.”
“With Our Hands” hopes to break down the barriers within the maker community — and “help heal the nation by shining a light on the vitality and ingenuity” of the handmade arts in the country. The campaign is part of the art gallery’s current exhibition “Objects: USA 2020” on display now through July in New York. Much like the gallery’s original 1969 exhibition “Objects: USA” that inspired the current iteration, “With Our Hands” seeks to strengthen the diverse community of makers and deepen the handmade arts dialogue in America.
To submit (and for more information about submission guidelines), visit Objects USA. Submissions will be shared on the @randcompanynyc and @objects_usa Instagram and TikTok accounts, website, and platforms of partner organizations.