Crafts
The craft disciplines satisfy the human need to work with our hands, creating objects both beautiful and useful. With roots that go back 125 years, UArts provides one of the country’s most comprehensive Crafts curricula. Our students work in clay, wood, metal, glass, fibers, furniture, jewelry and more, creating across the disciplines or delving deeply into a single one. Today’s crafts students master techniques both ancient and entirely modern, preparing them to be professional craftspeople and designers, entrepreneurs and teachers.
What makes us different: a flexible curriculum and comprehensive facilities
At UArts, our innovative Crafts curriculum allows students to create a program that reflects their interests, taking advantage of our fully equipped ceramics, fiber, glass, jewelry, metal and wood studios. We combine age-old processes with state-of-the-art equipment like CAD (computer-aided design) facilities, a 3D laser scanner and a 3D printer/rapid prototyping. Students have many opportunities to exhibit their work both on and off campus.
The University’s award-winning Crafts faculty members have work in the permanent collections of major museums including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cranbook Museum of Art, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and many others.
The city of Philadelphia offers a wide selection of galleries and exhibitions that enhance students’ classroom experience, including the unique Fabric Workshop and Museum, Snyderman-Works, one of America’s premier craft galleries, the Philadelphia Invitational Furniture Show, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s annual Craft Show. The University itself has organized and hosted national and international crafts exhibitions and symposia, including a recent conference on Fibers, the annual meeting of the American Craft Council and more.
Who are UArts Crafts alumni?
Crafts alumni are risk-takers, putting together a life based on skill, confidence and creativity. Some have achieved great success as studio artists and their work is represented in world-renowned institutions including the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Arts and Design, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Most become independent artists, heading up small studios and producing work that is highly valued for its aesthetic content, craftsmanship and design. They combine their art with business, becoming successful entrepreneurs in a variety of fields. Several have received prestigious Fulbright Scholarships to travel and study abroad, and those who wish to go on to graduate study are accepted into highly selective programs around the world.
Crafts alumni are teaching at or have taught at educational institutions including New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, State University of New York New Paltz: School of Fine and Performing Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, Massachusetts College of Art, Maine College of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art, and the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. They work at museums like the Smithsonian and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and galleries like the Snyderman Gallery in Philadelphia, Zuzu Studio Gallery in Collingswood, N.J., Del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles, and Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle.
A number of our graduates become designers at companies such as Tiffany and Co. and Guess. Work made by our alumni can be found in publications from American Craft Magazine to The New York Times. Whatever path they pursue, our alumni create work that is collected, valued and admired.
