A Craft Program Closes: Namita Gupta Wiggers gives insight.

the 65th episode of Perceived Value host Sarah Rachel Brown connects remotely with Namita Gupta Wiggers. Namita is a writer, educator, and curator based in Portland, OR that Sarah met in Chicago during a conference in 2019. Since that time, Sarah has followed Namita’s work with the Critical Craft Forum and the MA in Critical Craft Studies program at Warren Wilson College.

Having learned that the Critical Craft Studies program would be closing, Sarah reached to ask if Namita would share what her role was as Director of the program and what this closure means for both her and the students. The conversation gives insight as how the program was created, the intention behind the curriculum, the importance of understanding budgets, and how the college is navigating the logistics of the closure.

This insightful conversation has been produced in two parts.

The extended audio from this conversation is available through the Perceived Value Patreon.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Namita Gupta Wiggers is a writer, educator, and curator based in Portland, OR. Wiggers serves as the founding director of the MA in Critical Craft Studies at Warren Wilson College, the first and only low-residency program focused on craft histories and theory. She co-founded Critical Craft Forum, an online and onsite platform for dialogue and exchange including projects such as annual College Art Association Conference sessions from 2009-2019. Wiggers served as curator and then chief curator and director of Museum of Contemporary Craft/PNCA from 2004–14. Prior experiences as a museum educator, design researcher, studio jeweler, and life as an American of South Asian heritage also shape her research and writing on craft and culture.

namitawiggers.com

@namitapdx

@criticalcraftforum

@macraftstudieswwc

Mentioned in the podcast:

Master of Arts in Critical Craft Studies

Craft Think Tank

Michael Hatch of Crucible Glassworks

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The music you hear on Perceived Value is by the Seattle group Song Sparrow Research.

All You Need to Know off of their album Sympathetic Buzz.

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