JUNE 3-4, 2017
Industry City, Brooklyn

The first New York edition of the CRAFT IN FOCUS festival will take place June 3-4 2017 at Industry City, Brooklyn. The two-day festival will present over a hundred hands-on workshops for people of all ages, inspiring lectures by renowned international craftsmen, master classes for professionals and outstanding documentaries on craftsmanship. For more information on the CRAFT IN FOCUS festival, please visit: http://craftinfocusnewyork.com/.

The rich programming of the CRAFT IN FOCUS festival is meant to appeal to a wide audience: from curious novices to skilled professionals. In a world where children are swiping their iPhones and 3D printers are building houses, and a time of serial mass production and consumption, the beauty of handmade quality products and hands-on experience of learning technique directly from an artist should be revalued.

The CRAFT IN FOCUS festival was founded in 2013 on these principles in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and has been an annual success for the last four years. Today, they are gearing up to present the festival in New York City for the first time ever, giving those who live, work, learn and play in the city the opportunity to learn from master craftsmen from around the world.

The CRAFT IN FOCUS festival will take place in New York City for the first time ever on June 3-4, 2017 at Industry City, Brooklyn. For more information, please visit: http://craftinfocusnewyork.com/.

Craft in Focus Festival, New York is made possible by the generous support of:
Industry City, Popular Mechanics, DutchCulture, Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, Amsterdam Trade, Hästens, The Zaanse Schans, and Royal Delft

Ticketing information:
General Admission tickets for the two days is $15 for adults / $10 for students
Children under 18 are free
Craft in Focus Festival is open on Saturday, June 3 and Sunday, June 4 from 11:00am- 6:00pm / There is a party in the courtyard on Saturday, June 3 from 6:00-10:00pm with live music and refreshments
Master Classes, Lectures, Workshops, and Film Screenings are priced separately, please visit craftinfocusnewyork.com for details
Tickets may be purchased online, in advance, http://craftinfocusnewyork.com/tickets/ or in person at the event for an additional $5.

Complete program and event descriptions may be found here:
http://craftinfocusnewyork.com/program-2017/

Program Highlights include:

MASTER CLASS
Hair Styling with Christiaan
Sunday, June 4 at 2:00pm
$75
Top hair stylist Christiaan is originally from the Netherlands, and has been a hair stylist for over fifty years. He is famous for creating the signature flat top of Grace Jones. Celebrities like Brad Pitt, Blondie, Doutzen Kroes, Lady GaGa: Christiaan has cut their hair. Typical for Christiaan’s style is that he considers hair to be a material with a character, which cannot be manipulated. He likes to create ‘air’ in a haircut. He also likes ceramics, working with wood, landscape architecture and poetry.

MASTER CLASS
Guitar building techniques with Flip Scipio
Saturday, June 3 at 3:00pm (Guitar Restoration and Repair)
Sunday, June 4 at 3:00pm (Design and Construction of Acoustic and Electric Guitars)
$75
Flip Scipio is a renowned master luthier based in Brooklyn, New York. He has fixed up or custom-built guitars for artists such as David Bowie, Carly Simon, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Ry Cooder, Rosanne Cash and many more.

Scipio – originally from The Netherlands – moved to Madrid in 1979 to study with Paulino Bernabe. He crossed borders after finding out that the Spanish are not very open in teaching to total strangers. In the spring of 1980 Scipio moved to San Diego to learn from master luthier Božo Podunavac. In 1984 Scipio graduated from the prestigious London College of Furniture. Two years later Scipio moved to the United States to work as an in-house repairman at the Guild Guitar Company and later on at Mandolin Brothers. In 1997 he switched gears and started Scipio Guitars on Staten Island. Today he repairs and designs guitars in his studio in Bushwick.

Scipio will guide you through many of his techniques and experiences, so bring your own guitar for tips, tricks and feedback!

WORKSHOP
Clay Your Own Shaun the Sheep
Saturday, June 3 at 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:30pm
Sunday, June 4 at 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:30pm
$15
For the first time in New York you can make your own Shaun the Sheep with none other than Jim Parkyn from British Aardman Studios, the creators behind Shaun the Sheep, and Wallace & Gromit. Participants can take their clay models home and try animating them using Aardman’s easy to use Animate It! Software. On top of this you’ll even get the opportunity to ask questions about the tricks of the trade from the Aardman studio.

Jim Parkyn is a Senior model maker and Team Leader in the puppet department. He has worked with Aardman since 2000, starting on Chicken Run, and has played a part in most productions since then. Credits include: Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit, andShaun the Sheep, including the 5 series and Movie released in 2015. The Shaun the Sheep movie has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year 2016.

WORKSHOP
Star Wars Origami with Chris Alexander
Saturday, June 3 at 11:00am, 12:30pm, 5:00pm, 4:30pm
Sunday, June 4 at 11:00am, 12:30pm, 5:00pm, 4:30pm
$5
Perfect for people of all ages

Alexander was 13 years old when he first saw Star Wars on the silver screen. He immediately fell in love with the heroes, booed the villains and became a true Star Wars fan from that day on.

Today, Alexander is a master folder and author of the DIY book Star Wars Origami. Origami is the art of making sculpted figures by folding paper. The paper may not be glued, ripped, taped or cut to accomplish the sculpture. Alexander is specialized in mixing his origami talents with his passion for the Star Wars universe.

FILM
De Huisman. On craftsmanship, insight, and authenticity. By Wendy van Wilenburg, founder of Craft in Focus Festival
Sunday, June 4 11:00am
$10
This film documents the complete restoration of one of the Zaanse Schans’ finest windmills: ‘De Huisman’, famous for its mustard, which was produced here for many years. From ducklings in the spring, through the heat of summer to the winter snow, this documentary follows the construction process for over a year and a half. We look over the shoulders of the carpenters as they hammer and saw. Technical challenges and differences of opinion between the involved parties unfold. The whole process has resulted in a unique documentary that pays homage to traditional craftsmanship and offers a critical view on restoring cultural heritage.

The screening will be followed by a talkback with filmmaker Wendy van Wilgenburg, the founder of the Craft in Focus Festival.

DEMONSTRATION
Dutch Barn model
Ongoing for duration of the Festival Free with General Admission ticket
One of the interesting still visible traces of Dutch cultural heritage in New Netherlands is the presence of Dutch houses and Dutch barns. At the festival you can learn about the specific historical Dutch way of construction in wood, by helping assemble a Dutch barn model. This is an opportunity to gain hands-on experience and see first-hand the construction and structural principles employed in a traditional heavy timber structure.

There are 130 pieces. The model is owned by the National Barn Alliance and is on loan to the Dutch Barn Preservation Society. The Dutch Barn Preservation Society brings the quarter-scale model of a traditional Dutch barn to Craft in Focus as part of an effort to raise the awareness of the historic timber barns that are rapidly disappearing from our landscape. This barn and others have travelled the country, visiting grade schools, high schools and universities to educate young people in the traditions, talents, and culture that are also disappearing from our modern society.

You can come into direct contact with the oaken timbers and their posts, beams, and braces, but also learn of mortises, tenons, dovetails, and wedges. You learn of the structural logic developed not through calculations, but of wisdom and refinements advanced through the centuries. Perhaps the most important aspect of the event is the experience of the cooperative nature of a barn-raising and the sense of community that is needed to accomplish a project that today would be built with a crane and a few laborers.

EXHIBITION
The American Artist’s Hand Archive Bronze Hands On view for duration of the Festival
Free with General Admission ticket
The American Artist’s Hand Archive has been established to document through castings in bronze the hands of many of America’s most distinguished and venerated visual artists. Each artist, in their own way, approaches aesthetic challenges through the most basic manipulation of material with gifted hands. These hands bear the marks of use that are inextricably tied to important contributions to contemporary American art. Initiated in 2009, the Archive is an ongoing project with twenty-five participating artists to date and seventeen bronze castings completed.

Participants:
Huma Bhabha, Chuck Close, Bill Crozier, Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, Michele Oka Doner, April Gornik, Peter Gourfain, Don Gummer, Eric Fischl, Mary Frank, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Maya Lin, Tom Otterness, Beverly Pepper, Titus Kaphar, Judy Pfaff, Rona Pondick, Richard Prince, Martin Puryear, Ursula Von Rydingsvard, Ed Smith, Kiki Smith, Kenneth Snelson, and William Tucker.