Mexico's love of celebration is well known, and cartoneria, a kind of papier-mache art, produces the objects that are essential to Mexican holidays and festivals, including Day of the Dead, Holy Week, and Christmas. Just about everyone knows what a pinata is, but few understand that it is part of an entire branch of traditional handcrafts. With more than 120 photos and bilingual English/Spanish text, here is the history of the craft, how it is woven through Mexican culture, and how the craft is growing and changing. Learn about the traditional objects made with the technique and their importance to Mexican culture. Look inside the studios of several artisans and consider not only the craft's strongholds in Mexico City and Celaya, Guanajuato, but also other areas in Mexico where it is expanding in creativity. A variety of artisans (more than 50 artists, museum directors, and other experts) help identify who the main drivers of this folk art are today, its relevance to modern Mexican culture, and where it is headed.

Craft is a diverse, democratic art form practiced by Americans of every gender, age, ethnicity, and class. Crafting America traces this expansive range of skilled making in a variety of forms, from ceramics and wood to performance costume and community-based practice. A companion to an exhibition curated at Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art, this publication explores the interdisciplinary contexts of the assembled works, featuring contributions from scholars with expertise in art history, American studies, folklore, and museum studies. Essays delve into subjects including craft's relationship to ritual and memory, personal independence, abstraction, and the particular significance of craft within Native American histories. Within the catalog section, groupings of works discussed in detail highlight relationships between objects and move beyond limiting categories of craft and art, function and expression, and tradition and innovation. This publication addresses the intertwined quality of craft and American experience, revealing how craft has been a means to realize the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for individuals from diverse backgrounds. Over 100 full-color illustrations present a vivid picture of American craft from the past eight decades. Building upon recent advances in craft scholarship and encouraging more inclusive narratives that look across media in art history, Crafting America presents a bold statement on the vital role of craft within the broader context of American art and identity. Published in collaboration with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and University of Arkansas School of Art.

Tramp art describes a particular type of wood carving practiced in the United States and Europe between the 1880s and 1940s in which discarded cigar boxes and fruit crates were notched and layered to make a variety of domestic objects. These were primarily boxes and frames in addition to small private altars, crosses, wall pockets, clock cases, plant stands, and even furniture. Whittling objects such as chains and ball-in-cage whimsies was a common hobby -- including among rail-riding hobos -- and for many years tramp art was believed to have been made by these itinerants as well. Although this notion has been widely dispelled, the name has stuck. In recent years efforts have been made to identify makers by name and reveal their stories. While some examples of tramp art may be attributed to itinerants, this carving style was more commonly a practice of working-class men creating functional objects for their households. The book presents over one hundred and fifty tramp art objects collected mainly from the United States and also including pieces from France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil -- demonstrating the far reach this art form has had. It includes works by contemporary artists, thus establishing tramp art as an ongoing folk art form rather than a vestige of the past. The pieces reproduced here reveal an artistic and intricate sensibility applied to each handcrafted piece. Essays consider assumptions about tramp art related to class, quality, and the anonymity of its makers and examine this practice through the lens of home and family while tracing its relationship to the tobacco industry. The book will cultivate an appreciation of an art form that is as thought-provoking as it is enduring.