Glenn Adamson: Milwaukee Art Museum

Thank goodness for friendly reminders, otherwise I'd miss half of the events I should be attending while home in Milwaukee. Last Monday I got a message from Jennifer Geigel Mikulay about a talk happening at the Milwaukee Art Museum with Glenn Adamson titled "Affective Objects: Design and the Re-invention of Craft".





Glenn Adamson, is the author of "Thinking Through Craft" as well as the deputy of research and head of the graduate program at the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is also tied to Milwaukee as the former curator for the Chipstone Foundation.

Glenn and I have a few years of history that involves his support with my film Handmade Nation. His endorsement has propelled me into academic circles I didn't know existed until I began doing educational lectured surrounding my film and D.I.Y. ethics. We finally had the opportunity to meet this year while I was in Scotland for programing. Glenn was in town for the "Prototyping: craft in the future tense" conference put on by Craft Festival Scotland where I got to see him lecture the first time. Although some of his references were over my head it was both an engaging and informative lecture.





At the Milwaukee Art Museum Adamson managed to lace together the World Cup ball manufacturing, Louis Vuitton and illusionist Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (who Harry Houdini named himself after) along with a lot of furniture references that I didn't catch. He also gave me a very gracious shout-out during the Q&A that made me squirm a little.



Bottom line, if you are interested in an engaging talk and learning something new, go see Glenn speak if he comes to your town and I would be shocked if you were disappointed.