Founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1937, the Museum is one of the oldest
organizations dedicated to craft in the United States. This book
presents a selection of works from the collection of the Museum of
Contemporary Craft. The first publication to document the Museum's
collection and its connections to dramatic changes in artistic practice
over the past 70 years, Unpacking the Collection introduces this vital
regional center for craft through photographs of work, essays, texts,
archival photographs, decade-by-decade accounts of the institution's
links to modern craft history and an abbreviated exhibition chronology.
The book also reveals connections between the collection and the
Museum's exhibition history, links between craft and visual culture, and
the importance of recognizing regional specificity and identity in the
age of globalization.