The MA in Critical Craft Studies at Warren Wilson College celebrates its very first graduating cohort, their mentors and faculty, in a rumination-friendly print publication launched in July 2020. This publication demonstrates how the class of 2020 engaged with craft in its multiple forms, and how students critically respond to shifting perspectives in craft, celebrate a diversity of voices, and convey the pedagogical principles of the MA in Critical Craft Studies.

The editorial process and production of the publication was student driven and includes contributions from all the 2020 cohort. Essays from faculty and guest writers complement the graduates' work and frame the program's experimental pedagogy.

"As a cohort we believe that craft is slippery," explains the editorial team. "We accept its resistance to being pinned down in all capacities and use this as a strength in our research. This publication will act as a marker of current research interests within local, regional and global contexts. It addresses partner organizations, prospective students, craft/art/design scholars in the US and abroad who, like us, are invested in challenging the canon, and opening up possibilities in and for craft."

This inaugural issue features a wide range of content -interview transcripts, photo essays, poems, exhibition reviews, mappings, thesis excerpts, essays - and reflects the program's versatility, and the experiential focus of education at Warren Wilson College.

All proceeds from the sale of each publication go directly into a scholarship fund to support graduate students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the MA in Critical Craft Studies, Warren Wilson College.

Contributors: Pheonix Booth, Darrah Bowden, Nick Falduto, Mellanee Goodman, Michael Hatch, Matt Haugh, Jeffrey A. Keith, Sarah Kelly, Phoebe Kuo, matt lambert, Judith Leemann, Amy Meissner, Lynn Morton, Francis Ponge, Heather K. Powers, Samantha Rastatter, lydia see, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Kat St. Aubin, and Namita Gupta Wiggers.

Designed by Ben Lignel, with illustrations by Luis Burriel Bielza