Embassy of the United States

 → Flights of Fantasy Photo Gallery

Introduction

Flights of Fantasy
Four American Crafts Artists from the Art in Embassies Program

The idea for this exhibition came from a conversation about the art currently hanging in Habib House, the American Ambassador’s residence in Seoul. The question that arose was: How can we see more? These days, when guests walk into Habib House they are treated to a collection of American contemporary crafts. The walls are bedecked with quilts; glass, metal and ceramic sculptures grace the table tops; and wooden birds fly from the rafters. Visitors always react, and they do so with enthusiasm.

Under the auspices of the U.S. Government’s ART in Embassies Program, the art collection is loaned by artists and galleries from all over America to grace the Ambassador’s house for the next few years. The question about how we could bring more of this art collection to Seoul gave birth to the exhibition, Flights of Fantasy. The exhibition was brought together by a unique four-way, public-private partnership harnessing the efforts of American business, the American Embassy, the ART in Embassies Program, and four American artists from the Habib House collection.

Americans living abroad, in both the public and private sectors, share similar goals for reaching out to the community in which they work and reside. All would agree that art is a great way to communicate the creative and energetic nature of the American national character. The partners that worked together on this exhibition combined a broad variety of skills and resources. The common goal was to enrich the public’s appreciation for the originality and diversity of American art.

Artists who work in the different mediums of craft make works that convey a message of know-how and creative spirit. Contemporary crafts developed from some of the oldest art forms. The same time-honored techniques that were once used to make objects for everyday use – bed covers, wooden chairs, vases, food bowls – are now being employed to create works of art that spark the imagination, warm the heart, and seek to send the viewer’s mind on a flight of fantasy!