Sheridan: The Cutting Edge in Crafts

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

This anniversary volume celebrates 30 years of Sheridan College School
of Crafts and Design (SOCAD) as both a learning institution and the
source, through both its alumni and teachers, of major contributions to
Canadian crafts. Sheridan has four studios: ceramics, furniture, glass,
and textiles. The works of 48 alumni, 12 from each of these studios, is
illustrated and discussed.

The format is exceptionally well planned. Each artist is represented by
a full-page color photograph of one work, his or her own statement about
the work and its relation to the artist’s interests and goals, and the
commentary of a fellow craftsperson. Glass artist Daniel Crichton sees
in Susan Edgerley’s mixed-media piece “paper that looks like glass,
glass that resembles ice or stone, and metal that could be either.”
The general quality of the commentaries, each of which is based on
personal interviews, is very high.

The format also includes multiple comments by craftspeople on such
topics as hard lessons and special turning points in the careers of
individual artists. The queries chosen for these sections are
challenging and the answers are of great interest. Sheridan concludes
with brief biographies of each of the alumni/contributors and of those
commenting on them. An impressive volume.