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Professor
Department of Interior Design
IIDA, SAH, William Morris Society, Decorative Arts Society
Office AED 393
Phone 480.965.3180
Beverly.Brandt@asu.edu |
| PhD |
Boston University |
| MA |
Michigan State University |
| BFA |
University of Michigan |
Special credentials: NCIDQ |
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Design history, theory, and criticism; American culture 1860 to 1920; history of interior architecture, furniture, decorative arts, and textiles, ancient to modern.
Speaker at Circa 1900: Celebrating American Turn-of-the-Century Arts
Thursday, March 27–31, 2008. Brandt's talk is on the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts in the Context of American Arts and Crafts Societies.
PDF of conference brochure
Brandt also just published a review of an exhibition at the ASU Art Museum in American Craft magazine, February/March 2008, 82–83, "Moulthrop Generations: Turned Wood Bowls by Ed, Philip, and Matt Moulthrop."
Her forthcoming book, The Craftsman and The Critic, will be featured in the Fall 2008/ Winter 2009 catalogue published by the University of Massachusetts Press.
Curriculum Vitae
Beverly Brandt is an award-winning professor in the Department of Interior Design at Arizona State University, where she teaches courses on design history, theory, and criticism. She received her PhD from the American and New England Studies Program at Boston University in 1985. Her dissertation and subsequent publications have focused upon the Arts & Crafts Movement, specifically The Society of Arts & Crafts in Boston. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines and journals including American Craft; American Ceramics; Metalsmith; Designers West; American Society of Interior Designers Report; Tiller, a bimonthly devoted to the Arts & Crafts Movement;The Tabby: The Chronicle of the Arts & Crafts Movement; Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies; Journal of the Archives of American Art; Journal of Interior Design; and Journal of Interior Design Education and Research. She has contributed essays to The Encyclopedia of Arts & Crafts, the International Arts Movement, 1850–1920 (New York: E.P. Dutton, and London: Headline, 1989; reprinted by Knickerbocker Press in 1998); The Ideal Home, The History of Twentieth-Century American Craft, 1900–1920 (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., published in association with the American Craft Museum, 1993), Innovation and Derivation: The Contribution of L. & J.G. Stickley to the Arts and Crafts Movement (Morris Plains, N.J.: The Craftsman Farms Foundation, 1995), The Substance of Style: Perspectives on the American Arts and Crafts Movement (Winterthur, DE: the Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum, 1996), The Craftsman on CD-ROM (New York: Interactive Bureau, 1998), the award-winning Inspiring Reform: Boston's Arts and Crafts Movement (Wellesley, MA: Davis Museum & Cultural Center, in conjunction with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997), and Country Houses and Collections: An Anthology (The Attingham Trust, 2002). She is finishing a monograph, The Craftsman & the Critic: Defining Usefulness and Beauty in Turn-of-the-Century Boston (University of Massachusetts Pres, 2007) and has received support for this project from the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, the Craft Research Fund, and the Hildegard Streuffert Endowment. A sought-after speaker, critic, manuscript reviewer, exhibition designer and consultant, design review board member, and editorial advisor, she supervised publication of Frank Lloyd Wright: The Phoenix Papers, Volumes 1 and 2 (Tempe, AZ: Herberger Center for Design Excellence in cooperation with the University of Arizona Press, 1995) during her tenure as center director (1992–95). An avid collector of antiques and contemporary craft, she resides in Scottsdale, AZ.
Incorporated within the seal of The Society of Arts & Crafts, Boston (f. 1897) is the phrase, "Pulchritudo cum Utilitate," or "Beauty with Usefulness." This proclaims the organization's dedication to 'good design' in all aspects of the built environment. At the same time, it establishes a direct link between the American and English branches of the Arts & Crafts Movement, or design reform movement, whose founder, William Morris, had advised his followers in the 1880s: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."
Uniquely qualified to ascertain Usefulness and Beauty throughout the built environment were design critics, who played an increasingly important role as the 19th century evolved. Serving as intermediaries between craftsmen and consumers, they provided guidelines for discerning 'good design'. By considering a broad range of contemporary artifacts, passing judgment on products' relative merits or flaws, and making their views known in person or print, design critics inspired craftsmen to produce works that excelled aesthetically, technically, and conceptually. At the same time, they enabled consumers to make informed decisions in the marketplace.
The Craftsman & The Critic: Defining Usefulness and Beauty in Arts-and-Crafts Era Boston explores the impact of design criticism, which emerged as a discipline in its own right in the mid-nineteenth century, upon the campaign to reform design-i.e., The Arts & Crafts Movement-as it evolved internationally between 1850 - 1920. The book focuses upon the quest for Usefulness and Beauty as it guided the creative processes of architects, designers, and craft-workers. It seeks to clarify how such individuals defined Usefulness and Beauty, and then strove to manifest both in their work. It stresses the interaction of such individuals with design critics, who functioned as their advisors, promoters, and, on occasion, tormentors, while serving as midwives to their creative process.
Simply stated, The Craftsman & The Critic examines, in succession, a profession, a place, an organization, a group, a theory and its manifestation, a dispersal of a shared ideal, and a revival. Each chapter explores the impact of one of these topics upon definitions of Usefulness and Beauty, and establishes interconnections among ideas, persons, and places.
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