Earlier this year, while speaking with teachers at the National Art Education Association conference, Ann Ruhr Pifer learned that today’s students seem hungry for craft activities in a new, different and more intense way.
“One teacher said she had a bunch of art activities in her room, and all the students go for the sewing activity, especially the ninth-grade boys,” shared Pifer. “She didn’t see that coming. We talked about how we feel it’s a reaction against—or perhaps a counterbalance to—the pervasiveness of digital experience in their lives.”
As of January 2026, Pifer, along with Robyn Hollingshead, is the co-executive director of Craft in America, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit arts organization that promotes original handcrafted work through programs in all media. The group is responsible for 35 episodes of the Peabody Award-winning, Emmy-nominated documentary series, “Craft in America,” on PBS, a YouTube channel and multi-disciplinary educator guides. The Craft in America Center in Los Angeles hosts exhibitions, talks by artists and scholars, workshops and K-12 school tours. . . .
Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.
Jessica Koslow 