Black and white photo proof of customers at a basket booth at the 12th Annual Minnesota Crafts Festival in 1984. A basket-maker is at work in the foreground.
Volume 1, number 3 of Minnesota Crafts Council (MCC) Craft Connection was published in 1975 and is centered around art fairs. Contents include reflections on art fairs; Nelson Brown's art fair List; personal reflections on juried art fairs; collection of thoughts on art fairs from artists; profiles of popular midwest art fairs (Lakefront Festival of Arts, 57th Street Art Fair, Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, and Minnesota Craftspeoples Festival); art fair questionnaire; Twin Cities first Street Artist Guild; order forms for a corks sale at Minnesota Clay Company; order forms for the Lien Kick Wheel from Atypical Woodwork & Design; and a review of Pyroman Meets Gorilla, a workshop with clay artists Don Reitz and Peter Voulkos.
Volume 2, number 1 of Minnesota Crafts Council (MCC) Craft Connection was published in 1976. Contents include the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program; proposal of various committees for MCC; report on the National Endowment for the Arts' Master Craftsman Apprenticeship Program; potter Nils Lou and apprentice Howard Kiefer; the Twin Cities Metropolitan Arts Alliance; information on services, health insurance, taxes, legal assitance, and other legal issues for artists; the formation of a gallery and studio space for the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota (W.A.R.M); and summary of the 1976 Minnesota Crafts Festival.
Volume 3, number 2 of Minnesota Crafts Council (MCC) Craft Connection was published in April 1977 and is centered around marketing crafts. Contents include a note on the publication's new logo and look designed by Jan Van Dyke; call for artists for the year's Minnesota Crafts Festival; profile of glass artist Dick Huss; profile of abstract painter and stained glass artist Eric Sealine; three craft shops (Art Crate, Behind-the-Brewery Gallery, and Stoneflower Contemporary Crafts) and their differing business approaches; The Brewery Works, a brewery complex repurposed into a studio and gallery space; profile of potter John Coiner; art gallery cooperatives The Fourth Street Gallery, Pioneer Crafts Co-op Store, and Cedar Workshop; and a report on the National Association of Handcraftsmen's marketing conference and session and workshop summaries. Also includes a newspaper insert about John Coiner.
Volume 4, number 2 of Minnesota Crafts Council (MCC) Craft Connection was published in April 1978 and is centered around collecting. Contents include a profile of jewelry artists and metalsmiths Mike and Carolyn Lenz; art and craft collecting; professional craft collecting; collections of functional ceramics; collectors in the North Lake Superior region; Art Morrison's journey collecting Mexican clay figures; and an extensive list of upcoming art fairs across the midwest.
Volume 3, number 4 of Minnesota Crafts Council (MCC) Craft Connection was published in August 1977 and is centered around traditional crafts. Contents include a report 1977 Minnesota Crafts Festival, including award winners and statistics; profile of blacksmith Dan Kral; an extensive list of upcoming art fairs across the midwest; crafts at Gibbs Farm Museum; Columbia College's Ethnic and American Folk Arts Project to preserve traditional craft skills; and a show of American pottery dated from the colonial period to 1910.
Volume 3, number 6 of Minnesota Crafts Council (MCC) Craft Connection was published in December 1977 and is centered around craft education. Contents include a report on the MCC Annual Meeting from various committees; profile of potter Donald Frith; Minneapolis's Urban Arts program, which offers art instruction to students; a history of crafts at the University of Minnesota; art spaces in colleges and universities; Minnesota's Arts in Corrections program, which offers art instruction to incarcerated juveniles; and photographs from 'Media Exploration' workshops sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Volume 3, number 1 of Minnesota Crafts Council (MCC) Craft Connection was published in February 1977. Contents include a note from the editor about the publication's new tabloid format and subscription price; news about the MCC membership meeting and standing committees; profile of ceramic artist Dr. Paul S. Donhauser, the first American to receive first place honors in the International Competition of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy; the Craft Alliance Gallery in Missouri; level of support for crafts in Minnesota's art institutions; photographs of artworks from an MCC juried exhibition and statement from judge Martha Benson; the Wisconsin Designer-Craftsmen organization; the Rochester Art Center; the recent opening of Kichang Cho's Mano Galleries in Illinois; the challenges of running an ultimately unsuccessful gallery; review of the 'Craft Multiples' exhibit at the Octagon Center for the Arts; and a national conference about marketing crafts.
Volume 4, number 1 of Minnesota Crafts Council (MCC) Craft Connection was published in February 1978 and is focused on wood crafts. Contents include a profile of wood artists Donna and Robert Pitz; six wood craftsmen who share a studio space; working as a self-employed artist; depictions of lumberjack life at the turn of the 20th century; reflections from midwestern wood artists; and the 'Supermud' clay conference in Pennsylvania.