Namita Gupta Wiggers is a noted expert in the field of contemporary craft, a curator, educator and a writer based in Portland, Oregon. Her prior experiences as a studio jeweler, video ethnographer/design researcher, and museum educator shape her multidisciplinary thinking and consideration of craft in material, conceptual, and theoretical ways.

Early life and education

She was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

and received a BA in art history and English from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

in Houston, Texas in 1989. In 1994, she earned her MA in art history at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

Career

Namita began working as a Portland-based studio jeweler who sold some of her work to the

Museum of Contemporary Craft The Museum of Contemporary Craft based in Portland, Oregon was the oldest continuously-running craft institution on the west coast of the United States until its closing in 2016. Located in downtown Portland's Pearl District, the museum's mission ...

(MCC) in Portland. In 2004, she joined the MCC as the head curator, and in 2012 she was promoted to head curator and director. In 2014, Namita stepped down from her position at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. She has lectured at

The Pacific Northwest College of Art The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine ...

(PNCA) and teaches an MFA of Applied Craft and Design at Oregon College of Art + Craft. Warren Wilson College appointed her director of MA in Critical and Craft Studies In 2008, Namita Gupta Wiggers cofounded Critical Craft Forum with Elisabeth Agro out of a desire for a place create a dialogue that spans the craft community. Namita is on the Board of Trustees to the American Craft Council and the Curatorial Board of AccessCeramics.

Publications

Wiggers contributes to multiple online and print articles and books. She serves as the exhibition reviews editor for ''The Journal of Modern Craft'' and on the editorial board for

Garland Publishing Garland Science was a publishing group that specialized in developing textbooks in a wide range of life sciences subjects, including cell and molecular biology, immunology, protein chemistry, genetics, and bioinformatics. It was a subsidiary of th ...

. Her publications include ''Unpacking the Collection'' (2008), ''Ken Shores: Clay Has the Last Word'' (2010), and ''Generations:

Betty Feves Betty Feves (1918–1985) was an Oregon artist who helped shape the development of clay as an expressive medium in the years following World War II. Biography Feves was academically trained in the late 1930s and early 1940s, first earning a degr ...

'' (2012).

References

External links

Contributor page at Art Practical
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggers, Namita Gupta 1967 births Living people Rice University alumni University of Chicago alumni Writers from Cincinnati Writers from Portland, Oregon Oregon College of Art and Craft people American women curators American curators Museum educators