{"product_id":"tourists-and-trade-roadside-craftsmen-and-the-highway-transforming-craft-hardcover","title":"Tourists and Trade: Roadside Craftsmen and the Highway Transforming Craft - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBruce A. Austin\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmid the economic turmoil of the Great Depression, in 1929, Clarence Wemett, an upstate New York petroleum merchant, underwrote a craft shop bordering U.S. Route 20 and, a few years later, a different one 15 miles away. At precisely the wrong time for such things to happen, the improbable idea of selling discretionary goods targeted to a consumer market characterized by 25 percent unemployment at a rural highway's roadside achieved traction: the first shop was in business for a quarter century, the second for nearly 40 years. More significant than their surprising longevity is the shops' long-lasting contribution to a nascent, national movement that spans crafts personally created for individual use to the commercial work that sees craft elevated to a fine art--craft objects moved from pantry shelves to museum vitrines and craftworkers from hobbyists to professionals. The roadside shops introduced a business model that, 70 years later, is widely experienced on a very different but equally \"super\" highway, the Internet, and their story is a chapter in the pre-history of the modern crafts movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBruce A. Austin\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor in the School of Communication at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eA Symbiotic Partnership: Marrying Commerce to Education at Gustav Stickley's 1903 Arts \u0026amp; Crafts Exhibitions\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFrans Wildenhain, 1950-75: Creative and Commercial Ceramics at Mid-Century\u003c\/i\u003e; and editor of \u003ci\u003eImagine This! RIT's Innovation + Creativity Festival\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 258\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.75 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 01, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51808989970720,"sku":"9781438493312","price":177.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/8ceb987f29f7398f4a3faf13a4d4b8b6.webp?v=1780965569","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/tourists-and-trade-roadside-craftsmen-and-the-highway-transforming-craft-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}