Recently, The Center for Craft hosted the first of an online webinar series, "Ask the ____". To kick off this series, we "Asked the Artists" in a live interview with Shapeshifters exhibition Joshua Adams and Jiha Moon.

Adams, an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians and trained woodcarver, often creates masks inspired by traditional Cherokee stories in order to educate viewers about tribal culture. Addressing his own personal experience, Adams observes the complexity of living in the multiple cultural contexts of maintaining Cherokee tradition in the contemporary South.

Korean-born artist Moon assembles and paints her work with recognizable imagery, such as fortune cookies, dragons, and emojis juxtaposed with facets of southern culture, such as peaches, face jugs, and the southernism “bless your heart.” By playfully combining eastern and western symbols, Moon reflects on the intricacies of identity and nationhood in an increasingly global society.