ABOUT ME

Namita Gupta Wiggers is a writer, educator, curator, and artist based in Portland, OR. She currently teaches in the MFA in Social Practice, Portland State University. Wiggers founded and directed the MA in Critical Craft Studies, Warren Wilson College, the first and only low residency program focused on critical craft histories and theory from 2017 - 2023. She was awarded a Senior Fellow, Smithsonian Institution in 2024, and a Paul J. Smith Fields of the Future Fellow at Bard Graduate Center, NYC in 2023 to support her research on contemporary craft museums in the 21st Century. Recent publications include a special issue of the Journal of Modern Craft focused on the MA in Critical Craft Studies (Vol. 17, Issue 1, 2024) with Tom Martin, and This is not a Retreat, co-edited with Ben Lignel for The MACR Papers. In 2026, Wiggers was voted into the College of Fellows, American Craft Council. Wiggers served on the Board of Trustees, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (2016-2025). She is on the Advisory Board, The Journal of Modern Craft.

Wiggers directs and co-founded Critical Craft Forum (since 2008), and served as the Director and Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland OR from 2004 - 2014.

America-born of South Asian heritage, her work combines platform building roles with prior experiences as a museum educator, design researcher, and studio jeweler to understand craft and culture.

email criticalcraftforum@gmail.com

instagram @namitapdx; @criticalcraftforum

Substack: https://craftscape.substack.com/