The Pioneers of Plasticraft: When Artists Found Plastics in the United States

O’Steen asserts that public presentations and exhibitions were integral tools for the growth of modern plastics in the United States, starting in the 1930s. She considers key collaborations between the arts and the plastics industry, particularly seen in the 1939–40 World’s Fair in Flushing, New York. Modern plastics had their most public debut at the fair, creating many opportunities for manufacturers to explore creative ways to sell their products to the public. O’Steen shows how the emerging plastics industry used artwork and exhibitions as part of their corporate agendas. She argues that this 1930s moment laid the groundwork for much collaboration between the arts and plastics for the following decades—particularly in the 1960s and 1970s—when artists were turning to plastics in even larger numbers and with great enthusiasm.