Smithsonian Magazine white logo
''
  • Smart News
    • History
    • Science
    • Innovation
    • Arts & Culture
    • Travel
  • History
    • Archaeology
    • U.S. History
    • World History
    • Untold Stories of American History
    • Video
    • Newsletter
  • Science
    • Human Behavior
    • Mind & Body
    • Our Planet
    • Space
    • Wildlife
    • Newsletter
  • Innovation
    • Innovation for Good
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Health & Medicine
    • Technology
    • Video
    • Newsletter
  • Arts & Culture
    • Museum Day
    • Art
    • Books
    • Design
    • Food
    • Music & Film
    • Video
    • Newsletter
  • Travel
    • America's Waterways
    • Alaska
    • Virtual Travel
    • Journeys
    • Newsletter
  • At The Smithsonian
    • Visit
    • Exhibitions
    • New Research
    • Artifacts
    • Curators' Corner
    • Ask Smithsonian
    • Podcasts
    • Voices
    • Newsletter
  • Photos
    • Photo Contest
    • Instagram
  • Video
    • Ingenuity Awards
    • Ask Smithsonian
    • Smithsonian Channel
  • Newsletters
  • Shop

Special Report

Artisan America

Today’s craft renaissance is more than just an antidote to our over-automated world. It renews a way of life that made us who we are


ChuckSchugPhotography/Getty Images
At the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan, Alaska, Nathan Jackson wears ceremonial blankets and a headdress made from ermine pelts, cedar, abalone shell, copper and flicker feathers.

ARTS & CULTURE

How Native Artisans in Alaska Bring Innovation and Humor to Their Craft

Frederick Hurten Rhead, panel for overmantel, 1910

SMART NEWS

First Museum Dedicated to American Arts and Crafts Movement Opens in Florida

The liberal arts college is home to the country’s longest continuously operating broomcraft workshop.

ARTS & CULTURE

This Kentucky College Has Been Making Brooms for 100 Years

Recent Coverage

Artist Arianne King Comer works with indigo ink and rice paper at a farm on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina.

ARTS & CULTURE

The Blue That Enchanted the World

Text by Latria Graham
Photographs by Caroline Gutman

This year's Craft2Wear Show features over 60 premier jewelry, leather and wearables artisans from across the country.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

The Art of Wearing Works of Art

Jacquelyne Germain

"This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World," featuring Alicia Eggert's stunning 2019-2020 neon sculpture, is on view at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

The Craft World Is Undergoing a Democratization

Shantay Robinson

The four-day Smithsonian Craft Show opens April 20 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., offering the works of 120 artists (above: an array of offerings).

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Nine Artists on What It Means to Create

Antonia Mufarech

Left, the Chiquibul Forest in Belize, near the spot where the fabled Tree once grew. Right, a custom guitar crafted from the Tree’s distinctive mahogany.

ARTS & CULTURE

The Legend of the Music Tree

By Ellen Ruppel Shell
Photographs by Grant Harder and Tony Rath

The renowned Tlingit American artist, Preston Singletary created more than 60 glassworks to illustrate the traditional story of the raven, above: White Raven (Dleit Yéil), 2018, and pairing them in an immersive experience with music and projections.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Artist Preston Singletary Sheds New Light on the Tlingit Raven Tale

Sarah Smith

Harriet Jacobs, who escaped enslavement to write Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), created these three dolls for the children of writer Nathaniel Parker Willis around 1850-60. 

SMART NEWS

Black Dolls Tell a Story of Play—and Resistance—in America

Nora McGreevy

In "New Glass Now," at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery, works by 50 artists, including the hot-sculpted glass work of James Akers, (above: TThe Wild One (B), 2018) amplify the stunning advancement of the artform since the last major survey.

 

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Two New Shows Reflect the Shining Versatility of Glass

Roger Catlin

Joe Fedderson (Arrow Lakes/Okanagan) creates abstract patterns (Above: Horses and Deer, 2020) from ordinary life.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Six Native Artists and Their Works Receive Major Recognition

Alicia Ault

Attributed to Mary Way or Elizabeth Way Champlain, A Lady Holding a Bouquet, circa 1790–1800

SMART NEWS

These Sisters' Innovative Portrait Miniatures Immortalized 19th-Century Connecticut's Elite

Nora McGreevy

Stories From the Museums

None

The Renwick Gallery


In the ninth edition of the Renwick Invitational, artists Lauren Fensterstock, Timothy Horn (above: <em>Gorgonia 12,</em> 2016), Debora Moore and Rowland Ricketts offer viewers entrancing new perspectives on the natural world.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Nature and Artifice Collide at the 2020 Renwick Invitational


An assemblage <em>Assimilation? Destruction?</em> by ceramicist Sharif Bey, is primarily about globalization and cultural identity. It is also a reference to Bey’s identity as a potter and an artist of color.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Four Craft Artists Use Their Medium to Tell the Story of Our Times


The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, after a $30 million renovation, is qualified once again to be called the

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

The Renwick: Finally The Gem It Was Meant to Be


Echelman's sculpture is inspired by data supplied by NASA and NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, measuring the effects of the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Tohoku, Japan in 2011.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

How One Artist Learned to Sculpt the Wind


“The Chesapeake is one of my favorite waterways, partly because people outside of the area aren’t as familiar with it,” says Maya Lin, who created <em>Folding the Chesapeake</em> at the Renwick Gallery.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Maya Lin Used 54,000 Marbles to Model the Chesapeake Bay

Smithsonian Magazine Logo in Black

Explore

  • Smart News
  • History
  • Science
  • Innovation
  • Arts & Culture
  • Travel
  • At The Smithsonian
  • Photos
  • Video

Subscribe

  • Subscribe
  • Give a gift
  • Renew

Newsletters

  • Sign Up

Our Partners

  • Smithsonian Institution
  • Smithsonian.com
  • Smithsonian Store
  • Smithsonian Journeys
  • Smithsonian Channel
  • Smithsonian Books
  • Smithsonian Membership

Terms of Use

  • About Smithsonian
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising
  • RSS
  • Member Services
  • Sustainability
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement
  • Cookie Policy
  • Advertising Notice

© 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Privacy Statement Cookie Policy Terms of Use Advertising Notice Your Privacy Rights Cookie Settings