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Crafts

Cotton coverlet quilted in Texas, 19th century.

Artisan America

The State of American Craft Has Never Been Stronger

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

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.

Discover Alaska

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

In Indigenous communities along the coast, a lively artistic movement plays with tradition

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Artisan America

Artisan America

A year-long celebration of craft in the United States

A "crazy quilt"—a chaotic style without repeating features—by an unidentified 19th-century artist incorporates politicians' campaign banner portraits.

The Surprisingly Radical History of Quilting

Works on display in an Ohio exhibition highlight political art by marginalized people

Early Puebloans wove turkey feathers into yucca fiber to make the blanket.

In the Ancient American Southwest, Turkeys Were Friends, Not Food

An 800-year-old blanket made out of turkey feathers testifies to the bird’s significance in Pueblo culture

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

Artisan America

This Kentucky College Has Been Making Brooms for 100 Years

Berea College’s broomcraft program carries on an American craft tradition that’s rarely practiced today

For 12 days from October 13 to 25, the works of selected contemporary crafters (above: Lady Liberty by Patti Warashina) will be on sale through the Bidsquare.com platform.

Artisan America

For This Year’s Crop of Smithsonian Craft Show Artists, the Pandemic Changes Everything

Ceramicist Patti Warashina, the winner of the show’s prestigious Visionary Award, reflects on how her artwork reveals the surreal of these times

Beets can be used to dye fabric red or pink.

How to Make Clothing Dye With Excess Fruits and Vegetables From Your Garden

Here are step-by-step instructions for giving your clothes and food scraps a second life

Chorus for Paul Mooney, 2017, made of antique quilt, assorted textiles, acrylic and spray paint. Most of the quilts used in Biggers’ works were donated or came from thrift stores.

Sanford Biggers’ Quilts Carry Secret Messages

Inspired by antique “freedom quilts,” the artist stitches encoded icons into his own textured pieces

A Dutch art dealer realized the vase's significance after appraising an elderly European woman's collection.

Cool Finds

Rare Chinese Vase Found in Pet-Filled Home Sells for $9 Million

The 18th-century artifact was made in a style specific to the Qianlong dynasty

Tempestries representing daily high temperatures in Utqiagvik, Alaska, in 1925, 2010, and 2016 (left) and Death Valley, California, in 1950 and 2016 (right)

Art Meets Science

How Knitting Enthusiasts Are Using Their Craft to Visualize Climate Change

In these crafters’ scarves and blankets, rows of color correspond with daily temperature

Annette Sheppard, one of the ten glassmakers competing on "Blown Away."

The Spectacle and Drama of Netflix’s New Glassblowing Show Will Shatter Your Expectations

“Blown Away” showcases the incredible art form in an innovative reality competition series

A carpet making master class run by the Getik Bed and Breakfast in eastern Armenia.

Armenia

Artisan Master Classes Hope to Draw Travelers Into the Armenian Countryside

A local NGO is working with farmers and craft makers to develop new cultural tourism offerings in Armenia’s scenic Gegharkunik region

The Muppet Show Puppeteer Frank Oz Actor poses with Muppets Fozzie Bear Miss Piggy

A Theory About Muppet Master Frank Oz

The prodigious puppeteer looks back at his most beloved creations, from Grover to Fozzie Bear

Math in yarn

What Knitting Can Teach You About Math

In this professor’s class, there are no calculators. Instead, students learn advanced math by drawing pictures, playing with beach balls—and knitting

Sahkanush and Haykanush Stepanyan became experts at rugmaking while still teenagers.

Armenia

The Age-Old Tradition of Armenian Carpet Making Refuses to Be Swept Under the Rug

A new generation is emerging to craft the ancient rugs

Flying Dog plans to release a seasonal beer each year with hops grown from the project.

The East Coast May Be On the Brink of a Hop Renaissance

Can a farmer and a brewer come together to bring hops back to the eastern United States?

The Smithsonian Craft Show in 2010

Future of Art

How the Work of a Sculptor and a Doctor Landed In the Nation’s Top Craft Show

More than 100 artists in the 36th annual Smithsonian Craft Show capture Asia’s influence on American design

Armenia

These Two Brothers Are Helping Keep Armenia’s Stone Carving Tradition Alive

This silk velvet ikat robe was made specifically for a woman, as evidenced by the pinched waist. Velvet ikats were considered top-of-the-line, the Freer|Sackler's Massumeh Farhad explains, because two rows of weft were needed instead of the usual one.

How the Technicolor Ikat Designs of Central Asia Thread Into Textile History

A new Smithsonian exhibition sheds light on the rich backstory of an oft-imitated tradition

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