September art guide: Exhibitions throughout the Tri-state region
Journal-News
By Hannah Kasper
9/8/26
The Soul of Black Folks: 250 Years of Creativity, Leadership, and Innovation
Through Sept. 12 at the Fitton Center
The Fitton Center for Creative Arts and its partners will host a community celebration this month that highlights “The Soul of Black Folks: 250 Years of Creativity, Innovation and Leadership” exhibition curated by Carolyn L. Mazloomi of West Chester Twp. It is part of Handwork 2026, presented by Craft in America.
“It’s been an absolute blockbuster exhibition. It truly was the star of season launch, and we had people coming in from Columbus, Cleveland and Kentucky to see this exhibition. We had over 25 artists from around the country come in for that exhibition. The exhibition itself is absolutely stunning, and it’s available to view at anytime,” said Ian MacKenzie-Thurley, executive director of the Fitton Center. The address is 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton. More: fittoncenter.org/current-upcoming-exhibitions. Free parking.
Full article here.
2026 Fall Arts Hit List—Visual Arts
Seattle Magazine
By Rachel Gallaher
9/7/26
Pratt Fine Arts Center @ 50
October 2–January 31, 2027
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
This year, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) participated in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide celebration of American craft marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. As part of the programming, BIMA is hosting Pratt Fine Arts Center @ 50, an exhibition to mark the half-century anniversary of Seattle’s Pratt Fine Art Center. The facility is known for its affordable classes and studio space for artists working in media ranging from woodwork and felt-making to glass, stone, and sculpture. This show will feature work by former and current students, instructors, board members, and staff.
Full article here.
America at 250: Nebraska: The Cornhusker State
Antique Trader
By Elizabeth Heineman
9/4/26
July 2 – December 19, 2026: Material Nation: 250 Years of American Quilts. Part of the “Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026” initiative, the exhibit at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln International Quilt Museum examines creativity, life, and work in America through the nation’s history of quiltmaking.
Original, full article here.
16 ambitious art shows to see in and around L.A. this fall
Los Angeles Times
By Leah Ollman
9/4/26
‘Laura Andreson and Her Legacy’
Beverly Grove Exhibition
The 1950s were a pivotal decade for ceramics in Southern California, thanks in part to large, transformational work made by men like Peter Voulkos and John Mason. But things were actively percolating here a generation earlier, and the burgeoning of the clay scene in the ’30s owes much to a woman who sculpted small, elegant vessels sheathed in sumptuous color.
Laura Andreson (1902-1999) trained as a teacher at UCLA, earned her MFA in painting at Columbia, then returned west to lead the nascent ceramics program at UCLA where she taught until 1970. Andreson bristled at “superfluous” decoration, favoring distilled jar, box, bowl and vase forms influenced by her love for Scandinavian and Bauhaus design. She became a wizard with glazes, conjuring lustrous surfaces resonant with elements of the Southern California landscape. This show offers a rare opportunity to savor the gorgeous purity of her work, alongside that of several of her mentors and peers, such as Gertrud and Otto Natzler and Glen Lukens, as well as some of her students, including JB Blunk and Bernard Kester.
Where: Craft in America
When: Oct. 10-Jan. 9, 2027
Price: Free
Original, full article here.
‘Objects: USA’ revisits a landmark exhibition of American craft at the Museum of Craft and Design
The Voice of San Francisco
By Sharon Anderson
9/3/26
The Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) presents Objects: USA, on view from Sept. 5 through Jan. 17, 2027. This exhibition, organized in partnership with R & Company, a leading New York design gallery, revisits one of the most influential and ambitious craft exhibitions ever staged. Objects: USA examines its longevity and continued influence on American craft, material culture, and contemporary design worldwide.
Objects: USA 1969
In 1969, the Smithsonian brought together artists working in clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, enamel, and mosaic. Objects: USA became a landmark exhibition, bringing craft into the world of fine art while highlighting works with extraordinary originality in execution. The exhibition traveled widely and helped establish the studio craft movement as a vital force in American culture. The current iteration in 2026 expands on the original exhibition’s legacy for a new generation.
Participating artists from the 1969 show
The combination of historic and contemporary works in Objects: USA traces the continuum of American craft, from the rise of the studio craft movement to the expanded field of contemporary object-making today. Some of the original artists in the 1969 show were brought back to the current MCD exhibition, joining the past with the present.
Wendell Castle’s Tongue, 1969 is an orange, op-art-inspired table made of gel-coated fiberglass and reinforced plastic, rising from the ground and reaching out in a shape similar to a human tongue.
Marilyn Pappas’s Knapsack #1, 1971 takes the common utility of a backpack and adds embroidery and a shape reminiscent of a dream catcher.
Richard Marquis’s Hexagonal Stars and Stripes Bottle, 1969–70, and American Acid Capsule with Cloth Container, 1969 (featured image), both use his signature American flag, prompting us to consider how our relationship to this national symbol has changed since the late 1960s.
Contemporary artists
In the current era, the Haas Brothers’ quirky biomorphic furniture, reminiscent of cartoon aliens or insects, keeps playfulness in functionality, with works like Squid Vicious, 2016, a chair that appears like a grey, shaggy head with two black antennas.
Francesca Dimattio’s Black Lattice Mirror, 2025, created from glazed porcelain and luster, is covered with tiny flower images, leaves, and shells carved into the material, pushing traditional ceramics into unexpected places.
Jolie Ngo’s Table Lamp in Forced Perspective, 2024, takes the idea of a table lamp and, using stoneware, glaze, wire, luster, and PLA plastic, creates a series of vivid shapes and colors that look almost like a hallucination, or a wavy digital interference pattern.
Yet all of these seemingly incongruous parts fit together to create a single lamp, and perhaps that impossibility is the forced perspective.
Combining work from the past with present creators shows how craft’s dynamic language of invention and cultural imagination has evolved over generations.
Celebrating American craft
Presented during the nation’s 250th anniversary and as part of Craft in America’s Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 initiative, Objects: USA considers how makers have shaped and reflected American history and its culture across generations. The exhibition offers an expansive view of American making, one grounded in artistry, grit, and imaginative independence.
“Objects: USA arrives at a moment when competing expressions of power and taste are shaping the nation’s self-image in especially visible ways,” says Masha Berek, executive director of the Museum of Craft and Design. “Humans make Objects, and Objects make us human. They open a way into our relationships with beauty, tools, labor, and the body. The Objects we choose to value reveal what kind of culture we are building.”
Original article here.
Jennifer Ling Datchuk and Consuelo Jimenez Underwood: In Our Hands
Glasstire
9/1/26
September 16, 2026 – November 07, 2026
From Ruiz-Healy Art:
“Ruiz-Healy Art is pleased to present Jennifer Ling Datchuk and Consuelo Jimenez Underwood: In Our Hands, a two-person exhibition at our San Antonio gallery. In Our Hands will be on view from September 16 to November 7, 2026, with an opening reception on Wednesday, September 16 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. Rooted in intergenerational empowerment, lineage, and a shared reverence for materials, the unique connection between Datchuk and Jimenez Underwood underpins this exhibition. Employing time-honored craft techniques and materials, Datchuk and Jimenez Underwood create work that uniquely balances fine art and technical skill. Their practice explores compelling themes such as migration, gender equality, and multicultural identity. Ruiz-Healy Art is proud to participate in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide initiative led by Craft in America to honor the handmade during America’s Semiquincentennial. Through both exhibitions, we join museums, artists, and organizations nationwide in celebrating craft traditions that connect us across history and time.”
Reception September 16, 2026 | 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Ruiz-Healy Art
201-A East Olmos Drive
San Antonio, TX 78212
Get Directions
Original post here.
Fall gallery guide: Five can’t-miss art shows in The City
San Francisco Examiner
By Max Blue
8/30/26
After every chilly “Fogust” in San Francisco, fall makes me feel a little warmer. Maybe that’s because the sun has decided to shine again or the approach of the holiday season gives me a fuzzy feeling.
Or — even better — maybe it’s because the local art scene has returned from summer break, and there are new and exciting things to see.
The tentpole event of this autumn’s art calendar is the third-annual Nexus SF/Bay Area Black Art Week, running Sept. 30 through Oct. 4, with special exhibitions and events across The City celebrating the Bay Area’s community of Black artists and institutions that engage with the diaspora and beyond.
Highlight events include a frank conversation between members of the Three Point Nine Art Collective on the state of Black art in San Francisco, to be held at ICA SF on Oct. 2; the Afropolitan Ball, the Museum of the African Diaspora’s annual soiree, at the Ferry Building on Oct. 3; and a film screening and panel discussion by the Black Bay Area Film Festival at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Oct. 4.
There will also be showcases of some of the most compelling student art in the Bay Area and dispatches from the zenith of high fashion.
Here are The Examiner’s critic’s picks to get you started.
Objects: USA
In 1969, the Smithsonian debuted “Objects: USA,” a groundbreaking exhibition of craft art. The show featured objects made from clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, enamel and mosaic, helping to cement craft’s place within the fine arts. Now, more than 50 years later, you can see the show again.
This reimagining of the exhibition, at the Museum of Craft and Design, includes historic artworks alongside their contemporary successors by leading artists and designers. Coinciding with the nation’s 250th anniversary, “Objects: USA” is part of Craft in America’s Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 initiative, showcasing the impact of American craft across generations. Including over 70 objects, from furniture to jewelry to more experimental forms of design, the show explores where the relationship between art and design blur — and where the boundaries expand.
Museum of Craft and Design, 2569 Third St. Opens Sept. 5. $10.
Lava Thomas: Lineage
Thomas_One Room Segregated Schoolhouse, 2026_LTH0120DR_Phillip Maisel Large.jpeg
Lava Thomas, “East Side Elementary Schoolhouse,” 2026. The work pictures a one-room segregated schoolhouse outside Dallas, Texas, which was in operation from 1882-1965 and, at the time of its opening, was the only school for Black children in the county.
Photo by Phillip Maisel/Courtesy of Jessica Silverman Gallery
Many San Franciscans will know local artist Lava Thomas for her monument to Maya Angelou outside the San Francisco Main Library. The ode to San Francisco’s literary godmother was initially mishandled by the Arts Commission, untimely coming to fruition through community support. In her latest exhibition, at Jessica Silverman Gallery, things get personal.
Literally drawn from the artist’s past, “Lineage” features precisely executed larger-than-life pencil illustrations of early 20th-century photographs from Thomas’ grandmother’s photo album. The portraits and architectural drawings are the latest chapter in Thomas’ ongoing exploration of her family’s history in Reconstruction-era Texas.
The show also includes drawn reproductions of ephemera, including obituaries, military pension files and landmark signs related to the region’s history, expanding on the historical context surrounding Thomas’s family history.
Jessica Silverman Gallery, 621 Grant Ave. Opens Sept. 10. Free.
Dewey Crumpler taught me how to draw — and how to think. I took his drawing class as an elective at the San Francisco Art Institute, where I studied art history.
Crumpler’s instruction was always accompanied by jazz playing from a boombox, offering a background for the philosophical and metaphysical lectures he embarked on, departing from an explanation of the curve of a line and arriving at a hypothesis for the shape of the universe. That same ethos is on full display in Crumpler’s own artworks.
Crumpler’s first major museum survey in over two decades — and his first in San Francisco — is “Sonic Lineages” at the Museum of the African Diaspora. It draws on the entirety of the local legend’s storied career, showcasing paintings, sculptures and more, from the 1960s to now.
Whether in shipping crates, hoodies or doughnuts, Crumpler’s singular vision reveals how the everyday can be a catalyst for exploring unknown and expansive plateaus of history and humanity.
Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St. Opens Sept. 30. $15.
Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards
Sometimes an art show comes at the perfect time. When San Francisco’s art schools and cultural institutions alike are under threat, a bold exhibition of student art celebrates exactly what we stand to lose.
The Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards exhibition, which showcases recipients of the titular grants, returns for its 40th edition. It’s the 15th at SOMArts, one of The City’s most treasured arts nonprofits.
This year’s show features the work of 15 Master of Fine Arts students attending the California College of the Arts, UC Berkeley, SF State, San Jose State University and Stanford. It presents a breadth of work across painting, sculpture, installation, photography and interdisciplinary practices. It’s also sterling evidence for the Bay Area as a hub of artistic talent and community. The future might be in question but the kids — as the saying goes — are all right.
SOMArts, 934 Brannan St. Opens Oct. 17. Free.
Some artists become masters of their craft. Others redefine it. The late Tunisian designer Azzedine Alaia did both. The designer, who was awarded a French Legion of Honour in his lifetime, was known for sculpting garments directly on the body of his models, creating from a dynamic and collaborative design process.
If you prefer to wear your art instead of just looking at it, look no further than the Legion of Honor’s fall fashion show, “Sculpting Fashion,” showcasing work from across Alaia’s half-century career. The first major U.S. retrospective of Alaia’s work, “Sculpting Fashion” explores his creative process and long-lasting legacy, while featuring a collection of 80 garments, which will dot the museum, juxtaposed with artworks in the permanent collection for a unique presentation that will appeal to fashionistas and art lovers alike.
Legion of Honor, 100 34th Ave. Opens Nov. 21. $25.
Max Blue is The Examiner’s art critic. His State of the Arts column appears monthly.
Original article here.
‘Becoming Heirlooms’ @ San Diego Public Library
8/28/26
This striking and thoughtful exhibit just opened in the Judith Harris Art Gallery, the free, public gallery on the downtown library’s iconic top floor. It’s curated by Craft Desert’s Kerianne Quick and Adam John Manley, and is part of Craft in America’s Handwork 2026.
The works explore the significance, hope, and even the burden of the concept of heirlooms and inheritance, with a range of conceptual pieces and sculptures by artists Diana Benavídez, Matt Hebert, Michael Hernandez, Soyeon Kim (and her children), Christine Lee, Anna Mayer, Kaiya Rainbolt, Phil Rowland, India Thompson and Georgina Treviño. Thompson’s basketwoven, cardboard-style boxes and china tea sets imply a potentially unwanted inheritance. Benavídez’s “Relax, Hold Your Breath, Don’t Move” is a series of three paper breasts smooshed between bricks, suggesting a mammogram and the way breast cancer can also be passed down.
1-7 p.m. Tuesday; noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; through Nov. 7
MORE INFO
330 PARK BLVD
619-238-6659
Arts WACH: The body at work
By Brian Mcconchie
8/28/26
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) – In this week’s Arts WACH, William Starrett takes you to the Columbia Museum of Art to examine the work of art that is the human body.
The body is essential to craft. This particular genre of art is rooted in physical labor and material intimacy, and the pieces are often intended to protect our bodies or to assist in nourishing them.
The “Body Matters” exhibition presents works crafted out of wood, ceramic, glass, textiles, and sweetgrass.
The artists, both historical and contemporary, reveal their deep engagement with the body through representations and objects that address life cycles and support bodily functions.
“Body Matters” celebrates the importance of the hand in handwork and encourages people to consider their own relationships with objects both in and outside the art gallery, celebrating the diversity of craft that defines America.
Original post here.
Community event to showcase Black creativity, innovation and leadership at Fitton Center
Journal-News
By Ginny McCabe
8/26/26
The Fitton Center and its partners will host a community celebration this month that highlights “The Soul of Black Folks: 250 Years of Creativity, Innovation and Leadership” exhibition curated by Carolyn L. Mazloomi of West Chester.
In partnership with Booker T. Washington Community Center, Learning Through Arts and Charles F. Kettering Foundation, the Fitton Center will present “Voices of the Soul of Black Folks” from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug 29.
Ebony Brock, executive director at Booker T. Washington Community Center and Community Quilt Facilitator for Learning Through Arts, said the event is a family friendly day, which includes gallery tours, a luncheon, artist talks, poetry readings, dance, music and a quilting workshop conducted by Learning Through Arts, Inc.
“I love bringing people together and hearing their lived experiences and walking them through what that looks like as far as our community,” said Brock. “I’m excited this exhibit is here. This exhibit could be anywhere in the country, or anywhere in the world, because Dr. Mazloomi’s quilts are pure art, and they are here in Hamilton.”
Food, art and other shared experiences bring people together, she said, whether it is through music, dance or poetry.
“Our Quilt Conversations provide space for people to share their unique stories, culture, and lived experiences, the things that make up the fabric of who we are,” said Brock.
“Together with our community partners, we can do great work. For this particular exhibit, there’s something powerful about seeing Black life being centered, and it’s not just our struggle, but our creativity, brilliance, leadership and our joy in the ways that we’ve continued to create, even when circumstances and systems have told us we shouldn’t be able to … So, for us to be able to partner in this capacity is really wonderful,” she said.
The Soul of Black Folks exhibition is part of Handwork 2026, presented by Craft in America. The City of Hamilton sponsors the Fitton Center exhibition series, with Neil and Honi Cohen as supporting sponsors, Penny Brooks as exhibition sponsor and it is running in partnership with YWCA Hamilton.
“The quilt art exhibition honors the voices, vision, and victories of Black history figures whose contributions transformed our nation and our communities,” said Wendy Waters-Connell, CEO, at YWCA Hamilton. “We are honored to be supporting this show and its message of hope and resilience.
“Together with YWCA Hamilton’s legacy of advocacy and empowerment, the Women of Color Quilters’ art manifests stories which remind us that when threads are woven together, they create something stronger, more beautiful, and lasting,” she said.
Earlier this month, more than 1,000 people attended the Fitton Center’s 2026-2027 Season Launch: An Evening of Wonder, which also served as an opening celebration for the exhibition.
“The exhibition opened last week, and it’s been an absolute blockbuster exhibition. It truly was the star of season launch, and we had people coming in from Columbus, Cleveland, and Kentucky to see this exhibition. We had over 25 artists from around the country come in for that exhibition. The exhibition itself is absolutely stunning, and it’s available to view at anytime,” said Ian MacKenzie-Thurley, executive director of the Fitton Center.
The Soul of Black Folks exhibition will be on view through Saturday, Sept. 12. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays. A visit to the Fitton Center galleries is free and open to the public.
“It has really taken our galleries by storm. The exhibition is reflective of the history of the United States, and it is 250 years of creativity, leadership and innovation. It speaks to all of that and the women who have created these pieces have truly put their hearts and souls into this,” MacKenzie-Thurley said.
If You Go
Schedule for the Voices of the Soul of Black Folks event Saturday, Aug. 29:
12:30 p.m. – Galleries open (First- and second-floor galleries)
1-2 p.m.– Community luncheon (Ballroom, third floor)
2-2:30 p.m. – Gallery viewing (First- and second-floor galleries)
2:30-3:45 p.m. — Welcome and poetry-reading event (Second-floor galleries)
4-5 p.m. — Story quilt workshop with Kathy Wade (Ballroom, third floor)
Original article here.