EAST & WEST: *NEW* Craft in America Episodes Coming to PBS, Part of Handwork 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 16, 2025

[Los Angeles] – This December, Craft in America begins a journey around the United States with EAST, the first episode in our celebration of the country’s upcoming 250th anniversary, part of PBS’s slate of programming for PBS America @ 250. EAST will be joined by WEST, also premiering in December 2025, with NORTH and SOUTH episodes premiering in 2026. EAST & WEST will premiere on PBS on Friday, December 19, 2025 at 9pm and 10pm (check local listings) and stream starting November 24th, 2025 on the PBS App, pbs.org/craftinamerica, and craftinamerica.org. They will stream on YouTube starting December 19th, 2025. This four-episode event is a part of the Handwork 2026 initiative, Craft in America’s nationwide Semiquincentennial collaboration showcasing the importance of the handmade and celebrating the diversity of craft that defines America. Find out more at handwork2026.org. Craft in America is the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary series discovering the beauty, significance and relevance of handmade objects and the artists who make them. Stream previous episodes of the series on YouTube and the PBS App. “Craft in America…[has a] knack for telling big stories…about the formation of culture, the purpose of creativity, the idea that the pursuits of beauty and utility are foundational to humanity.”– The New York Times CONTACT press@craftinamerica.org

EAST explores the intersection of history, culture and contemporary craft in the eastern region of the US. As a nation of immigrants, these American stories, from a fabric flower factory to a silversmith to a potter and more, highlight the diverse expressions behind modern craft.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

We meet fiber artist Bisa Butler at her studio in Jersey City, New Jersey. Butler creates remarkable quilted portraits that tell stories of African American life, taking inspiration from historical photos and family history.

In Philadelphia, Colette Fu opens a giant pop-up book, revealing an intricate scene made from her photographs and cut paper. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, the pop-up books and sculptures she crafts are inspired by Chinese American history and her travels in Yunnan Province, China, where her mother is from.

Surrounded by nature in her studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Helena Hernmarck weaves wall-sized tapestries designed for modern, architectural environments. She takes inspiration from nature, her life and other artists, collaborating with artists from the United States to Sweden, where she grew up.

Roberto Lugo welcomes us to his neighborhood of Kensington in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He works as a potter, taking deep inspiration from his community, graffiti and Ancient Greek pottery, and values sharing his art with the public by throwing pots in parks and creating public works of art.

Adam and Warren Brand show us around the last remaining fabric flower factory of its kind in the country, a fourth-generation New York institution called M&S Schmalberg. They use the same methods to handmake flowers that were used when the factory was established in 1916, keeping the art alive in the 21st century.

Silversmith Ubaldo Vitali welcomes us to Maplewood, New Jersey, where he makes his home and business as a fourth-generation metalworker from Italy. Vitali makes original work and restores historical silver, including the work of Paul Revere, whom we learn more about from the Paul Revere House.

---

WEST celebrates the continuum of heritage and the handmade, taking inspiration from the landscape, history and culture of the American West. Working across cowboy arts, Hawaiian indigenous practices, and Native American handwork, the makers show how traditional craft can be revived, reworked and reinvented in the art of today.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

We meet bootmaker Graham Ebner in Austin, Texas, where he crafts bespoke cowboy boots. He uses traditional bookmaking techniques paired with his creative and original style to tell stories through his custom, high-quality boots.

In Honolulu, Hawaii, we are introduced to Native Hawaiian artists who are committed to keeping indigenous practices alive through their work. These artists and institutions include culture bearer and fiber artist Marques Hanalei Marzan, feather artist Kawika Lum-Nelmida, Cissy Serrao, and Rae Correia of the Poakalani quilters, the Bishop Museum, and the Hōkūleʻa ocean voyaging canoe.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is the only educational institution in the world dedicated to the study of contemporary Native American and Alaskan Native arts. Here, we meet students and teachers and learn how the school gives them the opportunity to develop artistic practices, embracing the history and creating the future of Native American arts.

We meet Cary Schwarz, an internationally recognized saddle maker, and Jeff Minor, a rawhide braider, working in Salmon, Idaho. They demonstrate intricate leatherwork processes, and we learn how they engage with their community and work to keep traditional cowboy arts alive.

---

---

OUR MISSION
To promote and advance original handcrafted work through programs in all media

OUR GOALS
To document the importance of handmade objects and the artists who make them
To provide a gateway to discover, explore and experience craft
To celebrate our nation’s cultures through craft

CRAFT IN AMERICA, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

PBS America @ 250 Marks Nation’s Semiquincentennial with Expansive Programming

PBS Publicity

5/20/25

PBS America @ 250 Marks Nation’s Semiquincentennial with Expansive Programming Beginning Spring 2025 and Through 2026

ARLINGTON, VA; May 20, 2025 – PBS America @ 250 is a multiyear celebration of U.S. history, culture, and children’s programming, from spring 2025  through America’s Semiquincentennial in 2026 and beyond. As part of the largest national and local engagement effort in its history, PBS member stations will pay homage to the country’s founding with events in more than 75 markets nationwide. In addition, next summer, from June 27 through July 4, 2026, PBS will showcase a collection of its programming during a special week commemorating this important milestone.

PBS America @ 250, which was first announced in 2024, is designed to engage the country and inspire conversation around history and civics. In addition to tentpole programming like THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION from Ken Burns and Florentine Films, PBS KIDS, PBS LearningMedia, PBS Digital Studios, and PBS member stations will explore these topics at a national and local level. 

With support from The Kern Family Foundation, PBS has launched the largest education and outreach effort in its history with THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. As part of the initiative, stations are hosting screenings and discussions with the filmmakers and historians. Events have already taken place in Richmond, Williamsburg, Boston, Lexington and Concord, Charleston, Raleigh, and Atlanta, with upcoming events in Dallas, Austin, Houston, and Charlottesville to name a few. A full list of events can be found at www.pbs.org/americanrevolution.

“PBS America @ 250 is an extraordinary undertaking, made possible by the dedication of our member stations, PBS LearningMedia, PBS Digital Studios, producers, and countless others,” said Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS.  “I could not be prouder of the powerful content emerging from these collaborative efforts. Our nation’s history deserves to be honored, and through this work, we are doing just that. PBS was made for this type of national reflection.”

PBS America @ 250 programming will span across History, Music and Culture, plus programming from PBS KIDS.  More titles will be announced on a rolling basis.

At the helm of the initiative is THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a new six-part, 12-hour documentary series from Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, which explores the country’s founding struggle and its eight-year War for Independence, premiering Nov. 16.  A MORE PERFECT UNION: INSPIRING CIVIC & CIVIL CONVERSATIONS ACROSS AMERICA, a special from WETA in collaboration with the National Constitution Center that follows THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, examines how we think about America’s founding and how the ideas and values articulated 250 years ago remain relevant to conversations about governance today. It will premiere on Nov. 24.

HANDWORK: A CRAFT IN AMERICA 250 SPECIAL, a four-part series, will celebrate 250 years of handmade artistry with the first two episodes, “East” and “West,” premiering Dec. 19. Each episode is told through the hands of makers and explores ancestral traditions and modern innovation. Celebrating the significance of handcrafted objects in shaping and reflecting America’s diverse cultural heritage, these episodes are one part of HANDWORK: CELEBRATING AMERICAN CRAFT 2026, a multi-faceted, national initiative organized by Craft in America.  Exhibitions and community events will be held nationwide in collaboration with PBS member stations, and educational programs for K-12 will be available on PBS LearningMedia.

LUCY WORSLEY INVESTIGATES: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a two-part miniseries from BBC Studios marking the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary, takes Lucy Worsley back on the detective trail as she uncovers why the British Empire, the most powerful in history, lost the War of Independence against a ragtag band of American rebels. This two-part special will premiere in spring 2026.

DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE, a documentary from VPM, Virginia’s home for Public Media, explores the American Revolution through the eyes of free and enslaved Black people in the 1700-1800s. It will premiere in summer 2026.

GREAT PERFORMANCES “SUFFS,” based on the Tony Award-winning musical created by Shaina Taub, tells the story of the passionate American women who fought for the right to vote and explores the triumphs and failures of a struggle for equality. It will premiere in spring 2026. ANTIQUES ROADSHOW’s “250 Years of Americana” special episode will feature items from 1775 through today, and a journey through time via material culture. The special will premiere in summer 2026. 

PBS will bring back several AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: PRESIDENTIAL PROFILES, examining the history of the American presidency, in addition to several original films.  CAPITOL CONCERTS 2026 will feature a variety of well-known musical artists to celebrate America.

PBS KIDS programming will feature MAP ZAPPERS, a new series from Arkansas PBS that follows three ordinary kids who stumble across a highly anticipated museum exhibit in Washington, D.C. that contains artifacts from every U.S. state and territory. When they accidentally activate a piece of technology that teleports, or “zaps,” all the artifacts back to their place of origin, the trio of friends travel across the country, recovering the lost artifacts and learning about what it means to be an American along the way. 

Additional content from ongoing PBS KIDS series will be a part of the PBS America @ 250 initiative, including a special new episode from MOLLY OF DENALI, plus new civics-themed content from ROSIE’S RULES and ALMA’S WAY. 

PBS America @ 250 will include an array of digital programs. ROGUE HISTORY, from PBS Digital Studios and PBS North Carolina, introduces audiences to the rebels and revolutionaries who lit the fuse 250 years ago during America’s fight for independence. Season 2 will premiere on May 28, on the PBS Origins Channel.

IN THE MARGINS, from PBS Digital Studios and WHYY, reveals lesser-known figures who made huge impacts on the shape of the country and tells stories that expand our understanding of American history. Season 2 will premiere on June 25, on PBS Origins Channel.

CIVICS MADE EASY is a digital series hosted by author Ben Sheehan that explains how the American government and the U.S. Constitution work. Produced by Second Peninsula, the team behind PBS’s BRIEF BUT SPECTACULAR, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the series premieres June 26, on the PBS YouTube Channel.

As part of PBS America @ 250, PBS LearningMedia will help connect teachers and students to educational resources and learning events that draw from the broad range of new programming. Through curated, media-rich collections aligned to curriculum, PBS LearningMedia will help educators and students engage with this milestone moment in our nation’s history, inviting reflection, learning, and deeper understanding of how our past continues to shape our present.

Many of the 330 public television stations are partnering with educators and a wide range of local organizations to spark meaningful conversations about the nation’s founding and its evolving story.

Craft in America Premieres New Season with Episodes: SCIENCE & COLLECTORS

[Los Angeles] – SCIENCE and COLLECTORS premiere on PBS December 27 at 9pm and 10pm, respectively (check local listings).

Streaming starts November 12th on the PBS App, pbs.org/craftinamerica, and craftinamerica.org.

The episodes comprise the newest season of Craft in America. The Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary series has produced 16 seasons since 2007, discovering the beauty, significance and relevance of handmade objects and the artists who make bring them to life.

“Craft in America…[has a] knack for telling big stories… about the formation of culture, the purpose of creativity, the idea that the pursuits of beauty and utility are foundational to humanity.” – New York Times

---

SCIENCE

SCIENCE investigates the unexpected intersection between art and the sciences, spanning technology, engineering, biology, math, and the climate emergency. Nature, space, algorithms, and more serve as inspiration for artists connecting their work to the world around them, from the Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico to the computer science labs of MIT to NASA and the International Space Station. The featured artists are Erik & Martin Demaine, Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Chris Maynard, John Luebtow, Joseph & Sergio Youngblood Lugo and Karen Nyberg.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

Erik & Martin Demaine (Cambridge, MA)
We begin at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Erik and Martin Demaine combine math with art. Erik is an MIT professor of computer science and the father-son team takes inspiration from their research to create unique curved-crease origami sculptures from folded paper.

Joan Takayama-Ogawa (Los Angeles, CA)
We find ceramic artist Joan Takayama-Ogawa at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California. Joan is a passionate artist and educator who uses her work in clay to respond to the ongoing climate emergency.

Chris Maynard (Olympia, WA)
We travel to Olympia, Washington, to meet Chris Maynard, who creates intricate art entirely from bird feathers. Inspired by his love of the natural world and his background as a biologist, Chris hopes to give people a new perspective on nature through his art.

John Luebtow (Los Angeles, CA)
Back in Los Angeles, we meet John Luebtow, a glass sculptor and teacher. He introduces us to the founder of the modern kindergarten, Friedrich Froebel, and how Froebel’s geometric “gifts” inspired John and generations of other artists.

Joseph & Sergio Youngblood Lugo (Santa Clara Pueblo, NM)
The Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico has been home to a long tradition of Native potters, including brothers Joseph and Sergio Youngblood Lugo. Joseph and Sergio demonstrate the ancestral firing technique that produces their unique polished pottery.

Karen Nyberg (Salt Lake City, UT)
We end the episode with retired NASA astronaut and quilter Karen Nyberg. Karen brought quilting to the International Space Station and inspired the international quilting challenge that connected makers from all over the world. Karen continues to create art inspired by space and science.

---

COLLECTORS

COLLECTORS reveals the essential role that craft appreciators play in the community. It examines how collectors affirm and inspire the artists they support and how the art enriches the lives of the collectors in turn. The episode highlights collections from Chicano art to teapots to wooden spoons, looking at what drives collectors and how their support furthers artists at all stages of their careers. The featured artists and institutions are Cynthia Lockhart, Carolyn Mazloomi, Sara Vance Waddell, American Craft Council, Peter Shire, Sonny & Gloria Kamm, Fleur Bresler, Judith Chernoff & Jeffrey Bernstein, Norm Sartorius, Cheech Marin, Yolanda González, Francisco Palomares, Frank Romero and Jaime “Germs” Zacarias.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

Carolyn Mazloomi, Cynthia Lockhart and Sara Vance Waddell (Cincinnati, OH)
COLLECTORS opens in Cincinnati, Ohio, with Carolyn Mazloomi, an artist, collector and curator and the founder of the Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN). We meet Cynthia Lockhart, a quilt artist who has found community with the WCQN, and Sara Vance Waddell, a collector of women’s art, and learn how the three women have developed a friendship through collecting that has provided inspiration and encouragement in their lives.

American Craft Council (Baltimore, MD)
In Baltimore, Maryland, we meet several dynamic young collectors and the artists they support at the American Craft Council’s annual show, American Craft Made Baltimore. This celebration of craft provides an opportunity for artists and collectors to meet in person and connect over the art that brings them together.

Sonny and Gloria Kamm and Peter Shire (Los Angeles, CA)
We meet Sonny and Gloria Kamm and their vast collection of teapots in Los Angeles, California. They lead us to artist Peter Shire and discover the joy he finds in creating unique objects, from teapots to mugs to furniture.

Fleur Bresler, Judith Chernoff and Jeffrey Bernstein, and Norm Sartorius (Washington, D.C., and Parkersburg, WV)
In Washington, D.C., we visit the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and meet three collectors who have donated work to the museum, Fleur Bresler, Judith Chernoff and Jeffrey Bernstein. They explain why sharing their collections with the public is an essential part of their connection with artists and introduce us to Norm Sartorius, a wood artist who makes fascinating and original spoons.

Cheech Marin, Yolanda González, Francisco Palomares, Frank Romero and Jaime “Germs” Zacarias (Riverside, CA)
Returning to California, comedian and collector Cheech Marin takes us to the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum. Cheech has made a lifelong project of collecting and encouraging Chicano artists and found a home for his collection at the Riverside Art Museum. Yolanda González, Francisco Palomares, Frank Romero and Jaime “Germs” Zacarias are among the featured artists we meet from his collection.

---

---

Woodworking Network: Craft in America Launches Craft Video Dictionary

5/13/24

Full, original article by Dakota Smith on Woodworking Network here.

Craft in America has launched the first-ever Craft Video Dictionary (CVD). The CVD is an online resource that gives the public a direct, close-up view of craft processes and techniques. Instead of words and images, CVD definitions are conveyed via video. Clear and concise, these videos are edited to focus on the artists’ movements and the transformation of materials. The project was initiated with support from The Decorative Arts Trust through their Prize for Excellence and Innovation in late 2020.

The first rollout of this new reference tool includes an initial batch of one hundred video definitions. This initial collection of videos begins to flesh out the ins and outs of art and craft making across a range of materials and media. Two hundred videos will be posted in total later this year.

The CVD includes techniques as demonstrated by artists with expertise in ceramics, metal, wood, fiber, glass, and more. Each video captures an artist manipulating material with their hands and tools through methods that are traditional, historic, and also very much still alive. “The CVD videos are intended to clearly define a craft technique, rather than demonstrate a how-to process. We hope this project will be useful to educators, museums, and everyone interested in craft,” says CVD project producer Denise Kang.

Thus far, 14 artists have been filmed across Southern California, and many of them are teaching artists at colleges in the region. The CVD includes definitions of terms ranging from sgraffito, which is a ceramics process, to glass blowing, and from cabinet making and joinery, to spindle turning, and blacksmithing.

By providing an intimate lens into the artist’s studio, CVD video definitions provide a sense of how the objects in our world come to be and what their craft entails. On creating the videos, CVD Project Director Emily Zaiden noted, “each artist during filming was able to take a step back from their second nature process and think about what someone unfamiliar with their craft might need to see and understand their work.”

A NEW, FREE ONLINE DICTIONARY OF CRAFT DEBUTS

This reinvented dictionary brings word definitions to life through videos of artists making objects.

About the Craft Video Dictionary

Three years in the making, Craft in America has launched the first ever Craft Video Dictionary (CVD), craftvideodictionary.org. The CVD is a free online resource that gives the public a direct, close-up view of craft processes and techniques. Instead of words and images, CVD definitions are conveyed via video. Clear and concise, these videos are edited to focus strictly on the artists’ movements and the transformation of materials. The project was initiated with support from The Decorative Arts Trust through their inaugural Prize for Excellence and Innovation, which was received in late 2020.

The first rollout of this new reference tool includes an initial batch of 100 video definitions. This initial collection of videos begins to flesh out the ins and outs of art and craft making across a range of materials and media. 200 videos will be posted in total later this year.

The CVD includes technique definitions as demonstrated by artists with expertise in ceramics, metal, wood, fiber, glass and more materials. Each video captures an artist manipulating material with their hands and tools through methods that are traditional, historic, and also very much still alive. “The CVD videos are intended to clearly define a craft technique, rather than demonstrate a how-to process. We hope this project will be useful to educators, museums, and everyone interested in craft,” says CVD Project Producer Denise Kang.

Thus far, 14 artists were filmed across Southern California, many of them are teaching artists at colleges in the region. The CVD includes definitions of terms ranging from sgraffito, which is a ceramics process, to glass blowing, and from cabinet making and joinery, to spindle turning, and blacksmithing.

By providing an intimate lens into the artist’s studio, CVD video definitions provide a sense of how the objects in our world come to be and what craft really entails. On creating the videos, CVD Project Director Emily Zaiden noted, “each artist during filming was able to take a step back from their second nature process and think about what someone unfamiliar with their craft might need to see and understand so as to appreciate their work.”

Woodworking Network: Craft in America Announces New Exhibition

April 26, 2024

Original post by Dakota Smith on Woodworking Network here.

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Craft in America Center has announced Building Blocks: Process and Wood, a group exhibition highlighting Southern California woodworkers who use tradition to create contemporary interpretations.

Craft in America is organizing an exhibition of woodwork and furniture-based sculpture made by the artists who were consulted and filmed for the new Craft Video Dictionary (CVD) definitions. The exhibition will consist of approximately two dozen recent works made by six artists in the field who are based across the Los Angeles basin. Ranging in styles and perspectives, these artists are unified by formal innovation coupled with a unique understanding of materials and techniques.

The Craft Video Dictionary is a new digital tool for understanding how objects are made. Launching in early 2024 with an initial exemplary array of video definitions that span media, material, process, and discipline, the CVD will continue to expand and develop over time. New, additional video definitions will be added at later intervals in 2024 and beyond. Especially for those who are not makers or artists, the CVD provides a chance to gain awareness about the crafting of objects, in real time. These educational videos are intended to clarify, elucidate, document, and explain craft techniques.

Participating Artists: Reuben Foat, Martin Alexander Hernandez, Ryan Taber, Lauren Verdugo, Larry White and Maxwell Wilson

American Folklore Society: Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026

Americans For The Arts: Americans for the Arts Teams Up With Handwork 2026 To Celebrate Legacy of America Craft in Lead-up to U.S. Semiquincentennial

Woodworking Network: Craft in America Announces Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026

5/13/24

Original post by Dakota Smith at Woodworking Network here.

LOS ANGELES – Handwork 2026 will be a year-long collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight. 

Craft in America announced the launch of Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a national Semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade, both throughout our history and in contemporary life. 

Handwork 2026 will be a year-long collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight. 
The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the national museum dedicated to American craft, is the lead partner for the initiative and will host the core exhibition for the project.

Americans for the Arts, a non-profit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, is the Awareness partner for this project.

ArtDaily.com: ‘Between the Lines’ opening reception opens today at Craft in America Center

Original article on ArtDaily.com here.

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Craft in America Center is opening Between the Lines, a two-person exhibition featuring master glass sculptors John Luebtow and Stephen Edwards. These two maverick sculptors have shaped the field of glass through potent artwork and technical prowess. Constantly innovating, they use glass in ways that defy expectations— bending, casting and cutting it into astounding forms that push the material to its limits. Over the decades, both their intimate and monumental works address relationships with nature, spirituality, and family.

Line is the guiding force shaping the form of each work. Line and form relay philosophical signifiers stemming from the artists’ personal experiences and outlooks. Responding to concepts through abstraction, glass becomes a material for echoing dynamics of the natural world.

This exhibition pairs these two luminaries who are also tied by a teacher/student relationship: Edwards was once a student in Luebtow’s high school art classes. Insatiably curious about process, both artists consistently push the boundaries of technical development and have created significant facilities, both of their own and at institutions. In addition to illustrious art careers, the two masters have been instrumental in creating education programs and facilities in glass, and have taught scores of art students; Luebtow at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, and Edwards at Alfred University in New York.

With more than a century of knowledge between them, these objects are a glimpse at how these artists create abstract forms with powerful, transcendent ideas about beauty, conflict, tension, nature and existence.

John Luebtow has become one of the most respected names in contemporary glass sculpture over the past forty years. He developed innovative techniques in glass-making, introducing and incorporating gestural and expressive qualities into impeccably finished sculptural components. He holds a BA from California Lutheran College, and two MFAs from UCLA (one in ceramics and one in glass).

Stephen Edwards built one of the largest hot glass programs in the nation at Alfred University, where he taught for 22 years. Prior to that, an early stepping stone was working as an artist-in-residence at the Penland School of Crafts. Near Penland, he established his first private glass studio in Micaville, North Carolina in 1982. Edwards graduated from Illinois State University with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1980.

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 9, 3:00–5:00pm PST Artist talk: Saturday, April 27, 3:00pm PST