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.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
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.