Florida CraftArt’s ‘The Makers That Made Us’ celebrates organization’s impact
Tampa Bay Newspapers
March 4, 2026
ST. PETERSBURG — “The Makers That Made Us” will trace 75 years of craft, community, and making in Florida. The exhibition will run March 11 through April 22 at Florida CraftArt, 501 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, March 14, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Curated by Michele Tuegel, Florida CraftArt’s first executive director, the exhibition draws from the organization’s permanent collection to reflect on the artists, ideas, and values that shaped Florida CraftArt from its founding to the present. It considers how craft, rooted in material knowledge and experimentation, has long served as both artistic practice and connective force. A major anniversary exhibition marking the organization’s 75th year, it is the first of two exhibitions presented as part of Handwork 2026, a nationwide effort recognizing the enduring cultural impact of craft in America and reflecting on the nation’s 250-year history through the work of makers.
Founded in 1951 by artists and educators Elsa Freund and Louis Freund, Florida CraftArt began as a statewide endeavor, organizing traveling exhibitions throughout Florida. It later established its headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg in the historic Rutland’s Department Store and Golden Dragon Dance Hall building. That early commitment to serving artists across Florida continues to shape the organization’s work today.
Elsa, a pioneering modern jewelry artist influenced by Bauhaus ideas and the work of Alexander Calder, created bold sculptural pieces now held in major collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Louis, a painter, draftsman, printmaker, and muralist, studied in Paris and later earned WPA mural commissions across several states. Together, they positioned craft as both serious artistic pursuit and public good, an ethos that remains central to Florida CraftArt.
Today, FCA represents more than 200 artists, presents professionally curated exhibitions at no charge to the public, and supports artists and community through its Youth Arts and Emerging Artists programs.
A native Floridian, artist Charlie Brown exemplifies the spirit of “The Makers That Made Us.” He spent his lifetime in the state, drawing inspiration from the St. Johns River. In 1962, at age 58, he left accounting to become a full-time potter, developing a distinctive hand-built style in earthenware and raku. He dug his own clay from the banks of the river he loved and built a studio behind his home, helping foster a vibrant studio pottery community. His nationally recognized work, including exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, reflects a practice rooted deeply in place, material, and community.
Extending that legacy into the present is contemporary fiber artist Nneka Jones. Her triptych “Layers of Identity” uses meticulous hand embroidery and collage elements to examine the stereotypes projected onto young Black women, revealing layered realities beneath constructed images. A University of Tampa graduate raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Jones gained national attention when her embroidered American flag appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Her work demonstrates how craft continues to evolve, engaging urgent cultural conversations while expanding the boundaries of the medium.
“The Makers That Made Us” is followed by “Florida NOW,” running May 2 through June 13. “Florida NOW will be a statewide survey of contemporary Florida artists working in craft materials and techniques. Together, the two exhibitions situate Florida CraftArt’s history within the broader, evolving story of craft in America, aligned with the national conversation sparked by Handwork 2026.
Admission is offered at no charge to the public through the generous support of sponsors. Florida CraftArt is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For information, visit www.FloridaCraftArt.org or call 727-821-7391.
Exhibition: ‘Staying Power’
KPBS
March 2, 2026
“Staying Power,” on display in the University Art Gallery from February 3 – April 11, 2026, will showcase the past, present, and future of the School of Art and Design’s craft legacy, with a special focus on work from the Southern California region. The exhibition is curated by Barbara Paris Gifford, Senior Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York.
Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 is a nationwide Semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade both throughout our history and in contemporary life.
The SDSU School of Art and Design is proud to be a part of Handwork 2026 by presenting a curated exhibition of outstanding craftwork by emeritus faculty, current faculty, and selected distinguished alumni from our Applied Design areas.
SDSU School of Art and Design on Facebook / Instagram
Vesterheim Features “The National Norwegian-American Folk Art Exhibition” in the Project, Handwork 2026
DecorahNews.com Staff
February 28, 2026
DECORAH — Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, is participating in the project, Handwork 2026, joining more than 250 arts organizations across the country, which are hosting exhibitions and events during 2026 to showcase the importance of the handmade throughout the country’s history and in contemporary life.
Presented by Craft in America, Handwork 2026 celebrates the diversity of the crafts that define the United States, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight. Developed in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States, the project invites a celebration of the country’s shared heritage through the beauty, skill, and stories of handmade objects created by and for Americans over the last two and a half centuries.
Vesterheim’s feature for Handwork 2026 is “The National Norwegian-American Folk Art Exhibition,” showcasing contemporary American artists who create folk art rooted in Norwegian traditions. This exhibition celebrates folk art by encouraging and inspiring emerging and established folk artists to develop their craft. Artists submit work for evaluation by a team of judges, who offer feedback on the entries and award ribbons, which carry points that accumulate toward a Vesterheim Gold Medal.
The exhibition includes categories of blacksmithing, knifemaking, rosemaling, weaving, and woodworking, rooted in Norwegian traditions. Artists can submit pieces from May 1-20 for the opportunity to showcase their artwork in a gallery exhibit, receive judging feedback, and offer pieces for sale! The exhibit is open to the public from June 12-July 25, including during Decorah’s Nordic Fest from July 23-25, which attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. Check vesterheim.org for entry information and forms, as well as profiles of Vesterheim Gold Medalists.
Handwork 2026 was developed by the team behind Craft in America and its Peabody Award–winning documentary series. It unfolds over the course of the year in venues across the country and on multiple platforms, including a four-part PBS series, a landmark publication, and the initiative’s core exhibition at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Carol Sauvion, Executive Director of Craft in America, said, “Craft connects us. It reminds us of who we are and what we share. Making by hand links us through creativity across generations. From the earliest artisans to today’s makers, the handmade continues to shape our American story.”
Handwork 2026 brings compelling stories, art, and artists into the spotlight through the following activities:
PBS Documentary Series
Four special episodes of Craft in America, the Peabody Award-winning Series, entitled “EAST,” “WEST,” “NORTH,” and SOUTH,” present a rich exploration of the handmade in traditional, studio, ethnic, and contemporary processes.
Education
With a special focus on grades K-12, education guides take a wide look at the history, cultural traditions, and impact of craft in the United States, from Indigenous origins until today, and include hands-on craft activities. Available beginning January 2026 on handwork2026.org, CraftInAmerica.org, and through PBS LearningMedia.
Publication
Presenting the extraordinary range of the handmade in the United States, “Handwork: Handcrafted Things That Made America” will be rich in images of exquisite handmade objects, featured alongside artist statements and essays by leading experts. The publication is scheduled for release in April 2026.
Nationwide Exhibitions & Events
A core tenet of Handwork 2026 is its extraordinary scale of collaboration. Along with Vesterheim’s “National Norwegian-American Folk Art Exhibition,” many organizations nationwide have joined this initiative, including the Museum of Arts & Design, New York; Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Corning Museum of Glass, New York; Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa; and many more. For a current list of all participating institutions, visit www.handwork2026.org/participants.
Bainbridge Island briefs
Bainbridge Island Review
February 26, 2026
BAC event As the first intrepid bulbs and blossoms awaken in our local landscape, Bainbridge Arts & Crafts will fast-forward spring with its March exhibition, “Floribunda.” From March 6-29, 11 local artists share their unique interpretations of floral abundance, some naturalistic and some abstract, transforming the gallery into a garden of imagination, a news release says. The opening reception will take place at First Friday, March 6, from 6–8 p.m.
BIMA exhibitions The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art will open its spring exhibitions March 6. All three exhibitions will be in collaboration with Handwork 2026, a national initiative in celebration of America 250 spearheaded by Craft in America and the Smithsonian, a news release says.
School of Art Selected as Participant for National Craft Initiative, Will Host Visiting Artist Carla Edwards
University of Arkansas | Arkansas News
February 13, 2026
The School of Art, housed in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, has been selected to participate in the Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 initiative, a national program that will support the school in bringing acclaimed artist Carla Edwards to campus. Edwards will give a visiting artist lecture at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, in the Studio and Design Center lobby, 696 W. Praxis Ln. in Fayetteville.
Handwork is a nationwide semiquincentennial initiative highlighting the importance of the handmade items throughout American history and in contemporary life. As part of the program, Edwards will return to the university later this year for a residency, during which she will create new work using School of Art facilities. Handwork 2026 is a yearlong collaboration among organizations, educators and makers across the country to celebrate American craft and share compelling stories about artists in America.
“We are honored to be selected as a participant,” said Rachel Debuque, director of the School of Art. “Support for bringing a high-profile artist like Carla Edwards to campus reflects our commitment to expanding access and advancing excellence in the arts, while creating meaningful opportunities for our students and community.” Debuque noted that this work also demonstrates the collaborative nature of the School of Art, as programs in studio art and art history worked together to bring the project to life.
The initiative is in partnership with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and is also supported by another School of Art partner, Windgate Foundation. It includes major institutions and organizations from across the country, including the American Museum of Ceramic Art in California, the American Folk Art Museum in New York and Arkansas-based collaborators like Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The School of Art was selected and awarded funds based on the strength of its craft research, programs focused on craft in America and facilities.
“Through Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, we are able to bring globally recognized artists to Arkansas and facilitate conversations around how craft functions as a critical tool for examining labor, history and contemporary life,” said Jeannie Hulen, professor of art and head of ceramics. “I am grateful that Carla will be sharing her work with us on this personal level.”
Edwards is a nationally and internationally exhibited artist whose work spans sculpture, installation, performance and public art. Her lecture will offer insight into her interdisciplinary practice, which often explores material, labor and systems of meaning through a conceptual and socially engaged lens.
She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Studio Museum in Harlem; Lyles & King, New York; SHRINE, Los Angeles; FOR-SITE, San Francisco; the Louisiana State University Museum of Art; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Paula Cooper, New York; Nuit Blanche Toronto; Volta5 in Basel, Switzerland; and Night Gallery, Los Angeles. She has presented public sculpture at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York, and at Lighthouse Works.
She is an alumna of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and was a studio fellow in the Whitney Independent Study Program. Her work is included in numerous private collections and the public collections of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Vera Institute of Justice, Los Angeles; and JPMorgan Chase. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
The School of Art welcomes all members of the community to the lecture, which is free and open to the public. Free parking is available behind the Studio and Design Center. For more information, visit the campus calendar event.
Corning Museum of Glass celebrates 75 years with events throughout 2026
The Corning Leader
By Jeff Smith
January 30, 2026
Additional celebratory highlights at CMoG
- CMoG’s 5th Annual Flame Collab, which welcomes three guest artists to collaborate on a creative, compositional sculpture, will take place in the Museum’s Amphitheater Hot Shop on May 31-June 4.
- The Flame Collab and Casting Symposium will align closely with the annual 2026 Glass Art Society conference on June 3-6, hosted this year by the town of Corning. As part of the conference, CMoG will offer its spaces and facilities to over 1,000 conference participants, who represent members of the worldwide glass community.
- CMoG’s social media and digital teams have developed Glass in a Flash, a new YouTube series launching in January 2026 with weekly episodes hosted by Hot Glass Team Members Michael Beahm and Katie Hubbs. Viewers can subscribe to the CMoG YouTube channel.
- The Museum’s blog will also present This Month in CMoG History, a monthly look back at significant moments and programs in the 75-year history of the Museum. Posts will range from the origins of the Museum’s Mobile Hot Shop and the ambitious re-opening plan after the 1972 Flood to a decade-by-decade look at past exhibitions.
- The Museum will be a participant in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide Semiquincentennial initiative showcasing the importance of the handmade throughout our history and contemporary life.
Exhibition: Staying Power
San Diego Reader
January 29, 2026
Staying Power showcases the past, present, and future of the School of Art and Design’s craft legacy, with a special focus on work from the Southern California region. The exhibition is curated by Barbara Paris Gifford, Senior Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York.
Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 is a nationwide Semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade both throughout our history and in contemporary life.
The SDSU School of Art and Design is proud to be a part of Handwork 2026 by presenting a curated exhibition of outstanding craftwork by emeritus faculty, current faculty, and selected distinguished alumni from Applied Design areas.
UA Little Rock Kicks Off New Year with Creativity
By Samantha Koros
January 5, 2026
The Windgate Center of Art + Design at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is beginning the new year with a burst of creativity, opening three new exhibitions in January.
The exhibitions are part of Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide initiative honoring handmade art in recognition of America’s semiquincentennial. Through the series, the center will spotlight new work in silversmithing, woodworking and contemporary clay.
“Together, these three artists embody the recent momentum in contemporary craft,” said Brian Young, gallery director in the School of Art and Design. “They reference the traditional media of their respective disciplines — wood, metal and clay — but move beyond utilitarianism to incorporate new media and social content.”
Myra Mimlitsch-Gray’s On Purpose will be on view in the Ann Maners and Alex Pappas Gallery from Jan. 20 through March 29. A leading figure in contemporary metalsmithing, Mimlitsch-Gray transforms everyday objects into conceptual works that challenge ideas of function and tradition. An American Craft Council Fellow and a recent James Renwick Alliance “Master of the Medium,” her work appears in major collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museums of Scotland and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In the Brad Cushman Gallery, Vivian Chiu presents Facing, on view Jan. 20 through March 16. Known for reimagining traditional forms through wood and other media, Chiu uses repetition, distortion and precision craftsmanship to explore the boundaries between illusion and structure. Her work has earned fellowships, major residencies and national recognition as an American Craft Council Emerging Artist.
Already open, Nicole Seisler’s Some Truths About Clay is on view in the North and South galleries through March 9. The exhibition invites visitors into a space where ceramics evolve through time, touch and participation, treating clay as a collaborative process. Seisler’s work has been featured at institutions across the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She currently leads the ceramics program at Lewis & Clark College and directs A-B Projects.
Together, the three exhibitions offer an opportunity to experience contemporary craft through metal, wood and clay, highlighting approaches that challenge tradition, perception and process.
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft will spotlight the city’s material culture in Clutch City Craft
December 23, 2025
HOUSTON, TX.- Houston Center for Contemporary Craft will present Clutch City Craft, a major group exhibition examining the craft traditions and material cultures that have shaped Houston into one of the nation’s most formidable centers of making. Spanning both the front and main galleries at HCCC, the show features a wide spectrum of making practices, from the artists behind century-old, mosaic street signs to cowboy boot makers and fiber artists who design space suits and preserve the woven interiors of NASA mission control.
HCCC Curator and Exhibition Director Sarah Darro notes, “Drawing its title from the city’s emblematic nickname—earned during the Houston Rockets’ back-to-back NBA championship wins in 1994 and 1995—this exhibition uses Clutch City as both a cultural ethos and curatorial framework to examine how skilled craftsmanship underpins Houston’s industrial, social, and aesthetic identities.”
Although widely recognized as a global hub for energy, manufacturing, and aerospace, Houston also holds the highest concentration of working artists in Texas. Clutch City Craft frames this creative density as a direct extension of the city’s culture of skilled making since its inception. The exhibition unfolds as a material journey—moving from roadways and civic infrastructure through SLAB lowrider car culture and bespoke adornment, including western wear and grillz, before culminating in the material innovations driven by Houston’s energy and aerospace industries.
Clutch City Craft is curated by Sarah Darro, Curator & Exhibitions Director at HCCC. The exhibition is presented in concert with Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a national semiquincentennial initiative organized by Craft in America and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum to showcase the central role of handmade knowledge in shaping American life.
The first section of the exhibition presents Houston’s built environment as an archive of skilled labor and cultural memory. Historic blue-and-white mosaic street signs—presented alongside preservation work by the Blue Tile Project—appear in dialogue with the robust brickmaking traditions of Freedmen’s Town. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, formerly enslaved craftspeople transformed Houston’s clay-rich soil into handmade bricks laid in Yoruba-derived patterns, forming both the physical and symbolic foundation of the Fourth Ward. New sculptural works by Perata Bradley survey these architectures as they remain, are erased, or persist through memory, while welded steel sculptures by pioneering Houston artist Gertrude Barnstone echo the serpentine forms and structural logic of highways and overpasses, drawing attention to the hidden frameworks beneath concrete and asphalt.
The exhibition then turns to energy and extraction. In the cast-glass work, Recasting Houston, Norwood Viviano renders the city’s jagged skyline rising from a glossy, obsidian oil drum, binding Houston’s relentless expansion to the material realities of crude oil and industrial modernity. Scaled from LiDAR-derived cartographic data, the work prompts viewers to consider how energy has shaped not only Houston but modern life itself, including the glassmaking industries that make the work’s own materiality possible. This inquiry continues in ceramic works by Anna Mayer. Formed from local clay gleaned from drilling, flooding, and construction events, Mayer’s works are fired in a handmade rocket kiln that makes visible the entanglement of heat, atmosphere, and energy infrastructure.
Clutch City Craft also explores the objects that traverse Houston’s surfaces and circulate through its cultural imagination. This section of the show features a fully customized SLAB lowrider with bespoke upholstery and neon signage, as well as a maquette for a proposed public monument by Phillip Pyle II, which reimagines Barnett Newman’s Broken Obelisk through the addition of golden automotive “elbows,” or “swangas,” the spoke-wire rims characteristic of Houston car culture. The section also includes a dedicated presentation of handmade, custom cowboy boots alongside carved-wood-and-stone boot forms by Napoleon Aguilera and silversmithing traditions carried forward by second- and third-generation makers producing engraved, Western belt buckles and custom grillz, including new works by Alam Lalani (Grillz by Prince).
The exhibition culminates with Houston’s aerospace legacy, foregrounding the often-overlooked craft labor that has made space exploration possible. Artifacts from NASA’s archive—including spacesuit components, engineered textiles, and ceramic heat-shield tiles—are presented along with woven upholsteries produced for the preservation of Mission Control by Houston-based weaver Mary Welch and patterning studies developed by textile specialists contracted by the space program. Together, these materials underscore the centrality of skilled handwork to aerospace innovation.
BIMA Joins Handwork Art Initiative
By Destiny Valencia
November 19, 2025
The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art recently announced that it’s joining the national art initiative Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026.
Handwork is a year-long, nationwide effort that’s celebrating 250 years of handmade crafts that define America and its history, a release from BIMA said.
While participating in this initiative, BIMA plans to present exhibits throughout the year that coincide with the Handwork initiative and showcase the diversity of handmade work from crafted furniture to Indigenous traditions and contemporary textiles. The connection for these exhibits will fall under the theme of Connected by Craft.
BIMA is one of more than 250 museums, cultural centers, schools, and organizations that have joined the effort. Other participating local organizations include Northwest Designer Craftartists in Langley, the House of Welcome Cultural Arts Center in Olympia, and the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network — the latter of which is also located on Bainbridge Island.
Visit here to see the upcoming exhibits at BIMA.