‘Stronger than ever’
Published December 10, 2025
Modified December 11, 2025
Before the first “action” is uttered on set — there are months of preproduction from Patricia Bischetti and her team.
As the director and executive producer of the PBS series “Craft in America,” it’s a necessary part of the job.
“We do extensive research,” Bischetti says. “My goal is to capture the honesty of the story, people explaining the process to their art and making that connection to an audience.”
According to PBS, “Craft in America” has explored the vitality, history and significance of the craft movement in the United States and its impact on our nation’s rich cultural heritage since 2007. The series captures the beauty, creativity and originality of craftsmanship, the film highlights artists and explores what they do, how they do it and why they have chosen a life of creating art.
ON TV
The PBS series “Craft in America” visits the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe in its episode “West” airing at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, on New Mexico PBS, channel 5.1. It will also be available on the PBS app.
The series has featured many New Mexico artists over the years and is back for another episode titled, “West,” which features the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. The episode will air at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, on New Mexico PBS, channel 5.1. It will also be available to stream on the PBS app after the broadcast.
Bishetti says the episode also takes a look at cowboy arts, Hawaiian Indigenous practices and Native American handwork.
“The episode looks at how traditional craft can be revived, reworked and reinvented,” she says.
Bischetti and Carol A. Clark, “Craft in America” executive producer, chose IAIA because many of the artists featured in the series were alumni of the institution.
IAIA is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, and is the sole national center dedicated to research, training and scholarship for Native Americans. It focuses exclusively on American Indian and Alaskan Native arts and culture. It was established in 1962 and oversees the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, which houses a collection of over 7,000 contemporary Native American art pieces.
Bischetti says New Mexico has been part of “Craft in America” for 20 years through the program’s nonprofit arm.
“There’s no other place where culture is at the core,” she says. “Crafts are visible in everyday life.”
Bischetti and crew found the featured artists based on the suggestions of alumni and teachers.
“We did nine interviews in one day,” Bischetti says. “We wanted to make sure that the IAIA community was represented. We also have footage that didn’t make the segment, and those are available to view online. One of them is on the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. We wish we would have more broadcast time.”
During the handful of days of production, Bischetti was able to film IAIA’s graduation commencement in May.
“It was so challenging to capture the vastness of this school and its importance,” Bischetti says. “We were there for three days and we wanted to fully capture how the school embraces culture within its ceremony. The graduation had a powwow and none of this could have been done without the generosity of IAIA staff and students.”
Clark says viewers will be amazed and surprised by the IAIA piece.
“We were able to capture Deb Haaland’s speech to students,” Clark says. “She wished the students well and at the end of her speech, she told them to ‘be fierce.’ That’s so correct. That’s the only way things are going to change. You can be fierce in many ways. These artists are going to move the needle internationally. Europeans continue to be fascinated by the American West. It was a culture that was once tried to be eradicated. Today, it is going stronger than ever.”
New PBS documentary brings Institute of American Indian Arts to the world
By André Salkin asalkin@sfnewmexican.com
Dec 9, 2025
Financial troubles led Emmett Navakuku, 42, to depart the Institute of American Indian Arts the semester before he was set to graduate in 2010.
Over the following decade, the Hopi artist from Polacca, Ariz., said an artistic part of himself started to slip away. He endured marital tumult and the loss of his grandmother to COVID-19 — a tragedy that shook the community and left him feeling he “didn’t get the chance to say the ‘thank yous’ that I wanted to.”
So after 15 years, he returned this semester to the Santa Fe institution to bring to life a series of four painted portraits featuring his great-grandmother in black-and-white tones; his late grandmother in rich, warm sepia; his wife on a blue background and his daughters on a purple one.
“ I feel like at some point in time I forgot, kind of, about the people that I care about. … I feel like as a Hopi man, sometimes we tend to overlook the things that these women have done for us,” he said, defending his senior project Friday alongside younger seniors doing the same.
Returning to the studio environment and working on the portraits alongside other artists at the school, he said, brought back his artistic direction and sense of gratitude, along with a new desire to teach art in his community.
But soon, the school’s artistic offerings are set to reach a far broader audience.
IAIA is one of the main subjects of the latest season of “Craft in America,” a four-episode documentary series from PBS set to premiere on television screens at 10 p.m. Dec. 19 and available now on the PBS app and website.
Emmett Navakuku talks Friday about a series of portraits of family members he painted as students and faculty at IAIA gather to critique work by graduating seniors on display in the Robert Martin Academic building at IAIA.
Jim Weber/The New Mexican
‘The most important institution in the country’
The series has since 2007 produced episodes examining centuries of artistic development across the continent and its islands. IAIA, which appears in the West episode — set to screen alongside the East episode, while the North and South episodes will premiere in 2026 — is part of the roughly hourlong PBS special, screened to a small invited audience at Sky Cinemas Thursday evening.
In the episode, students are featured alongside an Idaho master saddlemaker, a Texas bootmaker and a slate of Hawaiian artisans reviving Native art forms nearly lost amid the islands’ colonial upheaval.
“For the West, IAIA was the first place we thought about,” said Patricia Bischetti, executive producer and director of the series, as she spoke at the premiere last week. “We think it’s the most important institution in the country.”
Craft in America on PBS Highlights IAIA’s Role in Shaping Contemporary Indigenous Art
| Craft in America on PBS Highlights IAIA’s Role in Shaping Contemporary Indigenous Art For Immediate Release November 24, Santa Fe, New Mexico For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Jason S. Ordaz, Chief Communications Officer, Office of Institutional Communications, at jason.ordaz@iaia.edu. This December, Craft in America begins a journey around the United States with the hour-long episodes East and West, premiering on PBS on Friday, December 19, 2025, at 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm (MST) (check local listings), and streaming starting November 24, 2025, on the PBS app, www.pbs.org/craftinamerica, and www.craftinamerica.org. East and West are part of a four-episode series (North and South will premiere in winter 2026), which is part of Handwork 2026, an expansive, year-long collaboration among art and culture organizations, educators, and makers that reflects the diversity of craft over the past 250 years. The West episode features the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)—highlighting our campus, students, alum, faculty, and leadership, as well as distinguished voices such as former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna and Jemez Pueblo), internationally recognized artist, IAIA alum, and Trustee Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) ’07, ’18, President Emeritus Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee Nation), and many others. The film honors IAIA’s more than 60 years of creative roots and our position as the birthplace of contemporary Indigenous art. Dr. Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo), IAIA President, said, “IAIA’s creative roots go back over 60 years, and many important Indigenous artists have found their start at our university. Seeing this legacy reflected in Craft in America’s thoughtfully presented West episode, I am deeply grateful for PBS’ and Craft in America’s commitment to telling this story.” Craft in America is the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary series that explores the beauty, significance, and relevance of handmade objects and the artists who create them. “It was very important for our series to include the Institute of American Indian Arts in our retrospective on the West for the Handwork 2026 project—we believe IAIA is one of the most important institutions in the country. The creativity we witnessed there is inspiring and hugely influential, and it was a great honor for us to film at IAIA during Dr. Robert Martin’s final year as president. We spent nearly two years being guided on our journey by Jason Ordaz, IAIA Chief Communications Officer, and IAIA staff, who opened doors and worked in depth with Craft in America Executive Director Carol Sauvion, and me on this important episode on the West,” said Patricia Bischetti, Executive Producer and Director. “The Craft in America crew of six was here on campus for three days filming in various classrooms, during commencement, and through interviews with trustees, our president’s cabinet, alum, staff, faculty, and students,” said Jason S. Ordaz, IAIA Chief Communications Officer. “It was a pleasure and privilege to help shepherd this important film into being.” Viewers who want to learn more about IAIA and its mission can go to www.iaia.edu for a wealth of information about its programs. Visitors can arrange a trip to the IAIA campus and explore contemporary Native art at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), located in the city’s historic downtown. The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)—the University for Indigenous Creative Excellence—is widely regarded as the preeminent higher education institution dedicated to the study of contemporary Native American and Alaska Native arts. IAIA offers undergraduate degrees in Cinematic Arts and Technology, Computer Science, Creative Writing, Indigenous Liberal Studies, Museum Studies, Native American Art History, Performing Arts, and Studio Arts; graduate degrees in Creative Writing, Studio Arts, and Cultural Administration; and certificates in Broadcast Journalism, Business and Entrepreneurship, Museum Studies, and Native American Art History. Recent partnerships, such as those with AMC, The Walt Disney Company, Nike, Ralph Lauren, the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and NBCUniversal Media, help students leave lasting footprints in the creative community. Among its many illustrious alums and former staff are two U.S. Poet Laureates: Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation) ’68, US Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2022, and Faculty Emeritus Arthur Sze, the current and 2025 US Poet Laureate. IAIA serves approximately 500 full-time equivalent (FTE) Native and non-Native students, representing nearly 100 federally recognized Tribes. IAIA is among the leading art universities in the nation and is fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). |
American Craft Council – Television: Craft in America “East” and “West”
By Jon Spayde
November 6, 2025
Craft in America is best known for its eponymous PBS docuseries honoring craft artists, but it’s far more than a production company; among other things, it also supports a craft museum and an outreach program in public schools. Next year, it will launch an ambitious nationwide craft initiative to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Called Handwork 2026, it’s intended to, organizers write, “showcase the importance of the handmade, both throughout our history and in contemporary life.” More than 250 craft centers, museums, and related organizations will host exhibitions and events.
Craft in America’s flagship show will offer its own coverage through four hour-long special episodes based on the cardinal points of the compass. “East” and “West,” focusing on craft artists in those regions, are set to debut December 19 on PBS, with “North” and “South” to come in December 2026.
“East” and “West” present the makers at work, demonstrating and discussing their histories, aesthetics, and processes, along with assessments from curators, partners, and colleagues. A broad view of American history is on full display.
The portrait of Italian-born master silversmith Ubaldo Vitali in “East,” for example, not only illuminates his immigrant experience but also includes a segment on Paul Revere—Vitali restored several of the patriot-silversmith’s pieces. Bisa Butler’s colorful textile works, often constructed of patterned African cloth, depict African Americans of the recent and more distant past; “East” provides context for her works by adding archival footage of the Black experience. Philadelphia-based Colette Fu, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, found a compelling way to display images in the pop-up book format. She demonstrates a massive hand-cranked volume called Noodle Mountain, in which the paper “noodles” that appear are red to represent the blood spilled in anti-Chinese riots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and yellow for the arson fires that destroyed many Chinatowns.
“West” opens with a quintessential symbol of that region: intricate leather saddles, made in Idaho by Cary Schwarz, a member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. The cowboy boots of Graham Ebner of Austin, Texas, are just as carefully crafted, but hardly traditional: The young artist decorates them with images of Paul Bunyan or a UFO’s encounter with an armadillo. Indigenous initiatives are represented by a segment on the New Mexico–based Institute of American Indian Arts, where Native artists exchange ideas and share traditions; and by a group portrait of Native Hawaiian artists introducing sacred crafts like pandanus-leaf weaving and featherwork to a new generation of makers.
It adds up to an account of contemporary American craft that emphasizes its cultural and ethical power as well as its aesthetics and utility. As Cary Schwarz puts it, “Craftsmanship comes down to the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty.”