POSTS
2026 Getty Marrow Intern – Ellanora LoGreco
Ellanora LoGreco is a rising senior at Brown University where she studies Material Culture History and Ethnic Studies. She has been surrounded by craft most of her life, growing up in a family of artists and beginning to learn hand sewing and various fiber-based crafts when she was five years old. Now, Ellanora has her own craft practice that includes fashion and costume design as well as experimental archival research that uses making – usually the reconstruction of historical dress – to research tacit knowledge and supplement textual archives that exclude the voices and stories of women of color.
Ellanora is incredibly excited to work with an organization like Craft in America that foregrounds traditional craft practices and provides space for education and community engagement. She is particularly interested in learning about exhibition practices and exploring how technical knowledge can be displayed to the public, which is something that she hopes will inform how she approaches historical research and allow her to expand its audiences. Ellanora has spent dozens of hours attempting to research and learn particular handwork and making techniques and is familiar with the struggle of attempting to learn these methods without an expert to teach you. As a result, she hopes to spend the summer making a contribution to making craft knowledge more accessible to all and simultaneously learn as much as possible to inform her own art and research practices.
Top 10 weekend arts picks in San Diego: Pottery, a nightmarish Easter Bunny and jazz-meets-pasta
KPBS
6/11/26
By Julia Dixon Evans
Visual art
San Diego Potters’ Guild: Spring Patio Show
In Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Arts Center, the San Diego Potters’ Guild will host its spring pottery show and sale. Part of the Craft in America “Handwork 2026” celebration for America 250, artists will be on-site to discuss their new pieces and the process behind them. Featured artists are Lynn Zimmer and Nancy Barbour, but art by more than 40 potters will be displayed at booths and tables around Spanish Village’s colorful stone patio.
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 13-14 | 1770 Village Place, Balboa Park | Free
Full article here.
Opening Reception—Marques Hanalei Marzan: Entwine
Discover Los Angeles
6/12/26
Opening Reception—Marques Hanalei Marzan: Entwine
Craft in America Center
Los Angeles 90048
“Marques Hanalei Marzan: Entwine” features work by the renowned Hawaiian culture bearer inspired by age-old indigenous fiber techniques such as weaving, twining and looping techniques resulting in exquisite, contemporary forms.
Marzan will give an artist talk before the reception 3:00-4:00pm. Please email rsvp@craftinamerica.org. Both events are free.
Original post here.
Museums partner for “The Peace Flag Project”
Bucks County Herald
6/11/26
The Red Mill Museum Village and the Hunterdon Art Museum, in collaboration with Handwork 2026, invite the public to celebrate the opening of “The Peace Flag Project,” a fiber chain of hundreds of community-made flags displayed along the banks of the Raritan River and pedestrian bridge.
The public is invited to the dedication ceremony, which will take place at noon Sunday, June 14, on the Main Street Bridge, a historic Pony Pratt Truss bridge crossing the South Branch Raritan River in Clinton, N.J. The reception includes remarks by Janice Kovach, Mayor of Clinton, along with a poetry reading by a Clinton Public School student and a performance by the Hunterdon Chorale Alliance. Following the ceremony, both mills will have public programs emphasizing crafts, community and the State of New Jersey’s 250th anniversary.
The “Peace Flag Project” symbolically and physically links the two museums in a landmark celebration of peace, unity and creativity. Hundreds of flags were created by community members including local scouts, school children, senior centers, professional artists, civic groups and crafting organizations, and hundreds of individuals united to create in the name of peace.
By inviting the public to contribute to this project, the role of shared making in fostering connection and belonging is emphasized. The “Peace Flag Project” is part of a yearlong celebration of traditional and contemporary craft practices in recognition of the state and nation’s 250th anniversaries. Both museums have scheduled events throughout the semiquincentennial celebrations which continue all summer. The peace flags will remain on view through Aug. 30.
For information, visit: https://theredmill.org/ or https://www.hunterdonartmuseum.org.
‘Handwork 2026’: Year-long initiative explores handmade American artforms
Pasadena Weekly
6/11/26
By Jessica Koslow
Earlier this year, while speaking with teachers at the National Art Education Association conference, Ann Ruhr Pifer learned that today’s students seem hungry for craft activities in a new, different and more intense way.
“One teacher said she had a bunch of art activities in her room, and all the students go for the sewing activity, especially the ninth-grade boys,” shared Pifer. “She didn’t see that coming. We talked about how we feel it’s a reaction against — or perhaps a counterbalance to — the pervasiveness of digital experience in their lives.”
As of January 2026, Pifer, along with Robyn Hollingshead, is the co-executive director of Craft in America, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit arts organization that promotes original handcrafted work through programs in all media. The group is responsible for 35 episodes of the Peabody Award-winning, Emmy-nominated documentary series, “Craft in America,” on PBS, a YouTube channel and multi-disciplinary educator guides. The Craft in America Center in Los Angeles hosts exhibitions, talks by artists and scholars, workshops and K-12 school tours.
Coinciding with America’s 250th birthday and running all year long, “Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026” is Craft in America’s most ambitious initiative yet, featuring four new episodes of “Craft in America” titled East, West, North and South; a publication, Handwork: Handcrafted Objects that Made America; and events taking place across the country in partnership with nearly 300 organizations.
The seeds for “Handwork 2026” were planted by Craft in America founder Carol Sauvion about three years ago in a planning committee.
“The idea was to raise public awareness of craft in connection with the semiquincentennial of the country,” said Pifer. “Craft is woven through our history: Paul Revere, who was a silversmith, was renowned not only for his role in the Revolutionary War but also his remarkable silverwork. The semiquincentennial seemed like a good time to create a collaborative effort to celebrate craft.”
One of the main goals of “Handwork 2026” is to draw in the participation of museums and craft and art schools and galleries across the United States. The Craft in America team lightly curated the partnering organizations and their 2026 events, which are all featured on the Handwork2026 website. There is no cost to participate.
“It’s just all of us coming together making a big noise about craft,” Pifer said. “We had one person call a couple of weeks ago who said they were going to visit Pittsburgh for the first time on a craft tour, and they wanted to know about all the craft organizations and places to visit in that area, and I said, ‘Great, here’s the map.’”
Pifer, who started her career in commercial banking for 15 years, has always loved and appreciated craft — from America and around the globe. She joined the Craft in America board around 2010, and when Sauvion, the former executive director, was preparing to retire, she asked Pifer and Hollingshead to consider taking over as co-executive directors.
Pifer was based in Minnesota and Hollingshead in LA. The likeminded craft gallery owners connected in 2004 and had since then been thinking about how to foster an appreciation of craft, promote craft and support craft artists and galleries.
“It’s been wonderful to see all the partnering organizations come together and join this handwork effort,” said Pifer.
In May, Quilting for Community, which offers free and low-cost classes in Chatsworth, hosted the Gee’s Bend quilting experience. Mary Ann Pettway and China Pettway shared personal history, family stories and the context behind the quilts and traditions of Gee’s Bend on the Alabama River.
The Craft in America Center is presenting two upcoming exhibitions, “Cowboy Craft: Traditional Art of the West,” featuring nine artists including Cary Schwarz, the saddle maker spotlighted in its WEST episode that aired in December, and “Marques Hanalei Marzan: Entwine,” a Hawaiian artist who also appeared in the WEST episode. The opening reception for both exhibitions will take place on June 13 from 4 to 6 p.m., and Marzan will give an artist talk at 3 p.m.
Craft Contemporary’s (formerly the Craft and Folk Art Museum) newest exhibition, “tierra,” expands its focus beyond ceramic and clay as a singular medium to encompass broader practices grounded in land and earth.
“Craft and the arts more broadly are an important part of life for everybody in our society,” Pifer said. “They make life richer. Craft is frequently deeply connected to the cultural roots of people in a place. It’s a part of what makes us human, our historical family, cultural roots. In the present moment, artistic expression and craft, both the objects and the artists who make them, all of us who like making things with our hands, is more important in an age where so much is digital, in an age of AI, where we’re all questioning, what’s real? I think there’s a hunger among people broadly because of that for things that are tangible and beautiful and meaningful. I see a real groundswell of interest in both appreciation for craft and in getting one’s hands into craft and doing it.”
Original article here.
27 Arts-Related Happenings to Check Out This Summer
425 Magazine
6/10/26
By Blake Peterson
July 3: As part of its “Handwork 2026” series, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art is debuting several new exhibits in July that will be on display for several months. Opening on July 3 is “Indigenous Craft,” which is a survey of craft artists working in traditional and contemporary forms and which use media including fiber and textiles, wood carving, ceramics, and more, according to event details. Also being unveiled that day is “Carletta Carrington Wilson: Object Lessons,” which showcases the artist’s use of fabric and found materials to invoke and engage with the past, and “Cloth, Paper, Stitches,” which, according to its event page, “brings together a selection of artists’ books from the ‘Cynthia Sears Artists’ Books Collection’ that foreground the tactile and expressive possibilities of cloth, paper, and thread.”
Cutting and Pasting a World: The Paper Craft of Henry Darger
Choose Chicago
6/10/26
Intuit Art Museum (IAM), recognized worldwide as one of the few institutions dedicated solely to championing the work of self-taught artists, marks the 250th anniversary of American craft with Cutting and Pasting a World: The Paper Craft of Henry Darger, an insightful new exhibition exploring the connection between the work of prolific Chicago-based artist Henry Darger (1892-1973) and traditional American paper crafts.
With this exhibition, Intuit Art Museum is a proud participant in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, joining more than 250 organizations around the country contributing exhibitions and events that showcase the depth and diversity of American craft. Cutting and Pasting a World opens at the recently reimagined Intuit Art Museum, John Jerit Center, 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, in Chicago’s vibrant West Town neighborhood on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. An opening reception is free and open to the public on Wednesday, June 17, from 6-8 pm. Cutting and Pasting a World will remain on view through January 31, 2027.
Drawing on research by guest curator, art historian and College of Charleston Associate Professor Dr. Mary Trent, Cutting and Pasting a World illustrates how the turn-of-the-century practices of making paper dolls and paper dollhouse scrapbooks may have influenced Darger’s evolution as an artist and maker. By showcasing both finished artworks and original source materials, the exhibition demonstrates how Darger adapted these humble pastimes into sophisticated methods for constructing large-scale, mixed-media narratives.
“This exhibition reestablishes Darger’s works to their original form and concept, not as framed fine art objects, but as double-sided pages in bound books, rooted in paper doll and scrapbooking crafts. By returning them to their source in domestic practices of women and children, we can finally read them as what they always were: a pointed critique of American family ideals,” said Trent.
The exhibition provides context for these crafts within the early 20th-century movement to instill middle-class American “taste” in a burgeoning immigrant population. Likely exposed to these practices within social welfare institutions as a child, Darger ultimately subverted them—transforming decorative domestic crafts into a profound and complex commentary on the vulnerabilities of marginalized children.
“Intuit continues to break new ground, providing audiences with fresh insights into the influences on and processes involved in Henry Darger’s artmaking,” said Intuit Art Museum President Debra Kerr. “The mysteries surrounding Darger and his art continue to engage and inspire fans of self-taught art from around the world.”
Cutting and Pasting a World will be showcased as a special exhibition within Intuit’s signature Duchossois Family Henry Darger Exhibition Gallery, which celebrates the legacy of the noted Chicago artist over two floors. This exhibition serves as a companion to the permanent (and popular) Henry Darger Room on the Museum’s lower level, a recreation of Darger’s apartment at 851 Webster Avenue in Lincoln Park, which doubled as his home and studio for more than 40 years.
Related exhibition programming
On Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, as part of Intuit’s monthly open-late program, Art After Work, Intuit will host a talk with Mary Trent, curator of Cutting and Pasting a World. Trent will discuss the exhibition and share insights from the research that shaped its development. From September through the remainder of the exhibition, Intuit’s Center for Learning and Engagement will feature a large-scale interactive installation inspired by paper doll house traditions highlighted in the exhibition. Designed by Intuit educators, the participatory installation will invite visitors to contribute their own creative elements, fostering engagement with the exhibition’s themes through collaborative making and imaginative play.
Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide Semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade both throughout our history and in contemporary life, is presented by Craft in America, the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary series. Handwork 2026 is 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 through the following programs. Intuit is one of four Illinois institutions participating, along with Fine Line Creative Arts Center, Joy Machine and Lillstreet Art Center.
Founded in 1991 as a nonprofit, Intuit is a premier museum of self-taught art. Intuit champions the diverse voices of self-taught art, welcoming both new and familiar audiences. Intuit Art Museum is open 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and until 8 p.m. on third Thursdays. Admission is $20 or free for members, those 24 and younger, and those unable to pay.
New exhibitions at Moore College explore art, craft and independence
Metro Philadelphia
6/9/26
By Molly Given
With the nation’s 250th anniversary in full swing, Moore College of Art & Design has decided to go big—with four new showcases all inspired by the celebratory occasion.
First, ‘All into One’ (June 12 to July 31, presented by Philadelphia Sculptors) expands the organization’s long-running ‘5 into 1’ exhibition into a larger regional showcase by featuring emerging artists from local colleges.
‘Art Quilters Celebrate Independence’ (June 13 to Aug. 29, organized by Studio Art Quilt Associates), on the other hand, brings together 39 contemporary quilts that explore freedom, human rights, and creative expression in honor of America250.
Complementing these group exhibitions, the 2026 ‘Juried Alumni Biennial’ (June 12 to Aug. 29) features Moore alumni working across clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, and mixed media as part of the national ‘Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026‘ initiative.
Rounding out the season, ‘Homecoming’ (June 12 to July 18) will shine a spotlight on salvaged wood sculptures by Laura Petrovich-Cheney.
As Moore notes, together, these exhibitions highlight the enduring impact of handmade practices, material exploration and artistic storytelling across generations.
With ‘All into One’, visitors will get to peruse around contemporary sculptures and three-dimensional art, building on a 26-year legacy at Moore. ‘Art Quilters Celebrate Independence’ takes a juried touring exhibition that showcases innovative conceptual and technical approaches and shines a spotlight on practices for local audiences. The ‘2026 Juried Alumni Biennial’ spans functional, wearable, sculptural, and conceptual forms, all of which were juried by Leila Cartier, executive director of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and a Moore alumna whose career has included leadership roles at CraftNOW Philadelphia.
And finally, ‘Homecoming’ features a series of wall-based sculptures crafted from salvaged architectural wood like siding, cabinet doors, and floorboards, some recovered in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The exhibition also marks Petrovich-Cheney’s return to Philadelphia, with a career that spans works shown at the International Quilt Museum, Fuller Craft Museum, and Toledo Museum of Art.
The Galleries at Moore will present four public opening receptions to accompany the exhibits. An opening reception celebrating ‘Homecoming’, ‘All into One’, and the ‘2026 Juried Alumni Biennial’ will take place on Friday, June 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. at The Galleries at Moore. ‘Art Quilters Celebrate Independence’ will be celebrated with a separate opening reception on Saturday, June 13, from 2 to 4 p.m.
To learn more about this summer’s exhibitions at Moore College of Art & Design (1916 Race St.), visit moore.edu
Original article here.
‘Handwork 2026’: Year-long initiative explores handmade American artforms
LA Downtown News
By Jessica Koslow
6/8/2026
Earlier this year, while speaking with teachers at the National Art Education Association conference, Ann Ruhr Pifer learned that today’s students seem hungry for craft activities in a new, different and more intense way.
“One teacher said she had a bunch of art activities in her room, and all the students go for the sewing activity, especially the ninth-grade boys,” shared Pifer. “She didn’t see that coming. We talked about how we feel it’s a reaction against—or perhaps a counterbalance to—the pervasiveness of digital experience in their lives.”
As of January 2026, Pifer, along with Robyn Hollingshead, is the co-executive director of Craft in America, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit arts organization that promotes original handcrafted work through programs in all media. The group is responsible for 35 episodes of the Peabody Award-winning, Emmy-nominated documentary series, “Craft in America,” on PBS, a YouTube channel and multi-disciplinary educator guides. The Craft in America Center in Los Angeles hosts exhibitions, talks by artists and scholars, workshops and K-12 school tours.
Coinciding with America’s 250th birthday and running all year long, “Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026” is Craft in America’s most ambitious initiative yet, featuring four new episodes of “Craft in America” titled East, West, North and South; a publication, Handwork: Handcrafted Objects that Made America; and events taking place across the country in partnership with nearly 300 organizations.
The seeds for “Handwork 2026” were planted by Craft in America founder Carol Sauvion about three years ago in a planning committee.
“The idea was to raise public awareness of craft in connection with the semiquincentennial of the country,” said Pifer. “Craft is woven through our history: Paul Revere, who was a silversmith, was renowned not only for his role in the Revolutionary War but also his remarkable silverwork. The semiquincentennial seemed like a good time to create a collaborative effort to celebrate craft.”
One of the main goals of “Handwork 2026” is to draw in the participation of museums and craft and art schools and galleries across the United States. The Craft in America team lightly curated the partnering organizations and their 2026 events, which are all featured on the Handwork2026 website. There is no cost to participate.
“It’s just all of us coming together making a big noise about craft,” Pifer said. “We had one person call a couple of weeks ago who said they were going to visit Pittsburgh for the first time on a craft tour, and they wanted to know about all the craft organizations and places to visit in that area, and I said, ‘Great, here’s the map.’”
Pifer, who started her career in commercial banking for 15 years, has always loved and appreciated craft — from America and around the globe. She joined the Craft in America board around 2010, and when Sauvion, the former executive director, was preparing to retire, she asked Pifer and Hollingshead to consider taking over as co-executive directors.
Pifer was based in Minnesota and Hollingshead in LA. The likeminded craft gallery owners connected in 2004 and had since then been thinking about how to foster an appreciation of craft, promote craft and support craft artists and galleries.
“It’s been wonderful to see all the partnering organizations come together and join this handwork effort,” said Pifer.
In May, Quilting for Community, which offers free and low-cost classes in Chatsworth, hosted the Gee’s Bend quilting experience. Mary Ann Pettway and China Pettway shared personal history, family stories and the context behind the quilts and traditions of Gee’s Bend on the Alabama River.
The Craft in America Center is presenting two upcoming exhibitions, “Cowboy Craft: Traditional Art of the West,” featuring nine artists including Cary Schwarz, the saddle maker spotlighted in its WEST episode that aired in December, and “Marques Hanalei Marzan: Entwine,” a Hawaiian artist who also appeared in the WEST episode. The opening reception for both exhibitions will take place on June 13 from 4 to 6 p.m., and Marzan will give an artist talk at 3 p.m.
Craft Contemporary’s (formerly the Craft and Folk Art Museum) newest exhibition, “tierra,” expands its focus beyond ceramic and clay as a singular medium to encompass broader practices grounded in land and earth.
“Craft and the arts more broadly are an important part of life for everybody in our society,” Pifer said. “They make life richer. Craft is frequently deeply connected to the cultural roots of people in a place. It’s a part of what makes us human, our historical family, cultural roots. In the present moment, artistic expression and craft, both the objects and the artists who make them, all of us who like making things with our hands, is more important in an age where so much is digital, in an age of AI, where we’re all questioning, what’s real? I think there’s a hunger among people broadly because of that for things that are tangible and beautiful and meaningful. I see a real groundswell of interest in both appreciation for craft and in getting one’s hands into craft and doing it.”
Original article here.
What’s My Line? The Personality of Line in Fabric and Stitches
Patch Los Angeles
6/8/26
June 17th to July 10th, open Wednesday to Sunday 1-7 PM
What’s My Line? is a solo quilt exhibition by Barbara Danzi, exploring the personality of lines through fabric and stitching. Lines can evoke feelings of power or serenity, a sense of direction, rhythm or abundance.
For this exhibit Danzi created whimsical quilted compositions drawn from the cultural and linguistic associations of lines. Coastline, hemline, power lines, line dance, and “forgot my lines” are all depicted using fabric and stitching and hung in a woven installation alongside larger quilts made with painterly, expressive lines.
Danzi makes these wall quilts by hand cutting solid-colored strips of fabric with gestural arm movements. She stitches the fabric pieces together using her sewing machine, creating seam lines that preserve the look of hand-drawn lines. She then adds quilting stitches, either in straight lines or by drawing leaves or other designs which add layers of meaning to each composition.
Together, the works consider line as both a visual structure and a cultural metaphor.
What’s My Line is part of Handwork 2026, Craft in America’s nationwide semiquincentennial collaboration showcasing the importance of the handmade and celebrating the diversity of craft that defines America.
At the Artist Talk on June 28th at 2PM Barbara Danzi will talk about her inspiration and process, and share examples of how different lines evoke different feelings in art. Attendees will learn about fiber art, textile art, and abstract contemporary quilts.
Free
Presented by Barbara Danzi Fine Art Quilts.
Original article here.