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School of Art Offers Free Tickets for U of A Campus to See America 250: Common Threads Exhibition at Crystal Bridges
March 30, 2026
The School of Art at the U of A, housed in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, is partnering with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to offer all U of A faculty, staff and students free admission to the exhibition America 250: Common Threads.
Campus members can receive up to two free tickets by using the promotional code HOGS when reserving tickets through the museum’s website. The promotion is valid now until June 1, 2026, but tickets may be reserved for any date during the exhibition’s run, which is happening until July 27, 2026. A U of A email address must be used to access the offer. Individuals should enter the promotional code before checking out. Tickets can be reserved here.
America 250: Common Threads commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence while reflecting on 250 years of American art and civic participation. Through paintings, textiles, historic documents, photographs and quilts, the exhibition explores how artists and makers have documented and shaped the evolving story of the United States.
Visitors can look forward to experiencing how people have celebrated national and personal moments in history, from a display of hundreds of 20th-century patriotic snapshots to souvenirs collected from America’s Centennial in 1876. When the exhibition is open to the public, visitors can also observe live quilting in the galleries as local quilters and Northwest Arkansas quilting guilds stitch together squares created by K-12 students across Arkansas using an art kit designed by artist Basil Kincaid.
This promotional offer is the second collaboration of its kind between the museum and the School of Art. A similar promotion launched last semester for the exhibition Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture offered free admission to the campus community and brought a strong turnout of U of A faculty, staff and students to the museum.
The School of Art is also continuing to cover transportation costs to and from Crystal Bridges and the Momentary. The shuttle program offers an accessible way for campus members to visit world-class museums. Interested groups can request for travel support through the School of Art’s request form. Support is provided on a first-come, first-served basis, while resources are available.
“The School of Art’s partnership with Crystal Bridges is rooted in our mutual commitment to access to the arts,” said Rachel Debuque, director of the School of Art. “Offering free tickets to America 250: Common Threads, including transportation funding for campus members, extends learning beyond the classroom and empowers U of A faculty, staff and students to make new connections between art and history.” Debuque encourages students, faculty and staff to take advantage of the free tickets, and for instructors to consider coordinating a visit for any classes that are studying related subjects.
America 250: Common Threads is organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in partnership with the American Folk Art Museum and is part of Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, presented by Craft in America. Tickets are available here and can be reserved for free with a U of A email address and the code HOGS. More information about the exhibition is available on the Crystal Bridges website. Please reach out to Crystal Bridges at 479-418-5700 with questions or issues reserving tickets online.
Common Threads in Arkansas
“America 250: Common Threads” weaves together textiles, art, and artifacts to tell the story of a nation.
By SIERRA HOLT
March 26, 2026
As much as apple pies and baseball are American traditions, so too are textiles. In fact, one of the most famous symbols of American identity is a piece of fabric: the American flag. Through the talented hand and creative mind of its original maker, Betsy Ross, colony unity was woven together into a piece of art.
Many artistic and decorative objects made in the United States, both old and new, hold this ability. A statue of a famous statesman, a piece of paper with decorative calligraphy, and even the squares of a quilt made centuries ago can evoke a sense of time and place—whether good, bad, or in-between—from America’s past.
Such is the basis of the upcoming exhibition, America 250: Common Threads. Opening on March 20 and continuing until July 27 at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, the show weaves a look back at American history with objects spanning the United States, time, and national and personal narratives. The “America 250” in the show’s title refers to America’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, also known as a semiquincentennial, while “Common Threads” reflects on how American art has influenced civic participation and developed community relationships.
As also hinted by the exhibit’s name, textiles are well represented in the show and include pieces on loan from the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. “The American Folk Art Museum has been an incredible partner in developing this semiquincentennial exhibition. Self-taught artists and communal artmaking practices are foundational to the history of the United States,” explains Crystal Bridges Museum’s assistant curator of American art, Larissa Randall. “By lending over 30 signature objects from their collection, the American Folk Art Museum empowers us to tell broader and more complex stories about American art over the past 250 years.”
Among the selections from the American Folk Art Museum is a circa 1885–1920 silk and satin quilt. Shining in a bright jewel-tone purple, the quilt’s color is a product of the 1856 invention of synthetic aniline dyes, alongside the entry of silk as a domestic industry in America in the mid-1800s. To add to the grandeur of the piece, the maker of the quilt—an unidentified member of the McAllister family in New Hampshire—also added atop the silk fabric face is a second trend of the era: nine crazy quilt star cutouts.
Another quilt from the American Folk Art Museum is one that many visitors may recognize even before they step into the show, as it serves as the image for the exhibit’s advertising. It was made by Emmaus, Pennsylvania, quiltmaker Gertrude Knappenberger to commemorate the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Upon seeing the piece, viewers will spot pastel-colored appliqué designs of birds, flowers, stars, and heart emblems placed in a diamond pattern on a white cotton quilt top. Within this pattern are the numbers “1876” placed in the center, and the text “Centennial” and “G. Knappenberger” quilted vertically on the left and right sides.
Textile-focused content will continue with live quilting sessions by local quilters and guilds within the exhibit. They will piece together squares made by Arkansas schoolchildren and textile artist Basil Kincaid.
But not all items displayed in America 250 are made from fabric. “Visitors will see hundreds of objects made between 1776–2026. The exhibition includes a room of George Washington portraits, collectables, and ephemera, as well as entire sections dedicated to national symbols like flags, eagles, and liberty figures,” explains Randall. “Visitors will also see new work by contemporary American artists Sheryl Oring, Drew Cameron, and Titus Kaphar.”
One of the most well-known items on display is a marble original bust of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi, made in 1794. The artwork is noted for its likeness of the former U.S. secretary of the treasury, while also appearing—through Ceracchi’s signature neoclassical style—as what Tyson Scholar Amy Torbert described in a 2016 Crystal Bridges Museum blog post as a “Roman stateman with a classical profile and strong nose” that depicts “the democratic ideals of the new American republic, whose leaders consciously chose to associate their nation with the ancient democracies of Greece and the republican values of Rome.” The bust has become a well-known depiction of Hamilton and has served as a model for numerous likenesses, including the first U.S. postal stamp in his honor and the head of the granite statue by Carl Conrads in Central Park.
The bust was originally part of the Ceracchi’s Great Men of America series, which included likenesses of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and John Adams. It was given to Hamilton by the artist, who later demanded payment for his time and materials from his subject. Hamilton reluctantly paid the sum, and it was kept in the family until it was donated to the then-Astor Library in 1896 and later purchased by the Crystal Bridges Museum in 2025.
This show is the result of a partnership between the Crystal Bridges Museum and the year-long nationwide initiative Handwork 2026, organized by the Craft in America team. This multi-platform collaboration between museum institutions, arts-related organizations, educators, and makers highlights American handmade craft in honor of the nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary. Efforts from this initiative include multiple exhibitions such as America 250, public events, educational programming, a four-episode feature on PBS’s Craft in America, and a publication.
More information about America 250: Common Threads is at crystalbridges.org, and Handwork 2026 at handwork2026.org. For more antique events and news related to America’s 250th, check out Kovels Antique Trader’s monthly column, “Celebrating 250 Years of American Antiques,” in every 2026 issue. Readers can also find special reporting here on the website.
Original article here.
Smithsonian Craft Show Opens April 23: Juried Fine Craft Show Celebrates American Artistry
March 25, 2026
The 44th annual Smithsonian Craft Show will take place April 22–26 featuring the work of recognized masters and outstanding innovators of American craft. A panel of expert jurors has selected 120 American artists representing all facets of contemporary craft and design, including basketry, ceramics, decorative fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed-media, paper, wearable art and wood. The works will be on display and for sale. Serious collectors and casual shoppers will find one-of-a-kind pieces at a wide range of prices.
The show will be held at the National Building Museum, located at 401 F St. N.W. in Washington, D.C. Admission is $25, and group sales of 10 or more are $20 each, both of which can be purchased in advance or online.
The show’s Preview Night Benefit April 22 offers an early opportunity to view and purchase crafts while enjoying cocktails and dinner. Tickets and more information are available on the craft show website.
The 2026 honorary chair is Carol Sauvion, the former executive director of Craft in America, and the guiding force behind Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide initiative to showcase 250 years of American craft.
A highlight of the Preview Night Benefit will be the presentation of the Smithsonian Visionary Award to Wayne Higby for his significant achievements in sculptural art and design. Ceramic artist Cristina Córdova will receive the Delphi Award from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee for her exceptional mid-career artistry and promise.
The Smithsonian Women’s Committee produces this show to celebrate the finest in American contemporary craft and design. All proceeds go back to the Smithsonian through grants to multiple museums, research centers and the Zoo. To date, the organization has awarded more than $15 million to the Institution for projects that support innovative education and enhance knowledge, research and outreach in areas of culture, arts, mysteries of the universe, biodiversity and the American experience.
About the Smithsonian Women’s Committee
The Smithsonian Women’s Committee is an all-volunteer organization of 180 members that raises funds through its annual Smithsonian Craft Show and Craft2Wear Show to fund its grants and endowment programs to support the initiatives of the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo and numerous education, research and conservation centers in the Washington, D.C., area and around the world.
Craft Forms 2026: Call For Entry
Call for Entry through September 9, 2026
Entry fee: $50
Wayne Art Center seeks submissions for the 31st International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Fine Craft, in the following mediums: basketry, ceramics, fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, metal, mixed media, paper, wearable art, and wood. Works created utilizing CAD/CAM technologies and 3D printing tools are also eligible.
Enter Now
Exhibition & Sale: December 5, 2026 – January 23, 2027
Awards: $12,000 in prizes
Juror: Dr. Robert K. Liu and Patrick Benesh-Liu
413 Maplewood Avenue
Wayne, PA 19087
www.craftforms.org
610-688-3553
Getty Marrow Digital Communications Paid Internship 2026
CRAFT IN AMERICA DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS INTERNSHIP
The Craft in America Digital Communications intern will provide support and assist in various aspects of organizational digital media content and management. The intern will be involved in researching and writing content to support the organization’s exhibitions, programming, website, PBS documentary series, and promotion. The intern will work on the Center exhibitions and programming. In addition, the intern will catalog and caption our digital video library as well as catalog our physical library.
The intern will participate in outreach with artists, outside organizations, collectors, local businesses, student groups, and art schools. The intern will be trained to use our website and Constant Contact and will have structured time to familiarize with Craft in America’s resources, artist database, and style guide. Familiarity and knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Google Suite is a plus.
This internship is on-site at the Craft in America Center two days a week and remote for three days a week for a total of 40 hours a week. Intern must be available for 10 consecutive weeks between:
- June 1 – August 7 or
- June 8 – August 14 or
- June 15 – August 21, 2026
ELIGIBILITY
While these internships are intended for students from backgrounds underrepresented in museums and visual arts professions, Getty encourages eligible candidates from all backgrounds to apply for consideration. Getty is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any protected trait under the law. Candidates are sought from all areas of undergraduate study at any higher education institution—community college, trade school, and public and private university—and are not required to have demonstrated a previous commitment to the visual arts. Candidates will have the opportunity to demonstrate their interest in museums and visual arts professionals and how they might add diverse and underrepresented perspectives, which can include—among other things—socio-economic status, cultural background, physical or other disability, geographical origin, and/or any other life experiences.
Student must:
- Be currently enrolled as a full-time undergraduate in either a bachelor’s degree program or an associate’s degree program. Students must have completed at least one semester or two quarters of college by June. Students who graduated the semester or quarter immediately before the internship begins are also eligible. (Students who are enrolled in a second BA or BS program are not eligible.)
- Attend college in or be a permanent resident of LA County; and
- Be a United States citizen or permanent resident (non-citizen authorized to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis; also known as a “green card” holder). Students with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) status valid through the internship period are also eligible.
Note: Students can participate in the program multiple times but must intern at a different organization each summer.
TO APPLY: Submit your résumé, two letters of recommendation or contact information (phone/email) for two references (teacher, professor, former employer, etc.), and a cover letter describing how you meet the requirements for the position.
Email your submissions to apply@craftinamerica.org with the subject heading “Internship.” APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, April 17, 2026.
Join a historic celebration of American craft during Handwork Week at BARN
By BARN
March 22, 2026
Artists’ talks, a live bronze pour, poetry and tours welcome the public to Bainbridge Island’s contribution to a nationwide craft celebration:
Join artists, makers, and neighbors for a week of free public events at Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN), April 26 through May 1, as Bainbridge Island takes part in one of the most ambitious celebrations of American craft in a generation.
Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 is a year-long collaboration that brings together more than 280 museums, galleries and craft organizations across all 50 states to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America. The heart of BARN’s contribution is Handwork Week, a series of intensive, multi-day workshops drawing students from across the country. Most workshops are fully enrolled, but evening events are free and open to all.
Full article here.
Patrons preview America 250: Common Threads
By Carin Schoppmeyer
March 21, 2026
Sponsors of “America 250: Common Threads” got a first look at the new exhibition March 12 during a curator-led preview at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. A Director’s Reception for museum members followed the tour.
“As we look ahead to the nation’s 250th anniversary, this exhibition invites us to reflect on how art shapes our understanding of America,” executive director Rod Bigelow told gathered guests.
An ambitious community project is also part of the show.
The museum distributed 30,000 quilt kits to Arkansas K-12 students, asking them to create fabric squares reflecting themes of identity and independence. During the exhibition, more than 150 volunteers from Arkansas quilting guilds will serve as quilters-in-residence, stitching the student squares together in the gallery.
Assistant Curator of American Art Larissa Randall and Ella Nowicki, Windgate curatorial fellow, guided patrons through the exhibition, which includes quilts, paintings, photographs, everyday objects and historic documents.
Among them are a circa 1820 stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” and writings by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.
The tour began in the George Washington gallery.
Randall noted that “Washington mania” dates to 1799, when artists and everyday Americans mourned the death of the first president and created objects and images to commemorate him.
Randall said the exhibition explores how artists across centuries have interpreted familiar American symbols.
“American artists continue to build on centuries of visual culture,” she said. “They’ve embraced familiar emblems, challenged them and even rewritten them.”
“Our symbols are constantly evolving, much like the nation itself,” she added.
The exhibition also looks at how art reflects public conversation and identity through sections including “Moments of History”, “National Symbols”, “Future Generations”, “America: One Century” and “Democracy and Dialogue.”
“I hope this exhibition prompts you to consider how intertwined visual literacy and political literacy are in this nation,” Randall told guests.
“America 250: Common Threads” opened to the public March 14 with events including a live papermaking demonstration by Drew Cameron, participatory artwork with Sheryl Oring, performances by TheatreSquared artists-in-residence and music by the University of Arkansas Wind Ensemble.
The exhibition was organized in partnership with the American Folk Art Museum and is part of Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, presented by Craft in America.
Sponsors include Stout Executive Search, Christie’s, The Coca-Cola Company, UHP, Becky and Bob Alexander, Shari and Lamar Steiger Family, Harrison and Rhonda French Family, Valorie and Randy Lawson/Lawco Energy Group, Frederick and Shelby Gans, Avis Bailey, Beverly and Charles Lee and Marybeth and Micky Mayfield.
Original article here.
Virtual Open House – School of Fashion Design
Patch.com
Somerville, MA
3/17/26
Virtual Open House – School of Fashion Design
Tue, Mar 31, 2026 at 6:00 PM
More info here
Learn about our programs, see our studio classroom spaces, instruction demos, and have the opportunity to speak with our admissions staff! Come and ask all of the questions you have!
This event is free, please click here to RSVP.
This workshop is part of Handwork 2026, presented by Craft in America.
Things To Do in Bremerton, WA
Kitsap Sun
Promoted by Aidan Terry
March 16, 2026
Craft can spark change–one stitch, garment, and reclaimed material at a time. BIMA and ReFashion Bainbridge’s upcoming panel is a celebration and examination of craft, creativity, and clever reuse!
Craft can be a tool for change—one stitch, garment, and reclaimed material at a time. Artists who work with repurposed materials understand this firsthand, and a panel of sustainable artists and community leaders will gather at BIMA on April 12 to discuss how making can contribute to a more thoughtful future.
Panelists, who are all involved with the upcoming ReFashion Show, will share the history of this show, their creative processes, the environmental urgency behind textile waste, and how refashioning opens up new pathways for expression, community connection, and sustainable futures. Plus, in honor of Handwork 2026, we will examine how handwork, repurposing, and resourcefulness shape the ReFashion Show, now in its 10th year, and the broader story of craft today.
Event partners: Refashion Bainbridge JeLisa Marshall, ReMake Seattle
JeLisa Marshall is a fashion practioner, researcher, and writer based in Seattle. She has over 10 years of experience in advocacy, marketing, and product development. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Sustainability Education, with a focus on the intersection of culture and ecology to implement more regenerative practices in design.
Gabriel Bello Diaz (past judge, judge for this year’s ReFashion Bainbridge Show)
Gabriel-Bello Diaz is a Puerto Rican artist, designer and instructor. He combines 3D printing and laser cut technology with leather to create custom products for clients including: accessories, jewelry, bags and various garments. He has curated half a dozen fashion shows focused on using fashion as an artform to express a deeper dialogue. Ancestral Future was his proudest fashion vision of highlighting indigenous and ancestral traditions of textiles and symbols through digital fabrication to help hidden stories of our community emerge. Currently at the Actualize Residency in Pioneer Sq, he is continuing to experiment and building his first public exhibition at King Street Station opening June 2026.
Naomi Spinak, ReFashion Bainbridge (facilitator)
Naomi Spinak is the head of ReFashion Bainbridge, a program of Sustainable Bainbridge. With a professional background in theatrical costume design and upcycled apparel, Naomi has spent her career championing the “reuse world.” Under her leadership, the Bainbridge Trashion Show evolved into the comprehensive ReFashion program, which was awarded a 2022 COBI Cultural Arts Funding Grant to expand textile education and environmental programming on the island. Also an award-winning artist, Naomi’s repurposed and activist artwork has been exhibited nationwide. She is currently serving on the WA Department of Ecology’s Workgroup to plan a Textile-Focused Symposium on Waste Management.
Lara Hansen, Sustainable Bainbridge, EcoAdapt
Dr. Lara Hansen has worked in the non-profit sector on climate change and related issues locally and globally for over two decades, and in issues relating to sustainability a decade longer than that. In addition to her work with Sustainable Bainbridge, she is the Chief Scientist and Executive Director of EcoAdapt, a Bainbridge-based non-profit working on developing solutions to the challenges of climate change. To balance her scientific life, she works to integrate nature and art in her daily life. As an optimist she assumes we’ll get our acts together on climate change–who would want the alternative? She looks forward our co-creation of a climate savvy Bainbridge Island, where we make climate-informed decisions to support better long-term outcomes. Oh, her mom made the outfit she’s likely wearing at this event.
McKayla SewNsew, past artist
McKayla SewNsew is a Pacific Northwest based artist. She enjoys working with unusual materials to make garments, often creating something with an air of the ephemeral from that which some may see as rubbish. Her wearable creations have graced the stages in many Refashion shows utilizing bubble wrap, a parachute, polyfill, discarded ballerina tutus and obsolete tech cables. She scours thrift stores for clothing treasures and frequents the bins to dig for once loved dresses in need of a new home. She encourages you to play dress up and remember that your favorite outfit can be for any day, not just that special occasion… clothes have the capacity to be the armor we show to the world and we are stronger when we feel good in them. When she is not sculpting garments she spends her time creating delightful sweet confections while exploring her role as a pastry chef.
Azalea Snowmassara (student, age 15)
Azalea SnowMassara has participated in and inspired friends to be involved with several ReFashion shows. She loves the opportunity to express her ideas through creative freedoms. She enjoys cheerleading, ice skating and theater. She likes shopping at thrift stores and hosting clothing swaps for her friends to encourage sustainability because she knows that each garment tells a story.
Craft in America exhibition shows expressive side of skateboards
Beverly Press/Park La Brea News
March 12, 2026
The Craft in America Center presents “Vehicles of Expression: The Craft of the Skateboard” from March 14–May 30.
The exhibition is among the first in the U.S. to focus on the crafted innovations of skateboards, from their inception in Southern California to contemporary, irreverent expressions from artists across the nation. Where other exhibitions have focused on deck art and visual culture of skateboarding, “Vehicles of Expression” focuses on the historical development of the skateboard as a constructed object – from rough-and-ready homemade inventions with lumber, nails and repurposed wheels to contemporary high-tech, ecologically-conscious uses of materials and conceptual works.
Through choices of materials and finishing approaches, artists imbue boards with style and meaning. Some skateboards are made to be cherished as gorgeous objects and others are made for artful performance stunts, departing radically from the sport’s competitive aspect. With skating’s spirit of undaunted exploration and ingenuity, the exhibition celebrates a diversity of approaches. The show expands definitions of craft, art and performance by presenting multiple vantage points on skateboards.
An opening reception with remarks by multimedia artist Abe Dubin will be held on Saturday, March 14, from 3-5 p.m. “Build It and Ride: How Skateboards Began,” an in-person and online talk by Todd Huber, skateboard historian and founder of the International Skateboarding Hall of Fame, will be held on April 11, from 3-4 p.m.
“Skateboarding the Canyons, Plains and Asphalt-banked Schoolyards of Coastal Los Angeles in the 1970s” with scholar Lorne Platt on the evolution of skateboarding environments in suburban developments will be held on April 18 from 11 a.m.-noon. Additional in-person and virtual talks by skateboard historians, makers, artists and performances will take place in conjunction with the exhibition.
The Craft in America Center is located at 8415 W. Third St. For information, visit craftinamerica. org/exhibition/vehicles-of-expression-the-craft-of-skateboarding.