Materials, Methods, and Meanings: Craft in the Archives of American Art

Materials, Methods, and Meanings: Craft in the Archives of American Art explores how artists working across craft disciplines have redefined their fields through inventive uses of materials, experimental techniques, and radical forms that carry social, cultural, and personal meaning. Drawing from the Archives of American Art’s rich craft holdings, the exhibition highlights moments where makers pushed beyond tradition–transforming clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood, among other mediums, into vehicles for creative inquiry and cultural expression. Organized around the themes of materials, methods, and meanings, the exhibition reveals these artists not simply as skilled makers, but as innovative thinkers, whose work expands the possibilities of their mediums and how we engage with the world around us.