"Crafting America" at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art /  by Sabrina Gschwandtner

Crafting America

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Feb 6 - May 31, 2021

Crafting America celebrates the skill and individuality of craft within the broad context of American art. From jewelry to furniture to sculptures and more, this exhibition is dazzling and full of surprises.

Featuring over 100 works in ceramics, fiber, wood, metal, glass, and more unexpected materials, Crafting America presents a diverse and inclusive story of American craft from the 1940s to today, highlighting the work of artists such as Ruth Asawa, Peter Voulkos, Jeffrey Gibson, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Sonya Clark, and more. Craft has long been a realm accessible to the broadest range of individuals, providing an opportunity to explore personal creativity, innovation, and technical skill. This exhibition foregrounds varied backgrounds and perspectives in craft, from the vital contributions of Indigenous artists to the new skills and points of view brought by immigrants to the United States.

Developed by Jen Padgett, associate curator at Crystal Bridges, and Glenn Adamson, guest curator and scholar of craft, design history, and contemporary art, Crafting America asserts craft’s integral role in expanding the story of American art and is accompanied by a major multi-author illustrated publication published by Crystal Bridges and the University of Arkansas Press.

"Radical Tradition" at the Toledo Museum of Art /  by Sabrina Gschwandtner

Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change

Toledo Museum of Art

November 21, 2020 - February 14, 2021

Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change brings historical and contemporary works together in critical dialogue to consider how quilts have been used to voice opinions, raise awareness, and enact social reform in the U.S. from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Disrupting our expectations of quilts as objects that provide warmth and comfort, this exhibition will explore the complicated and often overlooked stories quilts tell about the American experience, offering new perspectives on themes including military action and protest, civil rights, gender equality, queer aesthetics, and relationships with land and the environment. While addressing these powerful themes, Radical Tradition will highlight how the strategies and materials of quiltmaking over nearly two centuries have called into question long-established hierarchies, both in the art world and in society at large. Incorporating a wide range of media—from cotton and wool to salvaged wood, paint, and celluloid film—the objects on view will challenge traditional definitions of what a quilt is and the form it can take.

Exhibition catalog available at the museum's online store.

Lecture: Artists Celebrate Suffrage /  by Sabrina Gschwandtner

The National Arts Club presents an artistic celebration of suffrage. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Curator Mary Murray showcases three artists and their work, linking contemporary issues to 19th-century practices. Panelists include artist Sabrina Gschwandtner, artist Lesley Dill, and Linda Ferber, Director Emertia and Senior Art Historian, New-York Historical Society.