MAY 13, 2022 — APRIL 2, 2023
Renwick Gallery
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases American craft by highlighting the role that artists play in our world to spark essential conversations, stories of resilience, and methods of activism—showing us a more relational and empathetic world. It centers more expansive definitions and acknowledgments of often-overlooked histories and contributions of women, people of color, and other marginalized communities.
On view at Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, This Present Moment activates two floors of gallery space, highlighting over 170 artworks from the museum’s permanent collection in a range of craft mediums from fiber and ceramics to glass and mixed media. Approximately 135 of the featured artworks are new acquisitions, never before seen at the Renwick Gallery.
This Present Moment marks the fiftieth anniversary of SAAM’s Renwick Gallery as the nation’s premier museum dedicated to American craft. It honors the history of studio craft while also introducing progressive contemporary narratives and supporting makers of all genders, sexualities, ethnicities, abilities, and creeds by examining all forms of creative practice.
Featured artists include Tanya Aguiñiga, Nick Cave, David Chatt, Sonya Clark, Cristina Cordova, Cindy Drozda, Alicia Eggert, J. Paul Fennell, Aram Han Sifuentes, Carla Hemlock (Kanienkeháka), Sharon Kerry-Harlan, Ron Ho, Katie Hudnall, Pat Kramer, Steven Young Lee, Linda Lopez, Robert Lugo, Wendy Maruyama, Tom Loeser, John Mascoll, Connie Mississippi, George Nakashima, LJ Roberts, Judith Schaechter, Preston Singletary, Polly Adams Sutton, Toshiko Takaezu, Gail Tremblay ( Mi’kmaq and Onondaga), Nancy Worden, Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, and many more.This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, is organized by Mary Savig, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, with support from Nora Atkinson, the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge for the Renwick Gallery, Anya Montiel, former curator of American and Native American women’s art and craft, and Elana Hain, curatorial assistant. This exhibition is the latest in a series of exhibitions presented at the Renwick Gallery that reassess what craft is in a modern world.
