Blog Category: Craft and Decorative Arts

Featuring contemporary craft and decorative arts at SAAM and the Renwick Gallery.

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  Sneak Peek: Renwick Invitational 2018

  Disrupting Craft: Renwick Invitational 2018 opens Friday, November 9, and might be just what you need this week.

  Categories

  Exhibitions

  Behind-the-Scenes

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Sneak Peek: Renwick Invitational 2018
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  Truth Is Beauty

  “What would the world be like if women were truly safe?” This is the question Marco Cochrane challenges both male and female audiences to consider when viewing his sculpture "Truth is Beauty."

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

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  The Renwick's (David) Best Temple

  David Best creates temples for Burning Man that are made of recycled wood that are ritually burned at the end of the annual festival. In this video Best discusses the Temple he created for the Renwick Gallery’s Bettie Rubenstein Grand Salon, as a sacred space for people to reflect on loss.

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

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  Discover the Art of Burning Man at the Renwick

  "No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man" brings the large-scale, participatory work from this desert gathering to the nation’s capital for the first time.

  Categories

  Behind-the-Scenes

  Craft and Decorative Arts

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  Sneak Peek: Burning Man's Temple at the Renwick

  No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, opens on Friday, March 30, and features large-scale installations--the artistic hallmark of Burning Man--at the core of the exhibition. These include a temple designed for the Renwick's Grand Salon by David Best.

  Categories

  Behind-the-Scenes

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Sneak Peek: Burning Man's Temple at the Renwick
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  Who Wore it Better? Burning Man Dresses up the Renwick

  In addition to the large-scale artworks currently being installed at No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, opening at the Renwick Gallery of Art on March 30, the exhibition features hand-made jewelry and clothing such as Iranian-born designer, Gelareh Alam's "warrior chic."

  Categories

  Behind-the-Scenes

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Who Wore it Better? Burning Man Dresses up the Renwick
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  Sneak Peek: Burning Man Unfolds at the Renwick

  What's going on behind-the-scenes at the Renwick Gallery? While the Renwick is closed, it's far from dark: artists are installing the large-scale works that will be a part of No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, opening on March 30.

  Categories

  Sculpture

  Behind-the-Scenes

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Sneak Peek: Burning Man Unfolds at the Renwick
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  Here Be Dragons

  Duane Flatmo's mutant vehicle, "Tin Pan Dragon," is not your average ride.

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Here Be Dragons
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  Wendell Castle: Timeless

  Master woodworker, furniture maker, and artist Wendell Castle died on January 20, at the age of 85. During his long and illustrious career, he helped define and redefine craft furniture in America.

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

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  Feel the Burn: The Art of Burning Man comes to the Renwick in March

  Eye Level spoke with Nora Atkinson, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, to learn more about her upcoming exhibition No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, opening at t

  Categories

  Five Question Interviews

  Craft and Decorative Arts

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  Parallax Gap: Building a Drawing

  Helen B. Bechtel, independent curator and coordinator of the installation, Parallax Gap, fills us in on the relationship between architecture and American craft. Parallax Gap remains on display at the Renwick Gallery through February 11, 2018.

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Parallax Gap: Building a Drawing
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  Peter Voulkos: Breaking with Tradition

  On view in our current exhibition at the Renwick Gallery, Peter Voulkos: The Breakthrough Years, are three of the artist's large-scale paintings: Blue Remington, Red Through Black #3, and Falling Red. Some people may be surprised to find paintings in Voulkos' oeuvre, but that's what makes their discovery (at least for me) all the more exciting.

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Peter Voulkos: Breaking with Tradition
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  Mind the Gap: Parallax Gap Now Open at the Renwick Gallery

  Parallax Gap, an architecturally-inspired work now on view at SAAM's Renwick Gallery is suspended from the ceiling of the Grand Salon and runs the length of the room.

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Mind the Gap: Parallax Gap Now Open at the Renwick Gallery
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  Photography Encouraged: Imagination and Association

  One of the best parts of my day is the time I set aside to search through the comments and photos people share with us on social media about the museum's artworks.

  Categories

  Sculpture

  Photography Encouraged

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Photography Encouraged: Imagination and Association
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  Creative Disruption: June Schwarcz and Peter Voulkos at the Renwick

  At first glance, the objects on display at SAAM's Renwick Gallery by June Schwarcz and Peter Voulkos couldn't be more different. Schwarcz's enamel work is precise and almost ethereal, while Voulkos's pots and sculptures are weighty and improvisational. But both artists had a powerful impact in the art world, defying convention and breaking all the rules of their traditional media.

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about Creative Disruption: June Schwarcz and Peter Voulkos at the Renwick
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  The Renwick Gallery and the Space in Between

  For more than a year, Janet Echelman's woven sculpture 1.8 Renwick has beckoned people into the Grand Salon. Suspended high above, the billowing nets transform the space. At once an artwork and an experience, people walk around the room as colors projected on the hand-knotted nets shift, or stretch out on the floor for a new view and a moment of peace.

  Categories

  Craft and Decorative Arts

  • Read more about The Renwick Gallery and the Space in Between

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