“This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World” Introduction

This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World marks the 50th anniversary of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery by celebrating the dynamic landscape of American craft. On view from May 13, 2021, to April 2, 2023, the exhibition features more than 170 artworks from the museum’s permanent collection that push the boundaries what we interpret the handmade to be in the twenty-first century. The exhibition activates both floors of gallery space, highlighting a range of craft mediums from fiber and ceramics to glass and mixed media, and asks the questions, “How have you reimagined your idea of home during the global pandemic?” “How is craft relevant to your life?”

This Present Moment features artworks made by a broadly representative and diverse group of American artists including Black, Latinx, Asian American, LGBTQ+, Indigenous, and women artists who have crafted spaces for daydreaming, stories of persistence, models of resilience, and methods of activism that resonate today. Explore works by artists including Bisa Butler, Sonya Clark, Sharon Kerry-Harlan, Preston Singletary, and Wanxin Zhang, among many others.