{"id":604724,"date":"2026-09-18T22:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T22:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604724\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T22:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T22:36:14","slug":"museum-of-craft-and-design-honors-exhibit-that-inspired-its-existence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604724\/","title":{"rendered":"Museum of Craft and Design honors exhibit that inspired its existence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 1969 exhibition \u201cObjects: USA\u201d at the Smithsonian American Art Museum \u00a0was a watershed event in art appreciation. Without it, there\u2019d be no San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, said its curator, Ariel Zaccheo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact of it was just massive,\u201d she said. \u201cIt put craft on the map as not just being something functional, but rather as another kind of medium competing with fine art.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That exhibition has inspired a new show<\/a> with the same title at the Museum of Craft and Design, with objects displayed in 1969 placed alongside their contemporary cousins. There\u2019s no hierarchy \u2014 not between older and newer artists, nor famed and unknown. With the installation dictated by materials and aesthetics, it\u2019s often difficult to tell which pieces were in the original Smithsonian exhibition and which are new.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI played a game with our final installer, asking her to pick which objects are from the 60s and which are contemporary,\u201d Zaccheo said. \u201cShe got so many of them wrong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The original<\/a> Smithsonian exhibition brought together over 500 pieces of art and traveled to 33 destinations, introducing the world to artists who would become famed in their field. \u201cIt became an evangelist of American craft throughout the nation and other countries,\u201d Zaccheo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of the exhibition, the museum store is selling reprints of the original catalog for the Smithsonian show, a thick tome published in 1970 that has become a kind of bible for those working in craft and design.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to school for history, but craft history was never part of that conversation,\u201d Zaccheo said. \u201cWhen I came here, I had to learn that history on my own and find my own sources of information, and what did that for me was the Objects USA original catalog.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current exhibition came about when the museum learned in 2022 that the New York gallery R and Company<\/a> wanted to tour its recent show, \u201cObjects: USA 2020,\u201d which mixed contemporary artists with those from the original Smithsonian exhibition. The exhibition at the Museum of Craft and Design is smaller than the Smithsonian original \u2014 over 70 objects instead of over 500 \u2014 yet it manages to provide both a holistic and kaleidoscopic capsule of American craft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the main notes we wanted to hit was to make sure we had a lot of different materials,\u201d Zaccheo said. \u201cThat was really a huge part of the original show,\u201d she continued, noting its catalog was organized by material rather than date or region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The terracotta piece by Ebitenyefa Baralye<\/a>, who was inspired by works from the original Objects show, is a textural masterpiece in one of craft\u2019s most iconic materials. <\/p>\n

\"RectangularEbitenyefa Baralye, 2019. OBJECTS USA at Museum of Craft & Design SF_#086_\u00a9Henrik Kam 2026<\/p>\n

Nearby stands stoneware by the founder of the Guerneville pottery commune, Pond Farm<\/a>, Marguerite Wildenhain, a leader in American ceramics in the mid-1900s. Although decades have passed, her pieces in the show are flawless. \u201cShe is a sturdy survivor of a woman,\u201d Zaccheo said. \u201cSo it makes sense her work is sturdy, too.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another kind of guessing game can be played with the piece by Jay Sae Jung Oh, in which leather cords wrap all kinds of objects \u2014 an infant ice skate, a watering can, a cocktail shaker, a fishing tackle box \u2014 and render them as only their shapes, challenging the viewer to guess which is which.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LayeredJay Sae Jung Oh, Salvage Series Wall Organizer, 2024. OBJECTS USA at Museum of Craft & Design SF_#081_\u00a9Henrik Kam 2026<\/p>\n

The original \u201cObjects: USA\u201d show contained work by glassmaker Dale Chihuly, who has since become a household name. On an edgier note, the Museum of Craft and Design offers Amber Cowan\u2019s glassware piece, \u201cEcco to the Bridesmaid,\u201d a masterpiece of repurposed and newly made glass.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mixed-mediaAmber Cowan, Ecco to the Bridesmaid: I Know Not What Has Happened To Your Pod, 2022. OBJECTS USA at Museum of Craft & Design SF_#086_\u00a9Henrik Kam 2026<\/p>\n

The show also represents nearly all of the \u201cfour fathers\u201d of American furniture making: George Nakashima, Sam Maloof, Wendell Castle and James Krenov (the only one not in the show), placed alongside contemporary artists like Norman Teague, who is trying to bring design to communities of color.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AHanging (left to right):
Jeff Zimmerman, Vine, 2023.
Christopher Kurtz, Singularity (Suspended), 2017.<\/p>\n

On the platform (left to right):
Wharton Esherick, Stool, 1963.
George Nakashima, Walnut Bench, 1965.
JB Blunk, Stool #7, 1973
On the wall: Liz Collins, Fire, 2020. OBJECTS USA at Museum of Craft & Design SF_#031_\u00a9Henrik Kam 2026<\/p>\n

\"ContemporaryFront right piece:
Joyce Lin, Skinned Chair II, 2022.<\/p>\n

Rocking chair on right: Sam Maloof, Rocking Chair, 1976. OBJECTS USA at Museum of Craft & Design SF_#030_\u00a9Henrik Kam 2026<\/p>\n

By including people of color in design, \u201che\u2019s trying to totally rewrite that narrative,\u201d Zaccheo said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet craft, on the other hand, has a built-in advantage in representing people who have traditionally been shut out of the fine art world. It\u2019s also diverse geographically: While fine art can be concentrated in art-making capitals like New York City and Los Angeles where there are both schools and markets to support it, craft artists come from all over the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s less controversial today to understand utilitarian objects as pieces of art, the success of the Smithsonian show more than half a century ago was in part because it shifted people\u2019s perspective \u2014 and added<\/a> a diverse, progressive voice to the art world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The distinction between craft and fine art typically comes down to two factors: material and utility. If an object can be used in everyday life and if it\u2019s made of materials like terracotta or wood, that can easily slide it towards the craft category.<\/p>\n

Yet looking at some of the vases in \u201cOBJECTS: USA,\u201d one can just as easily imagine them standing in the Museum of Modern Art. Indeed, mainstream museums are acquiring<\/a> materials like fiberwork and clay \u2014 and utilitarian objects \u2014 to such a degree that it can be difficult to tell there\u2019s still a distinction. \u201cThose boundaries are blurred,\u201d Zaccheo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

OBJECTS: USA<\/a>
Museum of Craft and Design\u00a0, Sept. 5 \u2013 Jan. 17<\/p>\n

\"TextileJovencio de la Paz, Dusk\/Dawn (Burnt Sutra), 2024. OBJECTS USA at Museum of Craft & Design SF_#103_\u00a9Henrik Kam 2026<\/p>\n

\"TwoMichele Oka Doner, Tattooed Dolls, 1968. OBJECTS USA at Museum of Craft & Design SF_#087_\u00a9Henrik Kam 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 1969 exhibition \u201cObjects: USA\u201d at the Smithsonian American Art Museum \u00a0was a watershed event in art appreciation.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-604724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}