The Craft Contemporary is showing the mosaics, tapestries and wood carvings of the late Culver City artists

Not long after a pair of young Detroit designers visited an exhibition about Charles and Ray Eames in 1949, they set their sights on Los Angeles, where that legendary couple had been producing their iconic chairs, textiles and experimental films. “It really opened our eyes and set the ball rolling,” Jerome Ackerman told the Los Angeles Times in 2012. “As we were walking out, I said, ‘You know, that’s remarkable, what we’ve just seen. Look at what they’ve done and there’s no reason we can’t do it too.”

Material Curiosity by Design: Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman at the Craft Contemporary Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols

Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman would soon join the energetic design community in Southern California that was pushing boundaries, trying to create a new and better postwar world through the power of good design. The Ackermans set up a studio to create pottery but soon branched out into wood carvings, mosaic art, tapestries and metal work. Their whimsical designs realized in myriad materials are at the center of the exhibition Material Curiosity by Design: Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman at the Craft Contemporary through May 10. Evelyn Ackerman died in 2012 and Jerome in 2019.

“Young Warrior” (1957) by Evelyn Ackerman on view in Material Curiosity by Design: Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman at the Craft Contemporary Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols

The exhibition is curated by Danielle Charlap and designed by Gary Wexler, son of midcentury Palm Springs architect Donald Wexler. The vintage Ackerman works are juxtaposed with contemporary art by Porfirio Gutiérrez, Jolie Ngo, and Vince Skelly, creating a conversation through the decades.

Ackerman art is nothing if not versatile and appealing to the widest range of viewers. Their daughter, Laura, remembers that one of her mother’s tapestries hung above her childhood bed. That same tapestry, “Garden,” also appeared in a Playboy cartoon from the 60s and today looks just as at home hanging on the pristine white walls of an art museum.

“Girl with Flowers” and “King and Queen” (1958) by Evelyn Ackerman on view in Material Curiosity by Design: Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman at the Craft Contemporary Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols

Material Curiosity by Design: Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman at the Craft Contemporary Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols

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The work of Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman is buoyant, joyous and effervescent. It is alive with color and energy and leaps off the walls and into your heart. Whether their whimsical characters are rendered in colored yarn, tiny stones or hewn from redwood they maintain a lightness and affection, with characters striking jaunty poses or often leaning into each other.

“Garden” (Detail) 1962 by Evelyn AckermanCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols

All that and the Ackermans wanted their works to be available to anyone. “One of our goals was to be affordable,” Evelyn Ackerman told the Los Angeles Times in 2009. “Not having a lot of money was the position we were in most of our young lives, so it is what we strove to do for others.”

Mosaic art on display in Material Curiosity by Design: Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman at the Craft Contemporary Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols

Today, their works sell in the five figures. An abstract 1958 mosaic recently sold for $30,000 at auction. I still keep my eyes peeled at estate sales, hoping that one will slip through the cracks and onto my walls. But until then, this exhibition (and the new book Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman: California Mid-Century Designers) is the best place to get your fill.

The Craft Contemporary on Wilshire BoulevardCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols

Material Curiosity by Design: Evelyn & Jerome Ackerman
At the Craft Contemporary through May 10, 2026
5814 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles