(WASHINGTON, DC— April 18, 2024)—Americans for the Arts (AFTA) announces its participation in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a national Semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade, both throughout our history and in contemporary life. Handwork 2026 is a yearlong collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight.

“Americans for the Arts is honored to serve as an awareness partner for Handwork 2026,” said Nolen Bivens, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “Handmade artistry holds a special place in U.S. history, and we are eager to highlight the diverse stories and work that represent American craftsmanship. Handwork 2026’s yearlong initiative aligns with the values of Americans for the Arts by promoting vibrant arts communities and fostering dialogues to strengthen our unique, collective cultural identity.”

AFTA is pleased to join Handwork 2026 lead partners Craft in America, the national organization promoting and advancing original handcrafted work through programs in all media, and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the national museum dedicated to American craft, which will host the core exhibition for the project, opening in 2026.

“As the flagship museum of American craft, the Renwick Gallery is the driving force in the national conversation about the dynamic landscape of contemporary craft,” said Stephanie Stebich, the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “We are delighted to be a lead partner with Craft in America for Handwork2026. Together we will showcase the artworks being created now by innovative makers that help us better understand ourselves, each other, and the world around us.”

Handwork 2026 will focus on the following programs:

EXHIBITIONS

Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 culminates with a core exhibition opening in late 2026 at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Museums and art centers joining as participants in the Handwork 2026 initiative will complete the rich diversity of interpretations on the work of the hand with exhibitions and related programs throughout the year. We invite all museums and regional arts centers to join this effort with the craft-centric, culture-based exhibitions you are planning for the year 2026. 

DOCUMENTARY FILM SERIES & DIGITAL CONTENT

A four-part Documentary Film Series will be produced by the team behind the Peabody Award-winning, PBS national series Craft in America. The series will present a rich, democratic exploration of the handmade in traditional, studio, ethnic, and contemporary practices. Handwork 2026 plans to partner with PBS and their 350+ independent member stations to broadcast and stream both current and archival craft programs, including new Digital Programs for YouTube and social media audiences.

BOOK

Presenting the extraordinary range of the handmade in the United States, the Handwork 2026 book will feature craft history, artists, materials and processes, focusing on undertold stories. The book will be object-based. It will include essays by leading experts, images of exquisite handmade objects and a craft timeline. It will illuminate the contributions of craftspeople throughout our history. It will be one of the first and only books to bridge history by exploring the craft continuum over the span of American culture. 

EDUCATION

The education component of Handwork 2026 will include interdisciplinary learning initiatives at all levels of the education system, with a special focus on grades K–12. It will take a wide look at the history, cultural traditions, and impact of craft in the United States, from Indigenous origins until today. Marilyn Stewart PhD, a nationally recognized art educator and author of art textbooks, will oversee the creation of the education guides. The guides will include hands-on craft activities and will be available on craftinamerica.org and handwork2026.org.

ENGAGEMENT

In partnership with local, state and national organizations, Handwork 2026 will be amplified by a robust social media campaign, and all activities joining the national celebration will be documented on Handwork 2026 comprehensive, aggregate website.

More than three dozen partners, exhibitors and participants have joined Handwork 2026 to date, representing more than 20 states.

For more information, follow @americans4arts, @handwork2026, and @americanart.

Contact:
Mariaesmeralda Paguaga,
VP of Strategic Communication
[email protected]

From November 12, 2023, through March 3, 2024, the Denver Art Museum presents the exhibition “All Stars: American Artists from The Phillips Collection”

Source: Denver Art Museum · Image: Marsden Hartley, “Mountain Lake – Autumn”, about 1910. Oil on canvas; 12 x 12 in. The Phillips Collection: Gift of Rockwell Kent, 1926.

This exhibition features key works from Washington, D.C.-based The Phillips Collection, one of the most celebrated collections of American art in the U.S. All Stars encompasses more than 140 years of unexpected visual conversations between American artists about what connects us as humans by artists including Benny Andrews, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe and many more. All Stars: American Artists from The Phillips Collection will be on view in the Hamilton Building’s level 2 Anschutz and Martin & McCormick galleries.

This landmark show features 75 masterworks by 56 artists and traces American art from the birth of the modernist spirit at the end of the 19th century through post-war American painting in the mid-20th century and into the 21st century, with artists exploring important issues today. All Stars: American Artists from The Phillips Collection is the second large-scale, traveling presentation of the Phillips’s celebrated collection to be shown at the Denver Art Museum (DAM), chronicling the broad scope of its holdings.

“Since opening in 1921, the Phillips has been an active champion of American art, lifting up artists who followed their own vision, regardless of fashionable styles and schools. This thoughtful selection of American art celebrates some of the best of American art in the last 150 years,” said Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum.

“The artworks in the exhibition range from the 19th century to 2020 American art,” said Rory Padeken, Vicki and Kent Logan Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art for the DAM. “The Phillips Collection comprises one of the most significant collections of modern art in the world. Duncan Phillips was a collector ahead of his time in his time and still has much to teach us about how to appreciate, enjoy and collect art.”

Visitors to All Stars will be encouraged to dialogue with each other and reflect upon diverse aspects of the American experience and how the artists in this exhibition and their works convey these rich and complex points of view.

Americans for the Arts presents our Annual Leadership Awards as part of the 2022 Annual Convention. These awards recognize the achievements of individuals and organizations committed to enriching their communities through the arts.

The 2022 American Express Emerging Leader Award is presented to Adriane Jefferson (she/her/hers). Jefferson is currently the Director of Cultural Affairs for the City of New Haven and the Executive Director of New Haven Festivals Inc., where she is leading the city on cultural equity and anti-racism initiatives. She is a thought leader, adviser, and educator pertaining to issues of justice, diversity, equity, access, and inclusion. She specializes in professional development programming for young creative professionals; programs that amplify Black, Indigenous, people of color; and social change initiatives. She has dedicated her career to fostering a more equitable, vibrant, and sustainable arts landscape. 

With 17 years of experience as an arts administrator and cultural equity leader, Adriane and her department have created the Arts for Anti-racism Pledge, The Unapologetically Radical Conference, and the City of New Haven’s and State of CT’s first ever Cultural Equity Plan. Adriane oversees the City’s membership in the Government Alliance of Race & Equity and has formed the Core Race Equity Task Force. The Task force plays an advisory and leadership role to the Mayor and Executive Leadership on internal and external race equity issues in the city of New Haven and practices equitable systems change. Adriane is also a member of the Closing Gaps Network, Living Cities Initiative, which provides ongoing leadership training on community organizing, anti-racism principles, equity assessments and capacity building. Adriane oversees the Civic space, which is a multipronged civic engagement platform where community members communicate directly with city officials on the changes they wish to see in their neighborhoods. 

Prior to her current role she served as an Arts Program Manager for the State of CT, Department of Economic and Community Development/Office of the Arts where she developed groundbreaking programs for the state of Connecticut such as The Arts Workforce Initiative Paid Employment Program and the READI (Relevance, Equity, Access, Diversity, and Inclusion) Music conference, which has placed hundreds of young creative workers of color in arts jobs and professional development opportunities across the state. 

The American Express Emerging Leader Award recognizes visionary leadership by an individual who is a new and/or young arts leader who demonstrates an ability to engage and impact their community.

From October 5, 2023, through February 25, 2024, the Tate Modern presents “Philip Guston Now”, the first major retrospective on the artist in the UK in nearly 20 years.

Source: Tate Modern · Image: Philip Guston, “Painting, Smoking, Eating”, 1973. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam © The Estate of Philip Guston

“Philip Guston Now” comes to London following its run at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where it was on view from May 1 through September 11, 2022; at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from October 23, 2022 to January 15, 2023 and to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from February 26, 2023 to August 27, 2023.

Originally scheduled to start its run in June 2020, “Philip Guston Now” was postponed following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Several of Guston’s paintings depict, rather cartoonishly and in no way apologetically, hooded Ku Klux Klan-like figures, and the fear that these paintings would be misinterpreted at a time when social protests were spreading across the United States led to the exhibition’s postponement, a decision that was strongly criticised by artists and academics. Guston’s daughter pointed out in an interview that the paintings, far from defending white supremacy, “were about white culpability”, including that of the artist himself.

In a press release, the Tate Modern explains that “for over 50 years, artist Philip Guston restlessly made paintings and drawings that captured the anxious and turbulent world he was witnessing. Born in Canada to a Jewish immigrant family, he grew up in the US and eventually became one of the most celebrated abstract painters of the 1950s and 1960s, alongside Mark Rothko and his childhood friend Jackson Pollock. His early work included murals and paintings addressing racism in America and wars abroad. During the social and political upheavals of the late 1960s, Guston grew critical of abstraction, and began producing large-scale paintings that feature comic-like figures, some in white hoods representing evil and the everyday perpetrators of racism. These paintings and those that followed established Guston as one of the most influential painters of the late 20th century. Guston was a complex artist who took inspiration from the nightmarish world around him to create new and surprising imagery. This exhibition explores how his paintings bridged the personal and the political, the abstract and the figurative, the humorous and the tragic.”