American craft of today at the Smithsonian From 13 May 2022 to 3 April 2023, the Smithsonian American Art Museum presents "This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World," an exhibition of contemporary American craft works. Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum - Image: Sharon Kerry-Harlan, "Portrait of Resilience," from the "Flag" series, 2020, dye discharge fabric, antique quilt fabric, vinyl, flag fabric, and African print fabric, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Kenneth R. Trapp Acquisition Fund, 2021.35. © 2021, Sharon Kerry-Harlan. Photo by Lee Stalsworth – Fine Art through Photography. "This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World" includes some 150 works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection, 135 of which are recent acquisitions by the museum. Collectively, the works highlight "stories of resilience, methods of activism and the role artists play in sparking essential conversations that reflect a more relational and empathetic world. centers on more expansive definitions and acknowledgments of often-overlooked histories and contributions of women, people of color and other marginalized communities," according to the Smithsonian. Thus, the representation of minority artists is noteworthy, including, among others, Jane Osti (Cherokee), Kevin and Valerie Pourier (Oglala Lakota), Kelly Church (Ottawa and Pottawatomi), Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy), Carla Hemlock (Kanienkeháka ), Lisa Holt (Cochiti), Harlan Reano (Santo Domingo/Kewa), Preston Singletary (Tlingit), and Gail Tremblay (Mi'kmaq and Onondaga), Most of the works in the exhibition are of very recent creation, though with exceptions such as a glazed earthenware bowl created by Laura Andreson in 1939, and of relatively small scale, again with notable exceptions such as a staircase (1969) by Arthur Espenet Carpenter, or a monumental woven linen (2019) by Sonya Clark. The title of the exhibition ("This Present Moment") is also the title of a steel and neon installation created by Alicia Eggert with the assistance of Teresa Larrabee, Paolo Tamez-Buccino, Jaelyn Kotzur, and James Akers.

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