American Craft | American Craft Council

American Craft magazine celebrates the diversity of American craft and its makers.

From the handmade that we use in our homes every day to the fine craft honored in museums, we cover inspiring craft being made today. We also showcase craft organizations making a difference in their communities, thought leadership in the field, and the importance of craft in contemporary American culture.

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Cover of the Fall 2023 issue of American Craft magazine

Explore our Fall 2023 issue exploring the theme collect.

American Craft’s Fall 2023 issue is focused on the theme collect. It features the story of a consummate collector, artists who use gathered materials in their work, furniture designed to hold collections, and a gallery that seeks a more equitable approach to collecting. As Karen Olson, our editor in chief, writes, “We hope this issue inspires you to think differently about craft and collection—about how and why you purchase the handmade, seek out meaningful works in galleries and museums, or collect yourself before you begin making something new."

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Tali Weinberg weaving with plant- and insect-dyed cotton in her former studio. Photo by Melissa Luckenbaugh.

The Queue: Tali Weinberg

Tali Weinberg weaves natural and petrochemical-derived materials into elegant textiles in response to pressing social issues. In The Queue, the Illinois-based artist shares details about her favorite loom, how she combines the personal and the political in her work, and five poignant works about climate change.

Nigerian artist Layo Bright’s Adebisi VII, 2020, kiln-formed glass, 11.5 x 11.5 x 3 in., appears alongside glass artworks from a global group of Black artists in A Two-Way Mirror: Double Consciousness in Contemporary Glass by Black Artists at the Museum of Glass. Photo courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.

Craft Happenings: Fall 2023

Step into fall with these 23 craft exhibitions and events around the country, organized by the month in which they start.

Dorothy Saxe sitting with some of her craft collection. BUST: Robert Arneson, A Hollow Jesture, 1971, glazed ceramic, 20.25 x 12.5 x 14 in. NECKLACE: Pal and Lumi Kepenyes, untitled necklace, ca. 1985, brass, 11 x 4.5 x 1 in. Photo courtesy of Craig Lee/The Examiner.

The Consummate Collector

Along with her late husband George, Dorothy Saxe built friendships with artists while collecting their work. At age 97, she reflects on her love of craft.

Tyrrell Tapaha weaving. Photo courtesy of Bill Hatcher.

The Queue: Tyrrell Tapaha

Tyrrell Tapaha entwines elements of agro-pastoral living and Diné weaving into dazzling textiles. In The Queue, the Flagstaff, Arizona–based sheepherder and fiber artist shares about their free-flowing process, their cherished tools, and a new exhibition on Diné textiles in Santa Fe.

Portrait of Jim Melchert. Photo: Michael Malinski

Remembering: Jim Melchert

We remember ACC Honorary Fellow Jim Melchert, a beloved educator in the Bay Area and an artist renowned for his experimental approach to ceramics as a material and other media. He died on June 1, 2023 at the age of 92.

Marjorie Schick's Necklace, 1993, painted papier-mâché, 18.75 x 20.25 x 4.5 in.

Wild at Heart

For this issue, the Crafty Librarian dove into the nearly 4,000 artist files in the ACC Library & Archives and discovered that these two artists in particular spent their careers developing and showing their wild sides.

A pile of Elle Barbeito’s belts made from vegetable-tanned leather, Burmese python skin, waxed cotton thread, and vintage buckles.

Second Skins

Elle Barbeito transforms the skins of invasive Burmese pythons into materials for furniture and fashion. The first time she skinned a Burmese python, she made each move carefully. “Layer by layer, I could see all the connections within it. It was fascinating, and a little gross, but also really beautiful at the same time.”

Buyers attend a Bonhams auction in London.

The Hammer Price

Last July in Los Angeles, a stoneware vessel depicting Popeye the Sailor Man, made in 1987 by artists Magdalena and Michael Frimkess, sold at a Bonhams auction for $65,895. Everyone was shocked, especially the auctioneer. “That was several times the estimated range,” says Jason Stein, Bonhams’s director of Modern Decorative Art and Design. “In the early ’90s, when I got my start, it would have sold in the low thousands or even upper hundreds.”

Alison Elizabeth Taylor marquetry hybrid titled The Residency, 2022.

The Queue: Alison Elizabeth Taylor

Alison Elizabeth Taylor’s marquetry hybrid panels depict desert and city life in wood, paint, and collage. In The Queue, the Brooklyn-based artist shares about her process, the layered music she turns to for inspiration, and the historical painting exhibitions she’s looking forward to this fall.