Craft Happenings

iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings

Artists in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal region have long been turning brightly colored phone wires into a range of beautiful and functional objects, including beer pot lids (izimbenge), vessels, platters, and plates, as well as ambitious sculptural assemblages. This exhibition foregrounds the traditional knowledge behind the works as well as the experiences and creative processes of individual artists.

Waste Not, Want Not

“Reuse,” say this exhibition’s organizers, “is just one facet of a desperately needed response to our current era.” Accordingly, the show features works that reimagine and reconfigure secondhand, discarded, and industrially manufactured materials into carefully crafted forms. The result is intended to be a thought-provoking blurring of the boundary between industrial processes and craft traditions.

Adorned with Memory

The Heard presents necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings from the notable collection of Native art assembled by the late Arizona grocery-store magnate Eddie Basha. The show underlines Basha’s longtime support of Native creativity and his friendships with artists including Duane Maktima (Laguna Pueblo/Hopi), Terry and Joe B. Reano (Santo Domingo Pueblo), and Carl and Irene Clark (Diné).

Eugenie Shonnard: Breaking the Mold

After studying with Alphonse Mucha in New York and Auguste Rodin in Paris, Shonnard (1886–1978) made New Mexico her home and created elegant images of Native people, as well as works for Catholic churches of the region. This show is the first full-scale posthumous exhibition of her work and “seeks to reintroduce Shonnard to a new generation of art enthusiasts,” organizers say.

Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery

The Pueblo Pottery Collective curated this exhibition of more than 100 pieces from 21 Indigenous communities, ranging from the time before contact with Europeans to the present day. “The curators’ firsthand knowledge of pots and potters, family rituals, traditional materials, and daily use,” write the organizers, “grounds viewers in a powerful sense of people and place.”

WNC Craft Futures: From Here

Honoring the perseverance and strength of Western North Carolina artists impacted by Hurricane Helene, this exhibition brings together 40 panel-selected craft artists from the region. Each participating artist will receive a recovery grant and join a six-month cohort experience through the Center for Craft.