​Enjoy the colorful Kaleidoscope Brunch at the award-winning restaurant, Ris, where we will hear about what's new and on view at the Renwick Gallery from Dr. Lara M. Evans, guest curator of Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023.

​Inspired by the idea of Kaleidoscope, we encourage all guests to dress head to toe in one of their favorite colors from the rainbow. Paid Parking available at the The Ritz-Carlton; on-street parking is is also available.​

​​Dr. Lara M. Evans is an artist, scholar, curator, and an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. She holds a Ph.D. in art history, specializing in contemporary Native American art. In 2012 she became Visiting Faculty at The Institute for American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM. During her time at the IAIA, she has held the positions of department chair and Associate Dean of Academics. She has completed several publications, and curated multiple exhibitions at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art. She writes about contemporary Native American and First Nations art and started her own blog because she believes contemporary artists need critical attention NOW and the timeline for academic publishing takes years. She came to art history and art criticism by being an artist, first, and continues to practice artmaking.​
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Immerse yourself in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, meander through the open storage of the Luce Foundation Center. Enjoy delectable dining, a celebratory awarding of our 2023 honorees, an auction of adventures and an interactive “I Spy” scavenger hunt exploring the stunning artworks that fill the space.

"After hours" guests join us at 8pm for drinks, a buffet of delectable desserts, selfie booth, and exclusive after-hour access to the Smithsonian American Art Museum Luce Center Open Storage for our "I Spy" Scavenger Hunt.

To register on the sign up page, select "Gala" and click the option box underneath to find the option to purchase After Hours Tickets.
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Learn more about the auction and submit an online absentee bid below!

Creative cocktail and artful attire. Limited on-street parking at meters; several paid parking garages are available in the neighborhood.
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​Who is making craft in the 21st century? What they are making? What materials are they using? What is being exhibited? Who is collecting? What are they collecting? Where are they buying? Explore these questions and more as we investigate the great changes taking place in craft in the 21st century and enjoy lunch with a panel of the top voices in craft including Joyce Scott, Jennifer-Navva Milliken, and Stephanie Moore, and moderated by Tim Tate. 

Attire is business casual. On-site parking is available,
​valet service is also available.​

Joyce Scott

Joyce J. Scott is a prolific and varied artist from Baltimore, Maryland who is most well known for her work in jewelry, beadwork, and glass. Her pieces serve as a commentary for issues regarding race, politics, and sexism. Of her own work, Scott says, “I believe in messing with stereotypes…It’s important for me to use art in a manner that incites people to look and then carry something home – even if it’s subliminal.” She received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and MFA from the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. Her work is in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Spencer Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 2016 she was named a Fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Jennifer-Navva Milliken

Jennifer-Navva Milliken is the Executive Director & Chief Curator of the Museum for Art in Wood. She has organized exhibitions for museums, art fairs, galleries, and unconventional spaces, and her writings have appeared in exhibition catalogs, anthologies, and publications that investigate and critique the intersecting fields of art, craft, and design. With a uniquely global perspective, honed through a life split between two continents, Milliken is driven by the extraordinary power of the arts to challenge preconceptions and bridge divides. She received her BA in Art History from Western Washington University, holds a diploma in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from the WUJS Institute for Graduate Studies, and received her MA in Art History from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. 

Stephanie Moore

Stephanie Moore is the Executive Director of the Center for Craft in Asheville, North Carolina. Since 1996, the Center for Craft has stood as a national nonprofit organization dedicated to resourcing, catalyzing, and amplifying how and why craft matters. In 2013, Moore oversaw the expansion and relocation of the Center to downtown Asheville where it now has approximately 7,000 square feet with two galleries, its own craft study collection and the renowned Craft Research Fund Grants which awards $95,000 every year to artists, students, and researchers in the craft field. “Craft embodies materials that we think of, but for me craft is more of a process and a community,” says Moore. 

Tim Tate

Moderator Tim Tate, a prolific glass artist and educator, is one of our beloved board members and is the current Vice President for Programs. He is a co-founder of the Washington Glass Studio in Washington, DC. He has spent many years championing LGTBQ rights in all its forms. As a 40 year HIV+ Queer Man, he founded the Triangle Artist Group in the early 90’s and helped curate the very first HIV+ art show there. Tim’s work is in the permanent collections of a number of museums, including the Smithsonian's American Art Museum. He received his Fulbright Award from Sunderland, University in England in 2012. He participated in the Glasstress show with Ai Wei Wei and Vic Muniz during the 2019 Venice Biennale.

Join us for brunch in the elegant Paris Room of the Hotel Monaco as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the James Renwick Alliance for Craft (JRACraft). The bar will open
for select cocktails at 11:00am. Brunch service will commence at 11:30am. While we eat we will be treated to a special screening of the new documentary, Lloyd Herman: the Accidental Curator, a part of the Living Treasures project of Northwest Design Craftsmen. After learning more about a man who was instrumental in the founding of the JRACraft, we will hear from Nora Atkinson, the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Nora will highlight some of the many gifts presented to the Renwick Gallery in honor of the 50th Anniversary year. One of these gifts, among others underwritten by the Alliance, is a commissioned piece by our 2021 Chrysalis Awardee, Rachel David, who will share
some of the efforts involved in creating this special work. There will be a few surprises sprinkled throughout the program, including introductions of our 2022 Distinguished
Educators and other special guests.  And, this year the JRACraft is honored to present our One of a Kind Award to our own Barbara and Arnold Berlin.

​Barbara Berlin and her husband Arnold, "Arnie", have been generous contributors and long time arts supporters for over four decades. Barbara and Arnold Berlin joined JRACraft in the early 90s and have served in a number of roles since then. Barbara served as President from 1995 to 1997 and is currently the co-chair of Spring Craft Weekend and of Caucus Membership. They are well known for their quirky, fun and joyful collection of Staffordshire figurines, contemporary craft and Arnold's collection of artist-made canes.

​Anne Wilson, 2022 Distinguished Educator
Janet Koplos, 2022 Distinguished Educator
Che Rhodes, 2022 Distinguished Educator
Rachel David, 2021 Chrysalis Awardee
David Harper Clemons, 2021 Master of the Medium
Wendy Maruyama, 2021 Master of the Medium
Preston Singletary, 2021 Master of the Medium
Consuelo Jiminez Underwood, 2021 Master of the Medium
Mary Savig and/or Nora Atkinson, Renwick Gallery Curators

Cheers to 40 Years of the James Renwick Alliance for Craft at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and join us in an unforgettable evening including trivia, an auction of adventures, and a special viewing of Raven and the Box of Daylight by Preston Singletary, 2021 Master of the Medium.

Patrons and dinner guests are invited for a festive and fabulous sit-down dinner at 6:30pm including an entertaining gameshow style trivia, and an adventures auction. "After hour" guests join us for a buffet of delectable deserts at 8:30pm, along with a toast and talk by Preston Singletary. 
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Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight is on view at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., Jan. 28, 2022, through Jan. 29, 2023. 
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​Photos by Matailong Du for the National Museum of the American Indian 

The James Renwick Alliance for Craft celebrates 40 years as a champion of American Craft. Forging the Future of Craft Education will award three notable educators: Anne Wilson, international fiber and materials artist, and Professor Emeritus at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Che’ Rhodes, renowned glass artist and professor at the Hite Institute of Art and Design, University of Louisville; and Janet Koplos author of numerous craft books, including the quintessential American craft history book, Makers: A History of American Studio Craft, co-authored with Bruce Metcalf. Enjoy hearing three dynamic craft leaders discuss their own work and share who they see as the next generation of makers, educators, and arts scholars.
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​Anne Wilson is a Chicago-based visual artist who creates sculpture, drawings, and performances based in a textile language. She was named a United States Artists Distinguished Fellow and is the recipient of awards from the Textile Society of America, the American Craft Council (College of Fellows), the Driehaus Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Wilson’s artwork is represented by Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago and she is currently a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

​Ché Rhodes received his MFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.A. from Centre College where he began his career under the mentorship of Stephen Rolfe Powell. Rhodes has demonstrated at the 2006, 2010, and 2015 Glass Art Society Conferences and has been an instructor at various institutions including the Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck Glass School, and The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass. Currently he is an Associate Professor and Head of Studio Glass at the University of Louisville, Allen R. Hite Art Institute.

Janet Koplos is the author of What Makes a Potter: Traditional Pottery in America Today (2019) and co-author of Makers: A History of American Studio Craft (2010). She was editor of Art in America from (1990-2009) and has written numerous catalog essays and thousands of reviews over the last 40 years, focusing on crafts and American, Japanese and Dutch contemporary art. Koplos received a National Endowment for the Arts critic’s grant early on, and in 2010 was named an Honorary Fellow of the American Craft Council. In addition, she was awarded an Art Writers Grant from the Warhol Foundation in 2015. 

Left to right: Janet Koplos, Ché Rhodes, and Anne Wilson

​Enter a world of spring elegance and reinvention at the exhibition, The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present at Hillwood Museum and Gardens, featuring artists Chris Antemann, Roberto Lugo and others. Arrive at the gate at 10am to check in at the Visitor’s Center, then at 10:30am be ready to immerse yourself in a wonderful afternoon. The program will include a lecture by Rebecca Tilles, Hillwood’s Curator of 18th Century Western European Art, and Leslie Ferrin, Director of Ferrin Contemporary, who has over 30 years of experience with contemporary ceramic art, sculpture, design and studio pottery. Then be sure to don your comfy shoes to stroll down to the Dacha, and the main house to view the exhibits on your own. At 12:30pm, we will meet under the tented Merriweather Courtyard to enjoy a lovely three-course seated luncheon, after which you are invited to wander through Hillwood’s famous gardens which will be at their spring peak. You are welcome to stay until closing time at 5pm. Perhaps the orchid house will be on your agenda, or the gift shop, or a return visit to the Dacha, if you wish.

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Experience American craft like never before during this in-person open house at SAAM’s Renwick Gallery. Be one of the first to see the newest exhibition, This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, which activates both floors of gallery space with artworks that honor the history of studio craft while also introducing progressive contemporary narratives. 

Featuring artists like Bisa Butler, Sonya Clark, Sharon Kerry-Harlan, Preston Singletary, and Wanxin Zhang, this exhibition highlights the role that artists play in our world to spark essential conversations, stories of resilience, and methods of activism —showing us a more relational and empathetic world. 

Join Nora Atkinson, the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge, and Mary Savig, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, for special gallery talks about the exhibition and the history of the Renwick Gallery, as the nation's preeminent center for the enjoyment of American craft. Discover more than 100 new artworks, never before seen at the Renwick Gallery, including several purchased by the James Renwick Alliance for Craft.

Gallery Talk Schedule:
11 a.m. Tour with Mary Savig 
1:30 p.m. Tour with Nora Atkinson