​The JRACraft Distinguished Artist Series features sculptor Susan Taylor-Glasgow. 
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Artist Workshop (In person only)
Saturday, April 15 | 9:30am - 12:00pm
$50 members | $60 non-members
Nancy Weisser Glass Studio
​4080 Howard Ave # B, Kensington, MD 20895
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Free Lecture (Online and in person)
Sunday, April 16 | 2pm - 3pm
​Free and open to the public | Hosted on Zoom and In Person
American University Katzen Arts Center
​4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC
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Susan Taylor Glasgow's glass artwork embraces domesticity in feminine spirit but not in action. Glasgow's misguided domestic talents eventually grew into concepts of sewing an unyielding medium, baking inedible creations, and stitching glass clothing no one can wear. Her life and art are the result of homemaking skills gone awry. 

Taylor's work is ultimately is about her mother. It embraces the feminine ideals of sewing and cooking, but in a contrary material, offering conflicting messages of comfort and expectation.

​The JRACraft Distinguished Artist Series features wood artist Jack Mauch together with sculptor and jewelry designer Morgan Hill.  
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Artist Workshop (In person only)
Saturday, March 25  |  9:30am - 12:00pm
$50 members  |  $60 non-members
Artist Trey Jones Woodshop
3701C Mt Vernon Ave, Alexandria VA 22305
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Free Lecture Featuring Morgan Hill (Online and in person)
Sunday, March 26 | 2pm - 3:30pm
​Free and open to the public | Hosted on Zoom and In Person
American University Katzen Arts Center
​4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC
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Jack Mauch is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and educator. His work in wood ranges from fine-furniture to small-batch production items, and much in between. Mauch is especially interested in how digital tools can benefit the creative practices of artists and craftspeople. He explores this question in his own work and by consulting with artists and institutions seeking to bring digital processes into their repertoire.

Sculptor and jewelry designer Morgan Hill has been selected for the 2022 Chrysalis Award, an award given annually to an emerging artist by the James Renwick Alliance for Craft (JRACraft). Hill's work draws on a wide range of aesthetic and conceptual influences from 90's pop culture, cult films, and costume design, to her traditional Southern upbringing.

Learn more about the Chrysalis Award >​
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Join moderator Mary Savig, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at the Renwick Gallery, in conversation with collectors Judith Chernoff and Jeffrey Bernstein along with artists Betty Scarpino and Sharon Doughtie. Together they will discuss the collection currently on display at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Chernoff and Bernstein donated 43 works from their collection of sculptural wood art, all of which are on display in a dedicated gallery in the exhibition This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World.

Internationally renowned artist and educator Betty Scarpino is known for her lathe-based wood sculpture. Her career has spanned nearly fifty years and her work is included in both public and private collections throughout the world. Her pieces From Within Our Own Bodies and Inviolate Portal, Gift of Bernstein and Chernoff, belong to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The latter is now on view at the Renwick Gallery. Scarpino is the two-time recipient of the Windgate International Turning Exchange Resident Fellowship. She is now working from her studio in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 
Sharon Doughtie has been turning wood for thirty years and has been a full-time wood turner for twenty-five years. Her lifelong love of wood has inspired a thriving career. Doughtie’s piece Four Winds, Two Poles, Gift of Bernstein and Chernoff, contains her own story of survival and resides in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum It is now on view at the Renwick Gallery. She is working out of her studio in Hawaii.

Click here to learn more about This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World.

The JRA Distinguished Artist Series features sculptor Virgil Ortiz. 
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Artist Workshop (In person only)
Saturday, March 4  |  9:30am - 12:00pm
$50 members | $60 non-members
Judit Varga's studio, Kensington MD
(address in registration confirmation)

Free Lecture (Online and in person)
Sunday, March 5 | 2pm - 3pm
​Free and open to the public | Hosted on Zoom and In Person
American University Katzen Arts Center
​4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC
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​Virgil Ortiz is a multi-media artist from Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico. Primarily known for his pottery, he also makes films and designs clothing and jewelry, sometimes combining all of these skills into his striking productions. Ortiz's work blends traditional techniques and design with futuristic ideas influenced by science-fiction.  He endeavors to keep alive the Cochiti pottery tradition practiced by generations of his family while bringing this into the contemporary world and beyond.

Join us at American Craft Made / Baltimore, now in its 46th year! Don't miss this opportunity to connect with more than 350 artists from across the country, explore craft art, and meet up with friends at our JRACraft booth!

American Craft Made / Baltimore introduces you to seasoned and up-and-coming craft artists, with more 60 exhibitors participating through our Emerging Artists or School-to-Market programs. Plus, get to know our community partner organizations, whose work showcases the vision and uniqueness of craft from the Baltimore region.

To volunteer at our JRACraft booth,
​learn more by scrolling down!
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Share your passion for JRACraft and meet other craft lovers! New members and old are invited to volunteer at our first ACC show booth. You will be able to meet other show guests, speak about the Alliance, and encourage others to learn more and get involved. We may also may have some small get togethers at the booth throughout the event. Further details to be emailed after signing up.
 
As a volunteer, you will receive free admission for one to the show! Sign up for a time slot below.

The JRACraft Distinguished Artist Series features figurative ceramic sculptor Cristina Córdova! Join us for a close up look at Cristina's process and work at the Saturday Workshop and hear about her influences, career and philosophy at the FREE Public lecture on Sunday.
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Artist Workshop (Online only)
Saturday, February 4  |  2:00pm - 3:30pm
Hosted on Zoom
$40 members  |  $50 non-members
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Free Lecture (Online only)
Sunday, February 5 | 2pm - 3pm
​Free and open to the public
Hosted on Zoom
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Cristina Córdova excels at figurative sculpture, making finely-crafted pieces which celebrate our shared humanity while challenging notions of race, gender, beauty, and power.  She draws on a deep knowledge of art history to give life to contemporary ceramic portraits and invites the viewer to participate in the narrative.

Join JRACraft in a conversation about Sloppy Craft with LJ Roberts, Mindy Solomon and Susan Surette. ​Coffee & Conversation is an intimate gathering to meet other craft enthusiasts while learning about artists and topics in contemporary craft. 

L.J. Roberts is a visual artist and writer who creates large-scale textile installations, embroideries, artist books and collages. Their work investigates the overlap of queer and trans politics, activism, protest and craft. Currently, Robert's artwork The Queer Houses of Brooklyn is on display at the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery in the exhibition This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World​.

Mindy Solomon has dedicated her life to the visual arts as a practicing artist, educator, advocate and collector. In 2009 she opened the Mindy Solomon Gallery which specializes in contemporary emerging and mid-career artists in addition to art advisory services. The gallery is located in Miami, FL and is well known for exploring the intersection of art and design by representing 2D and 3D artists working in a variety of mediums.

Susan Surette is a ceramic artist, craft historian, professor and the co-editor of Sloppy Craft: Postdisciplinarity and the Crafts. Her research interests include textiles, craft and decorative art, as well as the application of an interdisciplinary approach that addresses the relationships among the object, maker and consumer. 
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JRACraft promotes a fundraising campaign to support the hot shop at the Glass Museum in Lviv, shared by the Lviv National Academy of Arts. This fundraiser is part of an effort led by JRACraft member and glass collector Jeff Hillam, who visited Lviv, Ukraine's glass capital, in September 2022. 

​DONATE BELOW!

"Though Lviv was safe at the time of our visit, the signs of wartime preparation were everywhere. Blockade equipment littered the roadways, ready to be used at a moment's notice. We encountered military checkpoints and public displays of national solidarity along the way. Old churches had metal sheets installed over their stained glass windows to ensure that bombings would not shatter their beauty. Statues were covered and shielded with canvas and rope, to protect the city's cultural heritage. But what stood out brightly in contrast to the darkness of these visuals, was the steadfast Ukrainian determination to maintain normalcy, optimism and hope." - Jeff Hillam, Winter 2023 Craft Quarterly.

As a part of Hillam's effort an auction of contemporary Ukrainian glasswork will also be hosted by Rago auctions on January 20, 2023. www.ragoarts.com/unbreakable-ukraine

"As the war in Ukraine continues, the James Renwick Alliance for Craft (JRACraft) expands our mission to support an extraordinary cause brought to us by Jeff Hillam," says our Executive Director Jaimianne Jacobin. "This is a unique opportunity to support our universal passion for Craft in an unprecedented time."

Proceeds from this fund will go directly to the institutions and help support the hot shop to offset wartime inflation, art market disruptions and utility increases caused by the Russian effects on gas prices.
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To learn more about the Museum, visit: glassmuseuminlviv.org/en
​To learn more about the university, visit: lnam.edu.ua/en/home-en.html

JRACraft Caucus Members are invited to tour the long-awaited Rubell Museum DC in Southwest DC and join us for lunch nearby at Belga Café. Dedicated exclusively to contemporary art, the Rubell Museum DC reinvigorates the 1906 building of the former Randall Junior High School, a historically Black public school in Southwest DC that ceased operations in 1978. The museum, which is free for Washington DC residents, will serve as a place for the public to engage with the most compelling national and international artists of our time. After our docent-led tour, our day will continue at the Belga Café, a restaurant created by Belgium native and award-winning Chef, Bart Vandaele.​

SPACE IS LIMITED!
Space is limited by the museum. ​Register below.

BECOME A CAUCUS MEMBER
The Craft Leaders Caucus is a membership of the most dedicated supporters of JRACraft. Become a Caucus Member today to join us for this event. >
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