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. >
​

​JRA Day is a showcase and sale featuring artists who are members of the James Renwick Alliance for Craft.
​

Join us for the 15th Annual JRA Day! This event gives you the opportunity to see and purchase work by artists in a variety of media, including in ceramics, fiber, glass, jewelry, and wood. This year's show features the work of 44 artists, including 8 new artists.​
​

MORE CLAY: THE POWER OF REPETITION
November 5 | 4:30-6:00PM
IN-PERSON + ZOOM EVENT
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MUSEUM AT THE KATZEN ART CENTER
4400 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW, WASHINGTON, DC

Join JRACraft for a gallery talk featuring the exhibition More Clay: The Power of Repetition with curator Rebecca Cross. Attend in person at 4:30pm to see the exhibition before the hybrid panel discussion and meet artist Connor Czora, curator Rebecca Cross and museum director Jack Rasmussen. Join online at 5pm to see the panel along with the other artists joining by zoom.

Transcending the structural limitations of clay and abandoning the material’s traditional association with function, eight artists build powerful ceramic sculptures through accumulation, repetition, and innovative feats of construction. This exhibition demonstrates the power of assembling multiples as a compelling vehicle for the artists to express their chosen subject-matter as they transform this humble, sustainable material…dirt! into something monumental in form and content. More Clay aims to physically demonstrate the unifying principle of “out of many, one” a concept absent in today’s fractured society.
​
Featured artists include JRACraft 2020 Chrysalis Awardee Kate Roberts, Walter McConnell, J.J. McCracken, Zimra Beiner, Bean Finneran, Vanessa Ryerse, Kahlil Irving, David Hicks, and Connor Czora. 

Join the James Renwick Alliance for Craft and Around Art Spain for a week-long tour of Spain. Enjoy private tours of museums, special studio tours, and visit neighboring villages to learn more about Spanish craft art.

ABOUT TRIP ORGANIZER, SOFIA BARROSO
​
Sofia Barroro is the President of Around Art, a consulting firm that provides unique and exclusive experiences by introducing travelers to historical and private homes, private art collections, artist studios, and behind-the-scenes museum visits.  Sofia has directed summer programmes for Syracuse University Centre in Spain (1992-2004); was head curator at the March Foundation Contemporary Art Museum in Palma de Mallorca (1995-1997); has directed the ARCO Collectors Programme for eight years and was member of the Board of Friends of ARCO from 2000 to 2006. She was also involved with the Collectors Programme for Art Cologne Palma. Presently on the Board of the Jakober Foundation, Zuloaga Foundation and Anar Foundation. She is the delegate in Spain for the National Museum of Women in the Arts committee. She has been organizing cultural travel since 1984.​

Donors of the JRACraft Renwick Gallery 50th Acquisition Fund are invited to a private artist talk for Mariko Kusomoto.

Born in Kumamoto, Japan, and based in Massachusetts, Mariko Kusumoto prevails upon fabric to construct forms of elegant simplicity and evocative imagery. Her designs are incorporated into jewelry and sculptural pieces, as well as in collaborations with fashion designers; in January 2019, her work appeared on the Jean Paul Gaultier catwalk at Paris Haute Couture. Fascinated by the potential of different materials, Kusumoto strives to bring out each fabric’s inherent characteristics and beauty. Using a proprietary heat-setting technique, she gives the fabric a new identity through reshaping it into three-dimensional forms. In addition to finding inspiration in the material itself, she is motivated by the process of experimentation, during which accidental discoveries lead to new ideas.

JRACraft supported the acquisition of her necklace as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Acquisition Campaign.
​

Join the James Renwick Alliance for Craft in Mount Rainer at the Otis Street Artist Studios for an arts block party in celebration of our 40th anniversary. The festivity will include open studios, artist demonstrations, LuvPlates food truck, a live mural painting and, of course, anniversary cake!  

Registration is not required, but registration will allow you to pre-select your meal and enter you into a raffle to win a prize the day of the event. Payment for food will be required the day of the event directly to the food truck. 
​
Participating artists and organizations include:
- Zenith Foundation Mobile Wood Truck featuring a woodturning demonstration by the Montgomery County Woodturners*
- Blue Fire Ceramic Studio featuring a tile painting demo by Robert Devers and a Balik demo by Kelly Posey*
- Washington Glass School including Michael Janis, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Christina Helowicz, with a demonstration of enameling on glass by Patricia De Poel Wilberg*
​- Multimedia artists Martha Jackson Jarvis and Njena Surae Jarvis and abstract artist Anne Marchand
- Mosaic artist Valerie Theberge featuring a mosaic demonstration*
​- Orange Door Studios including Ellyn Weiss, Veronica Szalus, Brian Williams and Ellen Sinel
- Painter Janis Goodman 
- Blue Door Studios including Alec Simpson
- Otis Street Art Projects including the studios of Chris Bohner, Gloria Chapa, Chris Combs, Elizabeth Curren, Art Drauglis, Liz Lescault, Kirsty Little, Shelley Lowenstein, CeCi Cole McInturff, Lisa Rosenstein, David Mordini
​​
* Includes Demonstration

ALL ARE INVITED TO JOIN!
​REGISTER BELOW

This year, in honor of the 40th anniversary of JRACraft and the 25th anniversary of the Center for Craft, we combine our most well-known programs for one celebratory season. Four JRACraft Distinguished Artist Series returning encore artists will be paired with four emerging artists recognized by the Center for Craft's Windgate-Lamar Fellowship to present a collaborative weekend exploring commonality and materiality. Each weekend will be hosted online and include a virtual Saturday demonstration/studio visit and free Sunday lecture.

​
ARTIST DEMONSTRATION / STUDIO VISIT
Saturday, June 11| 1 - 2:30pm
Virtual Zoom event
$25 members | $30 non-members
$85 for all 4 workshops, members only

FREE PUBLIC LECTURE
Sunday, June 12 | 2 - 3pm
Virtual Zoom event


​
JENNIFER TRASK
Jennifer Trask attended Massachusetts College of Art completing her BFA in Metalsmithing in 1993 and later graduated the State University of NY at New Paltz with an MFA in 1997 and is a full time studio artist. The elaborate objects and sculptures made of found materials like bone, wood, and antlers point to the Dutch tradition of Vanitas and at the same time addressing the traditional practice of isolating examples/ideals of beauty stylization of nature, "in effect a death of the real, the imperfect, the individual."

Examples of Trask’s work can be found in many public collections including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; the Museum of Art and Design in New York, NY; CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands; Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. 

SHENEQUA
SHENEQUA is an Artpreneur who received her Masters of Design in Fashion, Body, & Garment at School of the Art Institute of Chicago under the mentorship of Nick Cave. Founder of Weave Your Dreams Into Reality Studios LLC, she highlights her gifts, services, knowledge, and shares her stories with the world one thread at a time.

A featured artist for Ties that Bind in American Craft Magazine and the Kansas City Star, she often speaks about her process of weaving synthetic-hair in relationship to the African American hair experience. Notable lectures include the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, the Surface Design Association, and the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. She was 2014’s Windgate Fellow of the Center for Craft and 2017-2018’s recipient of the inaugural YoungArts Daniel Arsham Fellowship, presented by the Ridinger-McLaughlin Family.

Enjoy New Mexico Treasures with JRACraft and get exclusive access to the region's top galleries, private artists studio tours, meet the curators of ground-breaking exhibitions, experience the local culture and some enjoy of the finest cuisine New Mexico offers.

Questions about this trip can be sent to info@jra.org

Included: transportation to all planned events, some meals, all museum entry fees
Not included: transportation to and from New Mexico and during free times​, some meals, lodging

Cancellation policy: All trips are subject to cancellation or rescheduling at JRACraft's discretion based on local or national conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. If a trip is cancelled or rescheduled, all participants will be notified promptly and offered the choice of a full refund of the trip cost or the opportunity to participate on the new dates (if the trip is rescheduled).​
​

Arrive to Inn on the Almeda 
5 pm Dinner reservations at ​Chef’s Degustacion at Sazon
​
​

​BREAKFAST at hotel

9:00 am Intro & history with Peter Weiss.  Peter is one of the most experienced guides in Santa Fe and he will walk you from your hotel across the plaza to Patina Gallery.
Patina Gallery, the best contemporary craft and jewelry gallery in Santa Fe. Under the expert direction of Ivan and Alison Barnett, you will see contemporary jewelry and hear a short lecture by Bruce Bernstein. Dr Bernstein is a leading expert on contemporary Indian ceramics which are undergoing an amazing renaissance with the emergence of male potters..in a tradition which was previously all female.  You will see some of the works by one of the super stars, Lonnie Vigil. 
​
Lunch at Patina
​
BUS to Railyard
Tai Gallery, short discussion from Rob Coffland, Tai founder who discovered Japanese basket weaving, brought some of the masters to the United States.

Site Santa Fe, short discussion from Louis Grachos, the director. SITE is a Kunsthalle, dedicated to the modern aesthetic. 
​
Form & Concept Gallery small reception.  This galley has two artists who are in Renwick Collection Robert Ebbendorf and Deborah Baxter who may join us. 
​
​

Visit the studio of Geoffery Gorman, who works with found material, the flotsam and jetsum of the human world.  His work is widely represented in museums and private collections.

Studio visit to Gail & Zacharia Rieke, work in collage, assemblage and installation. Their work is represented in many museums and private collections. 

Private reception at Gerald Peters Gallery to see Tom Joyce’s work and Karen LaMonte’s work. Tom Joyce is a sculptor and MacArthur Fellow known for his work in forged steel and cast iron. Using skills and technology acquired through early training as a blacksmith, Joyce addresses the environmental, political, and social implications of using iron in his work. Karen LaMonte works in glass and bronze, known for her life-size sculptures in ceramic, bronze, marble, and cast glass.
​
​

Santuario at Chimayo. The Santuario is a Catholic church built over a shrine which has miraculous healing dirt.  It is noted for the large altar pieces showing the Hispanic painting traditions.  It is a National Historic Landmark and contemporary pilgrimage site.

Centenella Weavers Studio, Irving & Lisa Trujillo have taken the traditional craft of weaving and made into an art.  They have won almost every award possible.

Larry Bell’s studio in Taos.
Throughout his long and illustrious career, Larry Bell has made investigations into the properties of light on surface. By experimenting with the nature of surface and its relationship to space, Bell has devised a methodology characterized by spontaneity, intuition and improvisation.  In 1963 he began to explore the passing of light through cube sculptures, challenging notions of mass, volume and gravity.

Harwood Museum
The Harwood Museum of Art is one of the best kept secrets in the Southwest. Founded in 1923 in Taos, New Mexico, the museum’s collections and exhibitions tell a comprehensive story of art in Taos and Northern New Mexico. You will explore notable art from contemporary to traditional in a historic adobe building. 
​
Stop at Tower Gallery for Roxanne Swentzel, a potter and ceramic artist whose work is sculptural and innovative.  She is a member of the pueblo of Santa Clara.
​

Visit Claire Kahn studio including lunch. Claire does crochet beadwork combining precious and semi-precious stones into necklaces and bracelets that take many forms.  She will also cook a special lunch for the group.  2-1/2 hours for this event

Stop at Bulls Eye Glass to have a brief look at the raw materials and processes used in making glass art. 

Private tour of the de la Pena house with suburb examples of early Navajo weaving, early Spanish woodwork.  This house is being staged so is very much in process but a rare opportunity to visit a very famous house.  
​

Explore Museum Hill at the International Folk Art Museum, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and take a tour by Leticia Chambers, curator of the glass show at the Museum of Indian Art and Culture, to discuss the glass show.  There is also large exhibit of jewelry and ceramics. We will run two shuttles back to the hotel to stagger return times if some people want to stay longer.

Free time in downtown, which can include the O’Keeffe Museum, New Mexico History Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, and IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts 

Tour the O’Keeffe House and visit to the cliffs, an area above Abiquiu which O’Keeffe loved to paint.   

Enjoy dinner at Gerald Peters Gallery for with members from the  Art Alliance of Contemporary Glass
​

Travel Day
Good bye (or local Spanglish: Bueno Bye)