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Center for Craft

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Center for Craft

The Center for Craft believes that craft matters. The Center is offering free unguided visits and affordable tours of its exhibitions to the public.

Guests can reserve a 30-minute visit to see current exhibitions, learn more about the Center’s national impact in their Craft Research Fund Study Collection, and enjoy interactive activities. Open hours are currently on weekdays only, 11am - 6pm.

10/08/2026

Our new exhibition "Crafting Variance" opens on Friday, October 9. Join us for a reception and 30th anniversary celebration from 5:30 pm–8 pm.

Arrive at 5:30 pm to hear a conversation with guest curator Lola Ben-Alon, director of the Natural Materials Lab () at Columbia University (). Then enjoy refreshments inspired by the show from luminary pastry chefs and master mixologists as we raise a glass to Board Member Emeritus Stoney Lamar, a lifelong contributor to our community.

The exhibition features nine artists who explore the possibilities of natural, living, and discarded materials, including New York–based sculptor and researcher Sasha Fishman (), whose work is featured here. This piece explores marine biomaterials, toxicology, and energy harvesting as points for critical analysis and mechanisms for sculpting.

Check out Sasha's work and all of the artists in the show starting this Friday!
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All slides: Sasha Fishman, "Lurecraft," 2025–2026, tanned salmon skin, ceramic, glass, waxed thread, grunt fins, salmon bait, tracing paper, graphite, solder, copper, LEDs, epoxy clay, and steel, 16 × 28 × 11 in. Photos courtesy of the artist.

10/07/2026

For the closing weekend of "Craft-itarianism: Community Action Through Craft," artist Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) gave an artist talk about her practice and body of work, including "Hospital Gown."

Part of that piece involved opening her studio to anyone affected by addiction, whether in their families, their communities, or their own lives, to learn a new skill and spend intentional time making together. Watching someone you love struggle can be isolating, Thompson said, and she wanted the making to be shared to bring people out of that isolation.

Over 200 people contributed to the patchwork of the hospital gown, beaded in swatches with different size beads and hues of blue.

The finished gown is only part of the work, Thompson noted. The rest happened in the studio. "It's a visual reminder that healing doesn't happen alone."

Thank you for sharing your practice with us, Maggie!

Watch: https://vimeo.com/1231295959

10/06/2026

Center for Craft and the American Folklore Society present “Craft Conversations in Folklore,” a mini-conference within the American Folklore Society’s 2026 Annual Meeting.

Join us on October 28 and 29 for a series of panels and conversations exploring the intersections of craft studies and folklore.

Limited space is available and advance registration is required. Craft sessions are free to attend for local residents.

See full schedule and registration: https://event.fourwaves.com/2026afsannualmeeting/schedule?date=2026-10-28

10/05/2026

As we celebrate 30 years, please join us on Friday, October 9 as we honor Board Member Emeritus Stoney Lamar with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award, North Carolina's highest civilian honor given in recognition of a lifetime of contributions to our community. An incredible artist, teacher, mentor, and friend, Stoney exemplifies the spirit of curiosity and sharing that marks the very best of craft—not only as a practice, but a way of life. We owe so much of our success to his support, generosity, and stewardship over decades.

The evening will begin with a conversation with Lola Ben-Alon, director of the Natural Materials Lab () at Columbia University () and guest curator of our new exhibition "Crafting Variance." We'll then turn to cakes and refreshments inspired by the show from luminary pastry chefs and master mixologists as we raise a glass to Stoney!

All are welcome. RSVPs requested at the link in our bio.

Event Details
5:30 pm–6 pm | Curator Talk
6 pm–8 pm | Celebration for Stoney

09/18/2026

Our members are makers, collectors, academics, educators, and people who love craft and want to invest in its future. What we share is an understanding that craft makes life better and the conviction to act on it.

Whatever brings you here, you have a place in our work to power the future of craft.

Sign up: https://www.centerforcraft.org/membership

09/16/2026

Congratulations to the 2026 Craft Archive Fellows!

This year, four fellowships of $5,000 each support archival research that brings underrepresented and nondominant craft histories in the United States into greater focus.

Please join us in congratulating:

Sadé DuBoise (.duboise.studio) — "Hands That Remember: Tlingit Octopus Bags and the Transmission of Knowledge"

Shahini Fakhourie ()— "Threaded Resistance: Mapping SWANA Identity Through the American Warp," supported by the Sara Clugage Award

Margie Merritt () — "Unseen Hands, Enduring Stone: Black Masonry and Memorial Craft in Tennessee," supported by the Ayumi Horie Award

Sarah Weston — "Knot, Prick, Press: Tactile Learning and Craft Networks in Schools for the Blind," supported by the Gallaher Family Award

We’re excited to support these researchers as they uncover, document, and deepen our understanding of craft histories. Learn more about the 2026 Craft Archive Fellowship:
https://www.centerforcraft.org/grants-and-fellowships/craft-archive-fellowship

09/15/2026

Don't miss our upcoming artist talk with Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe), whose work explores Indigenous identity, family history, and textile traditions through beadwork, knitting, and other fiber-based practices. Her social sculpture, "Hospital Gown (2025)," is featured in the Center's current exhibition, "Craft-itarianism," on view through September 27. Created in collaboration with individuals affected by substance abuse, the piece uses glass, plastic beads, and synthetic sinew to transform a familiar medical object into a site of collective making, care, and connection.

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Thompson received a BFA in Textiles from RISD in 2013. She has been in numerous solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries across Minnesota and the United States, and has received multiple awards and grants, including the Jerome Foundation Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and the First Peoples Fund Seeding Cultural Treasures Grant. Thompson's work is in the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, Tia Collection, and the Field Museum, among others.

September 24, 2026 | 5:30 pm–7 pm | Center for Craft

Free and open to the public. Please RSVP: https://www.centerforcraft.org/event/maggie-thompson-artist-talk-09-24-2026

09/11/2026

On September 23, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm ET, join us for Archives in Action, a virtual program celebrating the recently published research of our 2025 Craft Archive Fellows on Hyperallergic.

Their research documents Hanji; the contributions of George Washington Carver and formerly enslaved individuals to natural dyeing and pigment making; “fannuh” basketry; Black blacksmiths and the Sankofa ironwork tradition; Mexican migrant traditions of altar-making in South Chicago; and costureros, (im)migrant-led embroidery and knitting circles in Queens, New York.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/archives-in-action-2025-craft-archive-fellows-tickets-1998970565773

09/10/2026

Join us Friday, October 9, as we celebrate the Center for Craft’s 30th birthday and the opening of our newest exhibition, "Crafting Variance." Through sculpture, objects, film, and material experiments, the exhibition celebrates the unpredictable nature of making and the ways artists collaborate with materials—embracing their quirks and potential to push the boundaries of craft.

We’ll kick off the evening with a conversation featuring Guest Curator Lola Ben-Alon, then celebrate 30 years of craft with cake and refreshments inspired by the show, plus a few special surprises!

October 9 , 2026 | 5:30 pm–6 pm Curator Talk | 6 pm–8 pm Celebration

RSVP: https://www.centerforcraft.org/event/cake-and-cocktails-crafting-variance-exhibition-opening-and-30th-birthday-celebration

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Laura Maria Gonzalez, Copper Carbonate Sculpture, 2023, sand, copper carbonate, iron oxide, 13 × 13 × 9 in. Courtesy of the artist.

09/09/2026

The newly expanded online version of our Materials Collection is live, with enhanced features to make discovering and learning about the building blocks of craft more dynamic and accessible.

Informed by input from artists and insights from our 2025 Materials Research Fellow Amira Chowyuk, the collection has been reimagined as a maker-centered resource that expands understanding of—and access to—a wide range of materials, including a growing assortment of biomaterials shaping the future of craft.

Search by keywords that focus on the origin, properties, and type of material, and check out maker videos exploring the uses of oyster shells and algae biopolymers.

Dive deeper: https://materials.centerforcraft.org/

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Slide 1-5: Exhibition photography by Emmanuel E. Figaro.

Slide 6-7: Screenshots of the materials collection digital database.

Address

67 Broadway Street
Asheville, NC
28801

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 6pm
Tuesday	10am - 6pm
Wednesday	10am - 6pm
Thursday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm

Website

http://www.centerforcraft.org/, https://linktr.ee/centerforcraft

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