Craft in America

Marvel in the rich traditions of the handmade.

On Craft in America, objects made of clay, glass, wood, metal, fiber and alternative materials represent cultural traditions as well as innovations in technology, social function and personal expression.

Susan Hudson.

Photos: Denise Kang

Meet contemporary quilters as we celebrate the role quilts have played in our country’s story. Susan Hudson (Kin Ya’áanii/“Towering House” Clan of the Navajo Nation) has created a new quilt form that incorporates the style of Ledger art into story quilts of Navajo hardship and loss. Minnesota-born Victoria Findlay Wolfe learned to quilt and sew at 4 years old and is now an International Award Winning quilter, fabric designer, teacher, author and lecturer.

Michael Cummings.

Photos: Denise Kang

Michael Cummings embellishes his quilt surfaces with hand embroidery and found objects to tell quilt stories that celebrate Josephine Baker, Harriet Tubman, Langston Hughes, and commemorate African American history. Judith Content is a fiber artist who uses the Japanese dye technique arashi shibori to make silk wall quilts shaped in abstract interpretations of the kimono form.

Ken Burns is a quilt enthusiast.

Photos: Denise Kang

And filmmaker Ken Burns has collected American quilts since the mid-1970s.

SDPB1: Friday, Dec. 27, 8pm (7 MT)

Craft in America: Identity

Photos: Denise Kang

American artists explore issues of gender, race, culture and place, offering true expressions of their experience in this world. Meet potter Diego Romero, ceramicist Cristina Còrdova, furniture maker Wendy Maruyama, and photographer Cara Romero, who says of her striking billboards, part of a recent “Desert X” exhibition in Coachella Valley: “I wanted to ground people in what it feels like, what it means that you’re on Indian land in California.”

SDPB1: Friday, Dec. 27, 9pm (8 MT)

Points of Pride: South Dakota’s Quilting Heritage

Photos: SDPB

From county fairs and tribal lands to church basements and modern quilting guilds, join SDPB as we travel the state to present the art and heritage of South Dakota’s vibrant quilting communities. Featuring South Dakota quilt documentarian Mary Reece Fitzgerald, author of South Dakota Quilts and Quilt Makers.

Online at SDPB.org at “Watch SDPB Productions.”