Smithsonian to Spotlight American Craft Artists

Every year, the Smithsonian Craft Show offers works made by contemporary American craft artists. It is also one of the key fundraising opportunities of the year for the Smithsonian Institution and their various museums and research facilities, as well as the National Zoo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s events will be entirely online, hosted on the Bidsquare platform.

One of these events, the Smithsonian Craft Benefit Auction, will present pieces by numerous craft artists, including a wooden vessel by Keoni. Many of Keoni’s decorative art pieces are inspired by Native cultures around the world, and this particular vessel pays tribute to the Hopi tribe. Keoni works primarily with sugar maple wood and carves each detail by hand. According to his website, a piece may need over 25,000 such incisions before completion. Also available from the artist in this auction is a twilight vessel with influences from various Middle Eastern tribes.

Before moving to America, artist Pavel Novak spent his adolescence watching the glassmakers of his native Czech Republic. Now, his own glassworks are featured in the Smithsonian Craft Benefit Auction. This includes his geometric interpretation of a sunset. Novak creates each piece with a process called “cold-working,” in which he grates raw glass with silicon carbide and shines it with pumice. In this piece, various hues of orange recreate the effect of a setting sun.

Glassworks by Carrie Gustafson will also be on offer. Gustafson believes her quiet, remote workshop allows her to make pieces that also calm the viewer. “Like an inhale and an exhale…” Gustafson describes it, “inhaling my surroundings and exhaling life into new pieces.” Representing her in this auction is a vase made of hand-blown glass with a geometric pattern sprinkled across the top half in light brown. Those interested in this or any other piece can register to bid on Bidsquare and learn more about the event from Auction Daily’s continued coverage.