Renwick Craft Invitational 2011

March 25, 2011 - July 31, 2011
1st Floor, Special Exhibitions Gallery
This exhibition will feature works by the following four extraordinary artists, who create works of superior craftsmanship that address the classic craft notion of function without sacrificing a contemporary aesthetic:

• Cliff Lee (b. 1951), a former neurosurgeon who works in Stevens, Pennsylvania, creates elegant porcelain vessels with the exactitude of a doctor, often using his knowledge of chemistry to re-create medieval Chinese glazes long thought lost to history.
• Matthias Pliessnig (b. 1978), a furniture maker in Philadelphia, uses boat-building techniques in new ways to create graceful forms with curved wood strips that may have up to 5,000 points of contact without the aid of hardware.
• Judith Schaechter (b. 1961), a glass artist based in Philadelphia, brings a wealth of knowledge about traditional stained-glass practice to her moody windows.
• Ubaldo Vitali (b. 1944), a fourth-generation silversmith and master conservator of historic silver working in Maplewood, New Jersey, uses classical techniques he learned in Rome to create luminous works for popes, kings, and presidents.

Grand Salon Installation: Paintings from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

June 6, 2009 - Permanent
2nd Floor, Grand Salon
On view are 70 paintings from the 1840s to the 1930s -- landscapes, portraits, and allegorical works -- by 51 American artists, including Edward Mitchell Bannister, Romaine Brooks, Elliott Daingerfield, Daniel Garber, William Morris Hunt, George Inness, Homer Dodge Martin, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Abbott Handerson Thayer, John Henry Twachtman, and Irving R. Wiles. The room is installed salon style, with paintings hung one-atop-another and side by side.

Visitor Guide featuring short biographies of the artists: $16.95

Sales Exhibitions

- Indefinitely
1st Floor, Museum Store
Sales of fine crafts and exhibition-related products.

Octagon Room

- Permanent
2nd Floor, South
The Octagon Room is furnished with paintings from SAAM's collection, including impressionism and the Gilded Age period.

Permanent Collection

- Permanent
Craft Galleries, 2nd Floor
Features contemporary American crafts in glass, ceramics, metal, wood, and fiber. Highlights include:

• Portal Gates (1974) by Albert Paley (b. 1944)
• Game Fish (1988) by Larry Fuente (b. 1947)
• Bureau of Bureaucracy by Kim Schmahmann (a cabinet sculpture described by the artist as a "contemporary cabinet of curiosities")
• Ghost Clock by Wendell Castle
• Bancketje (Banquet) by Beth Lipman
• The Renwick 30th Anniversary Plate by Irma Starr

Upcoming Museum Events

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