Tools made from elk bone.
Craft in America’s Tools of the Trades: American Handmade Implements & Devices is the first exhibition of its kind to highlight beautifully designed, hand-crafted tools made by contemporary toolmakers in the United States. It is the first in a series of exhibitions for Handwork 2026, a nationwide semiquincentennial collaboration celebrating the diversity of craft that defines America.
A particular hammer head, the grip of a handle, the perfect density of a brush: artists, particularly craftspeople, rely heavily on tools in the creation of their work. Some processes might require implements very idiosyncratic to an artist’s process, that aren’t simply available at the hardware store. Tools of the Trades: American Handmade Implements & Devices will focus on contemporary, handmade tools, made by artists distinctly for craft processes, with extreme attention to craftsmanship and design. Vintage tools will round out the selection.
Prior to today’s mass-production, makers and artists fabricated their own implements as needed. In doing so, they might decide to add a bit of beauty to the functional with some decoration. Tools of the trade celebrates the ingenuity born of necessity and the special narratives in the hand-crafted. The objects pertain to a wide scope of crafts: ceramics, textiles, hot glass, wood working, and metal, including the niche fields within them, such as ironwork or spinning.
Artists include: Anna Koplik, Arlen Heginbotham, Bosworth Spindles, Brent Bailey, Brien Beidler, Dennis Dusek, Dossain Valencia, Douglas Pryor, Dyakcraft, Eleanor Rose, Elia Bizzari, Fabiano Sarra, Heather McLarty, Indian Lake Artisans, Janet Fox of Handywomanshop, Jay Burnham Kidwell, Jeff Amundson, Jim Austin of Alchemy Metalworks, Jim Moore, John Williams of Guildwerks, Watanabe & Co., Kalia Kilban, Kelly Harris, Liza Nechamkin, Max Grossman, Med Chandler, Michael Sherrill / Mudtools, Andrea and Chuck Kennington of NC Black Co., Rachel Kedinger, Reid Schwartz, Saign Charlestein, Seth Gould, Shanna Leino, Spencer Hamann, Tom Latané, Will Larranaga, William R. Robertson and more.