SAN FRANCISCO, CA – With the start of 2019, the Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) celebrates its 15th anniversary as San Francisco’s only museum dedicated exclusively to modern and contemporary craft and design.

Since opening its doors in 2004 in downtown San Francisco to its move to a more expansive space in the city’s Dogpatch district in 2013, the Museum of Craft and Design has welcomed over half a million visitors. Known for its bold and innovative exhibitions featuring designers and makers from across the globe, inspirational hands-on MakeArt programs for all ages and expansive community partnerships, the MCD is excited to celebrate this important milestone year with a series of experiences and special events that recognize the connections among art, craft, design and community.

“Craft defines the process of how art and design come to life. At the Museum of Craft and Design, through our exhibitions and programs, we craft curiosity and connect people to creators, designers and curators from around the world, many of whom are working at the edge of innovation.” – JoAnn Edwards, Executive Director and Cofounder, Museum of Craft and Design. “MCD is thrilled to celebrate its 15th year anniversary in 2019 with an array of exhibitions, activities, and public events that are sure to spark imagination and curiosity among visitors of all ages.”

Since 2004, MCD has explored and defined the role of craft and design in our dynamically changing culture, encouraging visitors to see the world differently. With an emphasis on artistic integrity, MCD provides a platform for local, national and international artists and designers, transforming the galleries into an immersive environment with each new installation. Past noted exhibitions have featured internationally celebrated designers from across the Netherlands, explored the transformational role of creativity in the rehabilitation of veterans and showcased the brightest artists, makers, architects and designers.  

MCD marks this 15th anniversary milestone in 2019 with nine new exhibitions and 15 Ways to Celebrate, a series of curated celebrations beginning this January 17, 2019, with MCD’s MAKE: Design15 Launch Party. The anniversary experiences continue throughout the year and include exhibition openings, a MakeArt Family Day Birthday Party, pop-up shopping events, outdoor summer parklet parties and much more.

Anniversary Exhibitions
In addition to a full schedule of activities for all ages, MCD will present ongoing and new  exhibitions in 2019:

Winter 2019

Al Farrow: Divine Ammunition
Currently on view through February 24, 2019
Having traveled the nation, Al Farrow: Divine Ammunition comes home to San Francisco as Bay Area sculptor Al Farrow debuts his most recent piece, The White House (2018). Through the display of twenty-four of Farrow’s ornately rendered sculptures of churches, synagogues, mosques, mausolea, ritual objects and reliquaries created from munitions, the exhibition examines the relationships between religion and violence, peace and brutality, the sacred and the unholy.

Gustavo Pérez: Self Portrait in Black and White
Currently on view through February 24, 2019
An expansive site-specific installation by Mexican artist Gustavo Pérez. Pérez’s work is a mixture of theme, development and intuition and the results are like a logbook of where he has been and where he is now in his relationship to clay. Guest curated by Mayer Shacter.

Tex Gieling: Sixty Years
Currently on view through February 24, 2019
Tex Gieling: Sixty Years highlights a wide range of breathtaking work produced during Gieling’s illustrious career beginning in the 1940s and continuing through the 1990s. She worked primarily in sterling silver but often incorporated gold, pearls, semi-precious and precious stones into her designs. Guest curated by Elizabeth Shypertt.

Spring 2019

Wanxin Zhang: The Long Journey
March 16–July 24, 2019
The work in this exhibition celebrates the artist’s signature style—a hybrid of Bay Area Figurative/California Funk influence and nods to Chinese history. Zhang’s monumental clay figures are at once irreverent and troubling, evoking the tension inherent in globalization, xenophobia, politics and power. He demonstrates this through his mastery of the malleable qualities of clay, reshaping traditional symbols and iconography with contemporary Western popular culture.

Material Domestication
March 16–July 24, 2019
Material Domestication will feature the work of six contemporary artists who utilize disparate cultural backgrounds as a framework for sculptural explorations invested in skill, material and identity. This exhibition is an investigation of materiality and technique based on slow production and repetitive making. Modular components are stacked, folded, knitted or woven into existence by these artists. Guest curated by Elizabeth Kozlowski.

Summer/Fall 2019:

Dead Nuts: A Search for the Ultimate Machined Object
July 27–December 1, 2019
The machinist is among the most exacting craftsmen. At the extreme confluence of precision, accuracy, invention and design, machined objects continue to inspire makers because they represent the finest work and the purest forms. This exhibition will present objects that makers and enthusiasts themselves have proposed as “the ultimate machined object”. Guest curated by David Cole.

Interior/Exterior
July 27–December 1, 2019
Interior/Exterior presents structures, “rooms” and objects, which are neither fully interior nor fully exterior. Exposing the permeability between these two categories, this exhibition interprets public and private spaces, positioning structures and shelters as permeable, active bodies. Looking at exterior facades as porous skins, we can start to see the anatomy of structures and objects (and the bodies that inhabit and use them) more fully. Curated by Ariel Zaccheo.

Winter 2019:

Survival Architecture
December 18, 2019–May 20, 2020
Art Works for Change invites visionary architects and artists to consider artistically interpretive solutions and prototypes for emergency shelter in a climate-constrained world. Large-scale and portable interactive architectural installations, models, photography and drawings impress the importance and sociocultural relevance of emergency and survival housing in the age of climate change. Through invention, artistic playfulness and innovation, artists will explore materials, technology, culture and social activism to create a pioneering exhibition. Guest curator: Randy Jayne Rosenberg, Artworks for Change.org.

Linda Gass: and then this happened…
December 18, 2019–May 20, 2020
Bay Area multimedia artist Linda Gass creates stitched paintings and works in glass to question the relationship between humans and their environment. Informed and inspired by her extensive research on the impact of changing waterways, sea level rise, fire, and drought in California and the American West, Gass’ work uses beauty to shed light on difficult issues.

For details and a full list of events, visit sfmcd.org/design15

Museum of Craft and Design
The Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) is San Francisco’s only museum devoted exclusively to modern and contemporary craft and design. Founded in 2004, the MCD showcases designers, makers and artists through an exciting and distinctive series of craft and design-focused exhibitions and public programs. As a non-collecting institution, the museum actively collaborates with artists, designers, museums and universities, as well as design venues and practitioners to create inspirational experiences in the world of craft and design for visitors of all ages.

Visitor Information
The Museum of Craft and Design is located at 2569 Third Street, San Francisco, CA. MCD is open Tuesdays–Saturdays 11:00 AM–6:00 PM and Sunday 12:00 PM–5:00 PM. Admission $8.00 adults, $6.00 students/seniors, kids under 12 are free, and the museum is free to the public on the first Tuesday of every month. Learn more at sfmcd.org

Media Contacts:
Sarah Beth Rosales
Marketing and Communications Director, Museum of Craft and Design
(415) 773-0303 or sbrosales@sfmcd.org.