Al Farrow’s exhibition, Divine Ammunition at the Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, was a topical, heady series of twenty-four sculptures of cathedrals, synagogues, mosques, religious objects, and reliquaries. Created with gun parts, bullet casings, lead shot, and bones, Farrow’s sculptural replicas of religious edifices are a meditation on the poignant relationship between worship and violence that is endemic to religious traditions. Read Terri Cohn’s full review in Art Practical.

Each of Wanxin Zhang’s ceramic sculptures give the viewer something old and something new, reminding us of Jasper Johns’ famous injunction “take a thing, do something to it, do something else to it.” But here, the thing in question is the ancient tradition of Asian ceramic sculpture, and the doing something lies in his treatment of those traditions with additional elaborations derived from other sources, most obviously the long legacy of Northern California ceramic sculpture reaching back to the 1960s.  At first glance, their forms seem familiar, but we soon discover subtle mischief, oftentimes located in several distinct layers of visibility. Read Mark Van Proyen’s full article on Square Cylinder.

“Zhang may be a descendant of such masters of monumental ceramic sculpture as Shaw, Viola Frey, Peter Voulkos and, above all, Robert Arneson, but he is a worthy heir. Like them, his skills are so extraordinary he can confidently violate every rule, turning that technical irreverence to humorous, polemical and artistic effect. Having come to the U.S. from China in his 30s as an already accomplished artist, he adds his own unique twist.” Read Charles Desmarais full article in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Datebook here.

Inspired by the late Robert Arneson and his friend Ai Weiwei, internationally celebrated and exhibited Bay Area sculptor Wanxin Zhang is a truly creative force. But the artist, the subject of an exhibition at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in Sonoma through April 7 and “Wanxin Zhang: The Long Journey,” opening Saturday at San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Design, didn’t find success overnight.
Read the full article by Jackie Lee in the SF Examiner here.

As a symbol of power, the White House has been a site of protest from almost the time it was rebuilt in the early 19th century. Anyone who has witnessed or participated in the yelling and sign-waving that takes place at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. — especially in the Donald Trump era — will testify to the cacophony of sound and noise directed at the neoclassical building.

What Al Farrow has constructed is a kind of silent protest. But because it’s an Al Farrow work, The White House is both a resounding sculptural feat and a resounding cultural commentary. Farrow’s White House isn’t white. It’s a de-scaled replica weighing almost a ton that’s coated in a color that — let’s put this kindly — resembles that of a lightly colored bowel movement. In other words, shit. The White House doesn’t advertise its color scheme on any accompanying text. It doesn’t have to; art-goers who visit Farrow’s new sculpture and exhibit at the Museum of Craft and Design can make that connection for themselves. Maybe they won’t see fecal matter. Maybe they’ll see layers of pollution. Or soot. Or the color of corruption. But one thing that Farrow hopes they see is a building stained by both major political parties, not just the current occupant’s. Read Jonathan Curiel’s full article in SF Weekly here.

It’s not possible to walk into Al Farrow’s Divine Ammunition without feeling both awe and soul-deep dismay.  Farrow’s somber, menacing vision is ideally suited to the fear, horror, and moral dissolution that seems to permeate  contemporary life. The hatred that religions can breed is the blood-soaked ground upon which Farrow constructs models of mosques, synagogues, cathedrals, and reliquaries using munitions—a perversely incongruous counterpoint to the gospel of peace, love and tolerance we hear coming from pulpits. Read the full article on Square Cylinder by Julia Couzens.

Shiny bulbous columns and spheres are presented alongside jagged mineral-like structures and rocky reconstructions. It seems to be a futuristic stone-age, where the uncannily natural sit alongside the synthetic in an exploration of unapologetic materiality. Read full article by Lara Chapman here.

El artísta Tom Loeser estará presentando en el Museo de Artesanía y Diseño su exposición inaugural de 2018, Tom Loeser: Please Please Please, en asociación con el Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, y una instalación complementaria específica del sitio realizada por el colectivo artístico galardonado en SFMOMA SECA 2017: t.w.five. Read full article here.

Under radar even for many locals, the Museum of Craft and Design is a small museum with a big science-y and architectural bent. To be fair, the 13-year-old institution only moved to the Dogpatch neighborhood in 2013. Since then, it’s packed into a single (albeit spacious) room curious exhibits like an interactive “sewer portrait” that invites museumgoers to “compose” music by pumping water into a drainpipe installation; or a wool experience spanning everything from microscopic fiber imaging to a visual explanation of the felt-making process to creative home and decor applications of wool. See full “Where to” list here.

“A life-size environment for exploring architectural ideas in public, the pavilion is the architectural equivalent of the concept car. Yet unlike concept cars, which often generate headlines, pavilions seldom get much attention outside of specialized contexts like the Venice Architecture Biennale. A new exhibition at San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Design makes a strong case for the pavilion’s importance, and may even help to bring more attention to the pavilion-building practice.” Read full article in Forbes by Jonaton Keats here.

“A new exhibit opens this month at the Museum of Craft and Design, making it the perfect third stop on our morning-slash-afternoon in Dogpatch. See the new exhibit — highlighting digital and handmade architectural pavilions — then hit up the gift shop.” -Read full article by Ellie Eckert here.

“The pavilion is an architectural outlier. Traditionally a freestanding, temporary structure, it can provide utility or shelter, but more often than not its true purpose is pure spectacle. Imagine the architectural equivalent of statement jewelry. But Architectural Pavilions: Experiments and Artifacts, now on view at San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Design, pinpoints an ulterior, altogether invisible functionality for these unconventional structures: architects’ testing grounds…” Read full article by KQED Arts writer Sarah Hotchkiss here.

“In San Francisco, the heart of high tech, it is all about coding. Appropriately, Felt Decoded | Wool: Nature’s Technology deciphers the many facets of this fascinating fiber. The exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design explores every aspect, from the science of wool and age-old traditions to contemporary artistic and architectural uses.” –Read full Surface Design Journal article by Barbara Shapiro here.

NO 32: February / March- 2017
“GO AHEAD, YOU CAN TOUCH THAT—IT’S NATURALLY DURABLE, SO YOU CAN’T REALLY HURT IT,” says artist Janice Arnold. Standing at one end of a 40-foot table in her downtown Olympia, Washington, studio, the founder of JA Felt is running her nimble fingers along the undulating edges of a large handmade felt textile patterned with swirling foliage…Read full article by Rachel Gallaher here.

Wendy Maruyama’s wildLIFE Project continues its US tour to San Francisco this month

The San Diego, California-based artist Wendy Maruyama is bringing attention to the plight of elephants and other animals slaughtered for their tusks with her recent work, the wildLIFE Project, now traveling across the United States. Maruyama was inspired to create the wildLIFE Project after meeting with wildlife advocates—and elephants—on a trip to Kenya. Read full article by Victoria Stapley-Brown of The Art Newspaper here.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday from November 22-29, the Warriors and Glad teamed up to recognize five exemplary Bay Area individuals who have embodied kindness and service to others through their community organizations. On Tuesday, November 29, the five #GladToGive heroes were rewarded for their generosity and impact with a $1,000 shopping spree at the Alameda Target location to shop for needed items for each of their organizations. Read the full article here.

“You think, “All that rust and gunk: What an eyesore!” if you think of them at all. And the background noise of running water — from the toilet flush to the bathtub draining — is usually a mild annoyance and not a pleasure to hear. Of Sound l Mind and Objects, Ulfeldt’s new exhibition at San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Design, is out to prove otherwise…” Read Jeffrey Edalatpour’s full article on KQED Arts here.

“In the parking lot, tents and structures created a festival atmosphere, with carnival games and art activities supported by the Museum of Craft and Design, the Opera House’s own Dare 2 Dream art program, and more.” Read full article on Hoodline here.

“…But Venom’s quilts aren’t exactly Ladies’ Home Journal material: They’re all about crime, gambling, metal, and drugs. “My art is a collision of fine art crafting and the fringes of society,” he says. “I’m riding that razor’s edge.” – Read full article by Lauren Murrow.

Originally published in the May issue of San Francisco

“Yet there is no dedicated department of arts and crafts for veteran rehabilitation, at least not through the federal government. Instead, for decades, individual veterans have turned to crafting on their own, as explored in the PBS documentary “Craft in America: Service” and a recent exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, “Art and Other Tactics: Contemporary Craft by Artist Veterans.” By applying funds from the G.I. Bill toward taking on new artistic disciplines, more and more veterans are finding solace in crafts like pottery, woodworking, and metalsmithing…” Read the full GOOD article by Rebecca Huval here.

Sura Wood says “The Museum of Craft and Design showcases cutting-edge craft in two new exhibitions”.

Read the article in April, 2016 SF/ARTS

Read the article published in SF Gate on December 9, 2014

See the article in the April 5, 2013 issue of the San Francisco Examiner

The Museum of Craft and Design has finally found a home in San Francisco after the unexpected loss of its location on Sutter Street in 2004. After years of pop-up museums around the city, the museum’s new permanent location opened in the Dogpatch neighborhood this past weekend with a celebration including inaugural exhibits, food trucks and a family activity in its MakeArt Lab — all for free.

See the article in the April 8, 2013 issue of the Daily Californian

See the review in the April 5, 2013 issue of Wallpaper

Read the April 4, 2013 article in Pure Wow