Beauty By Hand Volume 47.1
REGINA VORGANG | FIBER ART
2026 marks the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America, and with it a stark divide on our nation’s future. When our country should be deep in joy and festivities, instead, there has been more disagreement than ever on what it means to be American.
Like a quiet drumbeat, there is another celebration of the semiquincentennial murmuring in the background, one that is inclusive, rooted in history, and which takes both the good and the bad of America together. Its honesty somehow makes America more real, and the honoring of our two-hundred fifty years more authentic. Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 began in November of last year, and involves over three hundred museums, art centers, community organizations, and more around the nation, and the story of this little craft fair owes its existence to that.
It took four years of preparation for Handwork 2026 to be organized, and its true beauty is that as it continues, it inspires Americans around the country to find ways to participate. Here in San Diego, several craft-focused organizations, such as Mingei International Museum, the San Diego Potters Guild, the Allied Craftsmen of San Diego (oldest crafts guild in the country!), the Visions Museum of Textile Art, and San Diego State University’s School of Design all came together to host events for the public throughout July.
For the West Coast, the lack of a major craft show since the closing of ACC San Francisco has been sorely felt. A small group of Southern Californian artists and craft professionals gathered to organize an event to celebrate Handwork 2026. After a few false starts, it was agreed that a modest craft fair, taking place at the Palos Verdes Art Center, would serve both the spirit and the intent of Handwork.
Many hands made for light work, although the organizing process has been hectic and chaotic for first-time show organizers. Professional experience from everyone involved helped to make up for any individual shortcomings. With the PVAC’s Director, Daniela Saxo-Kaneko, being part of the committee, the venue was secured. Next came the invitation list. All members of the committee suggested about a half-dozen or so craftspeople whose work they were familiar with and could vouch for. In total, about forty-five artists were invited, with just about thirty-five accepting.
Fortunately, with a curator involved, as well as a craft magazine editor and the founding director of Craft in America, the artists chosen were all veterans of their media. The decision was made to limit the exhibitors for this first craft fair to California residents; partly for practical reasons, but mostly to highlight, and celebrate, California’s particular contribution to American craft. Although a show and not an exhibition, the parallels to the “California Design” exhibits organized by Eudorah Moore was an exciting reminder of the good work being done.
With thirty-five attending artists, and the work of jeweler Michael Norman Bayes being sold by another attendee, Terry de Castro, there is substantial and lively variety among the work shown. The largest category turned out to be fiber art, with jewelry, normally the queen of categories, coming in second. Experimental mixed media fiber work lives beside more traditional woven rugs and sewn quilts. Regina Vorgang and Barbara Danzi represent the latter two, and Danzi’s abstract quilts, highly inspired by Modernism, are a far cry from the original patchwork version.
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In jewelry, a wide range of California’s best is represented, from our superb enamel jewelers, Marianne Hunter, Alex & Mona Szabados and Valerie Mitchell, to the clever and humorous jewelry of Rachel Shimpock and the sublime simplicity of Randy Stromsoe. Tzipora Hoynik creates her own patterned metal by piercing, making beguiling frames for her luscious stones.
Ceramics yielded the third largest category of craft work, with impressive artists such as Joan Takayama-Ogawa and her trompe l’oeil flora and confectioneries, and Kathleen Klein-Wakefield, who similarly creates realistic, three-dimensional still lifes that pulse with a subtle joy and light humor. The rest of the field was comprised of glass, furniture, metal sculpture, and mixed media. Elaine Hyde and Bill Meek both take different approaches to glass, with Hyde favoring her own special technique of silver luster glass, sometimes treated with an acid solution to create a distinctive iridescence. Meek favors representational glass sculpture, from abstract fish to a luminescent seafoam green statue of King Arthur’s Sword in the Stone. Meanwhile, furniture makers Harold Greene and Joshua Saltman, both inspired by Modernist designs, each focus on different aspects of the wood’s grain and how to best bring out the material’s sensuous qualities.
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CELESTIAL GLOBE by Cindy Keefer of bronze, 2026. This installation is based on the original Farnese Atlas, a Roman marble sculpture housed at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy. The Celestial Globe will be on permanent exhibit at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California. Photograph by Cindy Keefer.
“Beauty By Hand” was organized with the artist in mind, and the committee’s philosophy was that if it helped to get sales for an artist, without stepping on anyone’s toes, that it should be done. Michael Norman Bayes, beloved jewelrymaker with many fans from Freehand Gallery, could not make it to the show, but has Terry de Castro representing him and his jewelry.
As a first time craft fair, it was decided that the booth fees should be minimal, with the proceeds going to the Palos Verdes Art Center to help pay for hosting the event. While this gesture is not possible at many of the larger craft shows, which either are for-profit and have to exceed their expenses to continue, or are for a charitable cause, it was high on the list of what “Beauty By Hand” stands for.
As a show focusing on the state of California, and an intelligent and superb selection of artists enabled by experienced professionals in the field, there are local reverberations that teach us more about where we live. Cindy Ingraham Keefer, a sculpture artist who is a friend and neighbor of Marianne Hunter, recently completed a public work for the Griffith Observatory. Installed in January 2026, her awesome creation, the Celestial Globe, is directly inspired by the ancient Roman sculpture, the Farnese Atlas. Keefer’s three-dimensional chart of constellations pays homage to humanity’s past while beautifying an important Californian institution for all to enjoy. This is the power of creativity that is celebrated by “California Rising: Beauty By Hand”.
“California Rising: Beauty By Hand” took place August 22 – 23, 2026 at Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 Crestridge Rd., Rancho Palos Verdes, California 90275. Visit their website at www.pvartcenter.org.
Patrick R. Benesh-Liu is Coeditor of Ornament and a lifelong participant in his parents’ creative journey. From growing up in the Ornament office on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles to his first administrative work in the Vista, California building during high school, Benesh-Liu has been fortunateto be immersed in craft, culture, and wearable art. This year, Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 has become an integral part of life at Ornament, as organizing for “California Rising: Beauty By Hand” with the Palos Verdes Art Center took shape. Later this year, he looks forward to partnering with Artazan, part of the Garan-Beadagio shows run by Casey Kennerson across the Southwest, as they look to bring more fine craftspeople to this Pasadena show. For the current issue, he covers how “Beauty By Hand” came to be, and some of the exhibiting artists at this August 2026 craft fair. He also gives an indepth review of the recent SNAG Conference, Labor & Legacy, taking place in Detroit, Michigan. There, in the Motor City, he finds SNAG leading the way in telling a truthful, and powerful, story of America that is honest about, and learns from, its mistakes, and is the stronger for it.
