This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World

During the summer of 2020, the space outside the Renwick Gallery-the Smithsonian American Art Museum's dedicated museum for contemporary craft and decorative arts-became home to a new discussion about racial justice on Black Lives Matter Plaza. The curators at the Renwick Gallery felt the need to align themselves with what was going on right outside the Gallery's door, the organizing rationale for understanding the objects presented in this volume, many of which are new acquisitions. The title is taken from Alicia Eggert's 2019-2020 eponymous neon work, and the 85 objects in the main plates section lead the reader from the idea of shelter, through layers of expanding spaces to the vast expanses of the universe. The volume looks at contemporary American craft "in the whirlwind of now" revealing possibilities for contemporary makers to respond to a more empathetic future.