Bainbridge Island Museum of Art is proud to participate in Handwork 2026, a nationwide celebration of American craft marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. As part of this historic initiative, BIMA will present a dynamic year of exhibitions and programs showcasing the depth and diversity of the handmade—from artists’ books to finely crafted furniture, Indigenous traditions to contemporary textiles, and much more. We’re excited to honor the makers, materials, and stories that connect our region to the broader narrative of American craft, and to invite our community into the rich world of handwork past, present, and future.
BIMA joins more than 250 museums, cultural centers, schools, and organizations across the country in this unprecedented effort to elevate the role of craft in shaping American life—including fellow Puget Sound Region partners like BARN on Bainbridge Island, Northwest Designer Craftartists in Langley, and the House of Welcome Cultural Arts Center in Olympia. From local studios to national institutions, Handwork 2026 brings together a powerful network committed to celebrating creativity, honoring diverse traditions, and inspiring new generations of makers—telling the story of America, one handmade object at a time.
Hear more about BIMA’s Handwork 2026 efforts on our blog post and learn more about how the national initiative came to be in a guest blog from former Craft in America Executive Director, Carol Sauvion!
This retrospective exhibition showcases the legacy of garden designs and sculptures of George and David Lewis, formerly known as Little and Lewis. Their story of love and labor began in the 1980s, when David moved from Washington, D.C. to Bainbridge Island, and George moved subsequently from Houston, Texas. Their separate interests in art, ancient architectural ruins, gardens, and water features combined into a thriving and well-documented creative business. This retrospective is titled Deeply Rooted in honor of their well-documented career as artists, and their community service and ties to Bainbridge Island and beyond.
The Puget Sound region is rich with educational and studio-based resources for artists. This group exhibition will be curated with nominees selected by more than twenty Craft-based programs and professional groups. These include Pilchuck Glass School (Stanwood), Pratt Fine Arts Center (Seattle), Northwest African American Museum (Seattle), Wing Luke Asian Museum (Seattle), Seattle Metals Guild (state wide), House of Welcome (Indigenous Longhouse arts center, The Evergreen State College, Olympia), Schack Art Center (Everett), Bainbridge Island Artisans Network (BARN, Bainbridge Island), Northwind Art (Port Townsend), Northwest Designer Craftartists (multi state), and Hilltop Glass Program (Tacoma, WA). This exhibition will highlight excellence from emerging craft artists, while exploring traditional definitions and boundaries within and imposed upon the field.
Aimee Lee (Ohio) is an artist who makes paper, writes, and advocates for Korean papermaking practices. Her initial Fulbright research helped her build the first hanji studio in North America and write her award-winning book, Hanji Unfurled. Her second Fulbright award as a senior scholar focused on further research of Korean papermaking tools, and continued her training since 2009 with various national and provincial Intangible Cultural Property Holders.
Lee trains the next generation of papermakers in the Korean tradition from the Korean diaspora and beyond in her private hanji studio east of Cleveland, and in workshops around the world. This solo exhibition will highlight several works from our Cynthia Sears Artists’ Books Collection, in addition to lent artist’s books works by this internationally engaged and recognized artist.
Carletta Carrington Wilson merges poetry, collage, and installation to explore memory, ancestry, and the power of objects. Based in the Pacific Northwest, she uses fabric and found materials as portals to the past, linking personal and collective histories. Her work reclaims generational knowledge through image and text, navigating time, identity, and place. Each piece becomes a site of remembrance, where hand, memory, and material converge to create meaning.
Guest Curators Robin Little Wing Sigo (Suquamish Tribe) and Miranda Belarde-Lewis (Zuni/Tlingit) present a survey of Indigenous (Native American and First Nations) craft artists, working in traditional and contemporary forms. Media will include fiber/textiles such as ceremonial regalia and narrative and decorative art; carving; ceramics; glass; and jewelry art. Artists will be drawn from the Salish Sea area, which includes bodies of water (traditional highways of canoe people) within Washington State and British Columbia.
Miranda Belarde-Lewis (PhD) is an assistant professor, the inaugural Jill and Joe McKinstry Endowed Faculty Fellow of Native North American Indigenous Knowledge at the University of Washington’s Information School. She’s also an independent curator who works with artists and tribal, state, federal and international institutions and organizations to promote Native artists and their work.
Robin Little Wing Sigo, is the Director of the Suquamish Research & Strategic Development Department, which includes the Suquamish Foundation. She is a member of the Suquamish Tribe and sits on the Tribal Council.
Both guest curators have worked with BIMA on previous Indigenous exhibitions and cultural partnerships. This will be the fourth major Indigenous exhibition that BIMA has produced since opening in 2013.
The Cynthia Sears Artists’ Books Collection includes many examples of textile-based artworks. The include works made from cloth or books embellished with forms of stitching, embroidery, and mixed-media. This group exhibition will include borrowed works as well as some commissioned to further expand BIMA’s collection in this area.
Pratt Fine Arts Center, in Seattle’s Central District, has been a community arts hub for the past fifty years. Pratt was initially established by the City of Seattle — named for the civil rights leader Edwin T. Pratt, Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League — who was murdered in 1969. Pratt serves artists of all ages and abilities, year-round, with affordable classes and studios. It provides access to diverse media including glass; sculpture in metal, stone, wood, and mixed-media; jewelry art; paper and felt-making; and a variety of 2D media including drawing, painting, and printmaking. Featured artists include former and current students, instructors, board members, and staff.
BIMA is planning a retrospective, and is currently seeking partners for a traveling exhibition of the late master metalsmith, Heikki Seppä. Originally from Finland, this internationally famous metalsmith passed away in 2010. After decades teaching at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, Seppä retired. After the death of his first wife, he married Laurie A. Lyall, a noted jewelry artist who lived on Bainbridge Island. Through a major legacy donation from Lyall, and other collectors, BIMA has acquired more than 45 signature works by Seppä ranging from jewelry, functional hollowware, and decorative art. This retrospective will highlight techniques that Seppä both taught and invented during his incredible career working forming silver and gold.
Curated by Colette Gaiter
This exhibition presents an expansive view of artists’ books created by Black artists. Some artists specialize in making books, and others work in additional forms. These artists combined words, images, materials, and techniques in traditional and innovative ways. Books that paved the way for current Black book and zine-making show the evolution and pay homage.
Many of the books are specifically about experiencing Blackness. They range from personal stories to historical information illuminated through creative interpretations. Insights within the books’ pages encourage viewers to ponder unfamiliar points of view. “Universality” is a quality seldom applied to Black stories in mainstream Western spaces. Fear of discomfort or unconscious dismissal of alternative points of view can limit engagement. These books invite close looking and reading. Revealing a wide range of creative expression about a range of topics through words and images, the works in this exhibition inform and captivate viewers, extending imagined boundaries for contemporary book art.
