Museum of Craft and Design

The Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) is San Francisco’s only museum devoted to craft and design. Founded in 2004, 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.

Exhibits

Two amazing exhibitions will be on view at MCD. Admission is free to all visitors for Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day and hands-on activities will be taking place in the MCD MakeArt Gallery.

"Iris Eichenberg: Where Words Fail" is the first mid-career survey of German artist Iris Eichenberg whose work addresses relevant issues such as identity, gender, and Heimat—a German word denoting the personal happiness and inner peace found upon reaching a safe haven. Eichenberg brings a critical international perspective to her jewelry and metalwork. Assembled for the first time for West Coast audiences from international private and public collections and Eichenberg’s extensive archive, this exhibition presents forty works that demonstrate Eichenberg’s examination of self, including the impact of place and community. Guest Curator: Davira S. Taragin

"Robyn Horn: Material Illusions" is the West Coast debut of American artist Robyn Horn’s newest large-scale sculptures and paintings. Working with wood for over 35 years, Horn’s work mirrors aspects of natural environments. Horn has always worked in series, making sculptures with heavily textured surfaces that contain qualities of asymmetry, geometry, volume, lack of balance, and contrast. In 2005, she ventured into painting and explored similar qualities in two dimensions. This exhibition showcases a large array of Horn’s latest work, much of which was created during the 2020 pandemic quarantine period. Material Illusions explores Horn’s interest in time, and more specifically how the passage of time relates to material, decay, and entropy.

Participation in Museum Day is open to any tax-exempt or governmental museum or cultural venue on a voluntary basis. Smithsonian magazine encourages museum visitation, but is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of the participating museums and cultural venues, and does not subsidize museums that participate.