The Museum of Craft and Design Reopens September 5 With OBJECTS: USA

The Museum of Craft and Design reopens on Saturday, September 5, 2026 after three weeks closed for installation, and it reopens with OBJECTS: USA, an exhibition of more than 70 works of American craft that runs through January 17, 2027.

The closure

A notice on the museum’s own site says it has been closed since August 17 for the installation of the show. September 5 is both the reopening day and the exhibition’s opening day. The museum is at 2569 Third Street in Dogpatch.

What is in the show

OBJECTS: USA is organized in partnership with R & Company, a New York design gallery, and revisits the 1969 Smithsonian exhibition of the same name. That earlier show gathered artists working in clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, enamel, and mosaic, and traveled widely. The 2026 version puts historic and contemporary work side by side in furniture, fiber, sculpture, jewelry, and experimental design.

Artists carried over from the 1969 group include Wendell Castle, Kay Sekimachi, George Nakashima, Art Smith, Peter Voulkos, Toshiko Takaezu, and June Schwarcz. Contemporary makers in the show include the Haas Brothers, Roberto Lugo, Tanya Aguiñiga, Nicole Cherubini, Kim Mupangilaï, Jolie Ngo, and Woody De Othello.

Why it is here now

The museum says the Bay Area was central to the development of American studio craft, which is part of why it took the show. The exhibition is presented as part of Craft in America’s Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 initiative, timed to the country’s 250th anniversary, and it is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Masha Berek, the museum’s executive director, says in the announcement that “objects make us human,” and that the objects a society chooses to value reveal what kind of culture it is building.

If you go

When: September 5, 2026 through January 17, 2027. Where: Museum of Craft and Design, 2569 Third Street.

Getting there: The T Third Muni Metro line runs along Third Street. Check the SFMTA trip planner for current service before you travel.

Admission: Current hours and ticket prices are on the museum’s visit page. Free-admission days at other San Francisco museums this month are in our guide to free museum days in September 2026.

For everything else on this month, see our September 2026 guide.

Exhibition dates, artist list, and closure dates are from the Museum of Craft and Design’s announcement and its own site notice.

Photo: Museum of Craft and Design.