OBJECTS: USA | Museum of Craft & Design | Daily Exhibition Admission

OBJECTS: USA One of the most influential craft exhibitions ever staged returns for a new generation.

In 1969, the Smithsonian American Art Museum launched OBJECTS: USA, featuring more than 300 artists working across clay, enamel, fiber, glass, metal, mosaic, and wood. The exhibition went on to tour across the United States and Europe, bringing American studio craft to unprecedented public attention. Together with its accompanying catalogue, which continues to inspire artists and designers today, OBJECTS: USA helped define craft as a space for freedom, experimentation, and artistic possibility.

At MCD this fall, OBJECTS: USA returns in reimagined form, bringing historic and contemporary works by leading artists and designers into conversation. This presentation carries particular resonance in California, and especially in the Bay Area, which was central to the development of American studio craft and fostered generations of artists who challenged the prevailing hierarchies of their time. When the original exhibition opened in 1969, it reflected an unprecedented cultural breadth and made room for many artists working outside the dominant structures of the postwar art world.

More than fifty years later, OBJECTS: USA feels freshly charged. At a moment when new expressions of power and taste are gilding the nation’s self-image, it asks us to look closely at what we choose to value, and what those choices reveal about the culture we are building.

Organized in partnership with R & Company, a globally recognized design gallery based in New York, the exhibition features more than 80 works by pioneering figures, including Wendell Castle, George Nakashima, and Art Smith, alongside contemporary makers such as the Haas Brothers, Roberto Lugo, Tanya Aguiñiga, and Nicole Cherubini. Together, these works span furniture, fiber, sculpture, jewelry, and experimental design, framing craft as a dynamic language for invention and cultural imagination.

Image: Haas Brothers, Squid Vicious, 2016. Photo by Joe Kramm.

Admission

Museum Members: Free
General admission: $10.00
Students with ID: $8.00
Seniors (65 and older): $8.00
Children (through age 12): Free

Free First Thursdays*: Admission is free for all visitors on the first Thursday of every month. No tickets are needed but visitors can RSVP and reserve their spot online.

*Please note: There will be no Free First Thursdays in September as we are closed for the installation of OBJECTS: USA.

North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) member and a Blue Star Museum. *MCD offers free admission to our nation’s active-duty military personnel (including the National Guard), veterans, first responders, and their families.
As part of the SF Museums for All program, visitors who are part of Medi-Cal or Cal Fresh programs can get 4 free admission passes on each visit.

Group Tickets
Have a group of 15 or more? Please e-mail tours@sfmcd.org to book your group’s tickets.

Accessibility

Here are a few ways we hope to accommodate any special needs you might have during your visit:

Wheelchair lift
A wheelchair is available to borrow
Closed captions on all videos
Large Print Text available upon request or via QR code
Arabic, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese Translations available via QR code
Audio tours for both exhibitions are available via QR code

If you are planning a visit and have any advance questions about accessibility, please e-mail us at info@sfmcd.org

Location and Parking

The Museum of Craft and Design is located at 2569 Third Street (between 22nd and 23rd), in the historic American Industrial Center in San Francisco’s vibrant Dogpatch neighborhood. The T Third Muni Metro, the 48, 15, and 55 bus stops are within one block of the Museum. Please double-check all current bus and transit schedules.

For those coming from the East Bay or within San Francisco: From Powell Station, go one level up from BART and proceed to the Union Square MUNI Metro station. Once at the MUNI Metro station, take the T Sunnydale outbound train, stop at 23rd Street platform, and walk back to 2569 Third Street.

Finding street parking in the neighborhoods and industrial areas around the Museum can sometimes be a challenge. There is a paid lot at 20th Street and Illinois Street.