Craft in America

Pewabic has been a beacon for artists since 1905, producing museum quality ceramics in Detroit for over 100 years. Founded by innovative ceramist Mary Chase Perry Stratton, this non-profit pottery and education center celebrates artists of all ages and skill levels. Segment from the CELEBRATION episode

Yoshiko Yamamoto's love of Japanese ukiyo-e informs her blockprint and letterpress art. Letterpress printing is a relief process, the oldest form of printing. Inspired by the European Arts and Crafts movement founded by William Morris which favored craft production over industrial manufacture and emphasized strong line-driven designs sourced from nature. Segment from the CELEBRATION episode

Kwanzaa is an African American tradition begun in 1966 celebrating family, community and culture. Based on African harvest festivals and observed from December 26 to January 1, it offers 7 days of self-affirmation and thoughtful reflection for African-American families culminating in feasting and gift-giving. Segment from the CELEBRATION episode

The Chinese New Year festival in San Francisco has grown to be the largest celebration of Asian culture outside of Asia. East West Floats creates over 20 floats for the parade, estimated to draw more than a million spectators. As these floats glide through the nighttime San Francisco streets in a tribute to the important history of Chinese Americans and a celebration that connects us all.

San Francisco's Chinese New Year festival has grown to be the largest celebration of Asian culture outside of Asia. Artists Corey Chan and Jeff Lee carry on the tradition of the lion dance and lion-making, which comes together in an explosion of light, color and fireworks as the parade's finale, the astonishing dragon, glides through the nighttime streets of San Francisco.

Corey Chan talks about symbolism of various objects in the Chinese New Year parade and lion and dragon dances. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings)

Doll maker and soft sculptor Annette F. Brown talks about doll making, a tradition in her family for 30 years, and celebrating Kwanzaa through handmade gifts and family history. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings)

Artist Malik Seneferu dresses a table for Kwanzaa, teaching us the meaning and intention behind the placement of objects. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 2015. (check local listings.)

Christine Devlin and Sherlyn Hunter talk about the Detroit People Mover installation created using Pewabic tiles. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings) Archival courtesy of Pancioli.

Woodblock print artist Yoshiko Yamamoto demonstrates how to create one and two color prints at home. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings)

Nawal Motawi demonstrates the Kanban production control system used at Motawi Tileworks. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings)

Dave Zink shows us Pewabic's filter press and talks about how they prepare their clay. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings)

Curator Josephine Shea talks about Detroit and its history of craft. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings) Archival courtesy of Detroit Institute of Arts Archive, CriticalPast, Samuel Yellin Metalworkers Co., Cranbrook Archives/Harvey Croze, Pewabic, Maia C.

Curator Josephine Shea and Director of the Detroit Insitute of Arts Graham Beal on the Diego Rivera mural at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings) Archival courtesy of Detroit Institute of Arts Archive, Library of Congress/Detroit Publishing Co., CriticalPast.

David Thomas and Stephanie Mufson of East West Floats talk about the terra cotta warrior figures on the Hilton float created for the Chinese New Year parade. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings) Archival courtesy of Dennis Jarvis.

Papercut artist Yumei Hou tells how she learned paper-cutting from her mother and how she creates her intricate designs. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings) Archival images courtesy of Yumei Hou.

Sculptor Yumei Hou talks about creating the large ram head on a Chinese New Year parade float. Bonus video from the CELEBRATION episode. PBS premiere December 11, 2015. (check local listings)

MUSIC focuses on finely crafted handmade instruments and the world renowned artists who play them, including Jake Shimabukuro at Kamaka Hawaii, Joan Baez with her Martin guitar, Scotty Barnhart with his Dave Monette trumpet, Rhiannon Giddens with banjo maker Jim Hartel, Tony Ellis at Stelling Banjo, and Joseph Pereira with mallet maker Jason Ginter.

William L. Ellis & his father Tony Ellis on learning to play music, how a Scottish village inspired Tony’s fiddle tune “Plockton Aire,” parlor banjo history, and family influences, including how Tony’s grandmother played him lullabyes on the banjo.

Joan Baez speaks about activism, her 1972 trip to Hanoi, and the guitar as an instrument of change. Bonus video from the Martin Guitar segment of the MUSIC episode. PBS premiere November 20, 2015. Archival Courtesy of Bettmann/Corbis, National Archives, Associated Press/Barry Romo, Joan Baez, Pond5/VUSschneider