DC / Washington
Corcoran Gallery
American Metal: The Art of Albert Paley
to Sep. 28
Albert Paley’s shining spot in the metalsmith pantheon is absolutely rustproof. From his early jewelry to his recent giant sculptures, he has been out front in exploring what metal can do and say. The Corcoran has organized the first retrospective survey of this ACC Gold Medalist’s 50-year career.

FL / Miami Beach
Bass Museum of Art
Gold
Aug. 8 – Jan. 11
The Bass Museum is celebrating its golden anniversary with art – installation, video, painting, and sculpture – made of, or inspired by, the metal that sets the standard for all that glitters.

ID / Boise
Boise Art Museum
Modern and Contemporary Ceramics: Kay Hardy and Gregory Kaslo Collection
to Mar. 29
Kay Hardy and Gregory Kaslo have shared their collection with the Boise Art Museum for years through loans and gifts. This show celebrates both their generosity and the art they’ve gathered, which includes works in clay by Jun Kaneko, Peter Voulkos, and Rudy Autio, among other modern masters.

ME / Portland
Portland Museum of Art
Aaron T Stephan: To Borrow, Cut, Copy, and Steal
Sep. 6 – Feb. 8
As Aaron T Stephan has described his somewhat puckish mission, “I question how we see, what we seek, and how we understand. I intend to pose these questions while leaving the answers for another day.” Here, architecture and art-museum conventions are starting points for his inquiry; sculptural installation and prints are its vehicle.

MN / St. Paul
Gallery of Wood Art
Rising
Sep. 7 – Dec. 28
The American Association of Woodturners’ annual juried and invitational exhibition showcases the personal spins contemporary artists are putting on the medium, among them scorching, surface embellishment, multi-axis turning, and – not least – traditional lathe work.

MT / Missoula
Montana Museum of Art & Culture
Sandra Dal Poggetto: Meditations on the Field
to Sep. 27
Sandra Dal Poggetto’s paintings and drawings enter the third dimension through her inclusion of bits of the Western landscape: feathers, wood, wire, and hide. Works she has chosen from MMAC’s permanent collection – Plains Indian beadwork and Paleo-Indian artifacts, among others – are on view alongside hers, deepening the context for her exploration of history, tradition, and connections to the natural world.

NE / Lincoln
International Quilt Study Center & Museum 
Signature Cloths
Sep. 5 – May 31
A quilt adorned with one or more hand-stitched autographs has an extra layer of history and intimacy, for what mark is more personal? New work by guest curator Lynn Setterington, incorporating signatures of recent immigrants to her home city of Manchester, England, is on display, along with traditional signature quilts from the IQSCM’s collection.

NH / Newbury
Mount Sunapee Resort
81st Annual League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair
Aug. 2 – 10
More than 350 craft artists offer work for sale; classes, demonstrations, workshops, and entertainers, from musicians to mind readers, keep visitors busy between perusal and purchases.

NY / New Paltz
Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art
Dick Polich: Transforming Metal Into Art
Aug. 27 – Dec. 14
How do artists get grand ideas for monumental metal works off the ground? For 50 years, artists such as Isamu Noguchi, Roy Lichtenstein, and Nancy Graves have turned to metallurgist and foundry owner Dick Polich, who blends expertise and experimentation to translate their sketches to sculptures. On view are finished works and artifacts from their creation.

OR / Portland
Bullseye Gallery
The Realm of Quantifiable Truths: Emily Nachison
to Aug. 30
The sparks for Emily Nachison’s work are natural phenomena, but her glass and mixed-media sculptures have a supernatural mystique, appearing simultaneously grounded and ethereal.

TN / Memphis
Metal Museum
Protective Ornament: Contemporary Armor to Amulets
to Sep. 7
It’s metal – wanna make something of it? The artists in this show take on those fightin’ words with fourscore works of armor, amulets, brass knuckles, chain mail, and other gear of aggression and defense.

WA / Bellingham
Whatcom Museum
Reaching Beyond: Northwest Designer Craftsmen at 60
Sep. 14 – Jan. 4
The Northwest Designer Craftsmen celebrate six decades of supporting craft in the Pacific Northwest with a juried show of glass, metal, clay, fiber, and mixed media by 90 artists who bookend its history: 31-year-old ceramist Eva Funderburgh is the NWDC’s youngest current member, and versatile artist and teacher Russell Day, at 102, is its last living founder.

WI / Racine 
Racine Art Museum
Collection Focus: The Life and Times of Robert W. Ebendorf, Jeweler and Metalsmith
to Jan. 18
Robert W. Ebendorf’s assemblages, jewelry, and hollowware are made of metal, found objects, and the wealth of ideas and knowledge he has amassed over 50 years of his cutting-edge career. Also on view: “Charlotte Kruk: Consumer Couture – The Politics of Having” (to Jul. 26, 2015), a show of sculptures and garments fabricated from candy wrappers, coffee bags, and other packaging that make points about who we are, what we buy, and where it goes.

View the complete shows and events calendar.