CA / Sacramento
Crocker Art Museum
The Shape of Things: Warren MacKenzie Ceramics
to Feb. 23
American studio pottery has been enriched by ACC Gold Medalist Warren MacKenzie’s influence for more than half a century. Susanna and George Grossman’s recent gift to the Crocker of their collection of his work is the basis of this exhibition.

CA / Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History at the McPherson Center
Mind, Heart, and Hand: The Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild
Dec. 7 – Feb. 2
Along the California coast between Monterey and Santa Cruz, metal artists banded together 15 years ago to “celebrate the ancient and noble pursuit of fine metalworking.” New work by guild membersin this juried show ranges from small jewelry to large constructions, in a compendium of metal techniques.

FL / Miami
Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
Tracey Emin: Angel without You
Dec. 4 – March 9
Follow the glow to the first American museum show of Emin’s work, which highlights the much-discussed British artist’s use of neon: 60 works from the past 20 years.

IL / Chicago
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership
Woof and Drash: Weaving the Jewish Experience
to Feb. 23
The diversity of Jewish life inspires Illinois weaver Berit Engen, who learned her craft in Norway as a child. Here, 85 of her miniature tapestries explore subjects from prophets to holidays, from Yiddish curses to ancient prayers.
 

NC / Asheville
Asheville Art Museum
Lasting Gifts
to Jan. 19
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center
Shaping Craft + Design at Black Mountain College
to Jan. 4
Two independently organized exhibitions celebrate Black Mountain College, the short-lived (1933 – 1957) but influential little powerhouse near Asheville where a stellar roster of artists honed their crafts and went on to become leaders in their fields. “Lasting Gifts” displays work from the AAM’s ever-growing Black Mountain College Collection, with pieces by luminaries such as Ruth Asawa and Karen Karnes. “Shaping Craft + Design” focuses on the college’s role in the growth of craft and design movements through works by artists who studied or taught there, including Shoji Hamada and Peter Voulkos.
 

NY / Buffalo
Burchfield Penney Art Center at SUNY Buffalo State
Art in Craft Media 2013
to Jan. 19
Fifty-five artists who live, or used to live, in western New York present work in wood, clay, fiber, glass, and metal in this juried show – proving that geographic limits are not artistic ones.
 

NY / New York
The Art Quilt Gallery
Cécile Trentini: Daily Inspiration
to Dec. 28
Once a painter and sculptor, Swiss artist Cécile Trentini now glories in the structural and sculptural properties of fabric. Under her needle, geometric forms become both lighthearted and surrealistic.

NY / New York
Grand Central Terminal Holiday Fair
to Dec. 24
“It’s like Grand Central in here” describes busy places everywhere. But the actual terminal, a century-old beaux arts beauty, is really, really busy: At holiday time, a million people a  day pass through it, and some will shop at this juried market with 75 artists and vendors.

TN / Memphis
Metal Museum
Ha! Metalsmiths at Play
Dec. 7 – Mar. 9
Those wacky folks with their blowtorches and anvils! This show highlights playful contemporary works alongside whimsical objects from the museum’s collection. In these artists’ hands, a seemingly rigid material has folks bent over laughing.

WA / Bellevue
Bellevue Arts Museum
Rick Araluce: The Minutes, the Hours, the Days
to Feb. 2
Araluce, the lead scenic artist for the Seattle Opera, goes anti-grand here, creating elaborate miniature environments in which perspective and scale are unsettlingly off-kilter, and every little door opens into a world of emotion and mystery.

WA / Tacoma
Museum of Glass
An Experiment in Design Production: The Enduring Birds of Iittala
to Jan. 12
For 10 years, Finnish artist Oiva Toikka and the Iittala company have hatched a specially designed glass bird for the museum. Each new one joins the hundreds of other birds Toikka has created for the design and home accessories company over the past five decades. The factory in Nuutajärvi, Finland, where most of the birds have been made, is set to close in 2014, prompting this look back at the entire flock.