[Music Plays] Pittsburgh is a city known for its commitment to the arts, but when you hear the word crafts, well, you might be more likely to think of the kind of craf fairs around the local community centers.

Well, tonight, Carol Lee Espy reveals, a collection of treasures right here in the city that may redefine your definition of crafts.

[Music Plays] At the corner of Smallman Street in 21st in Pittsburgh Strip District, one warehouse holds artwork that is vibrant, inspiring, and completely unique.

It's the society for Contemporary Crafts, and inside, visitors will find the best work of craft artists from around the world.

There are only a handful of contemporary craft organizations like us in the country.

We're really unusual, so you can't go to every city and find an equivalent organization.

Contemporary crafts are defined as work made from fiber, clay, glass, ceramic, metal, and increasingly found materials like these bottle caps.

Well, you know, we hear the word crafts sometimes what comes to mind.

Or pot holders and clocks made out of cork and a festival kind of thing.

So do you do battle with that conception?

I actually think that's a good thing.

I think that provides accessibility to what we're doing her because you can relate to craft.

Everyone has a grandmother who quilted, a father who worked in a wood shop so that's a good starting point.

But what is unique here is that our founder, Betty Raphael, realized in 1971 that artists were taking what had been traditional craft materials used for things like pot holders and tables, and they were moving in very new directions.

Founder Betty Raphael opened the first gallery in Verona to celebrate this new directio for traditional craft materials.

The Society for Contemporary Crafts moved to the Strip District location in 1986, and the Raphae family still holds a special show every other year in honor of Betty Raphael.

The theme of this year's show is transformations.

There was a national jury of experts that helped us select these artists, and they represent the finest, the most innovative work that's being done right no in the contemporary craft field.

And it's really very prestigious in terms of the craft field.

There's no other prize like this in the United States that's offered for contemporary craft across all the media.

The prize winning piece is a work by Korean American artist son.

The clay sculpture weighs nearly 400 pounds, and it was fired in one piece.

That's an incredible technical feat for an artist.

Another thing that's unusual about what we do here is we have source cases where, in addition to the finished sculpture, the artist is invited to send us materials from their studio.

Sometimes by looking at the source case you can kind of connect the dots and then you see the transformation.

There's a wonderful sculpture.

It's in Raku Clay and glass in the back by Christina Bothwell, and there's a standing figure with a smaller infant that's kind of floating in the air, and the two are joined by a kiss.

In the nearby source case, you'll discover the simple and innocent inspiration for the sculpture, a long forgotten drawing Bothwell had done as a child, rediscovered when she was cleaning out the home of her father.

The other piece, also on the wall, I'll just mention, is it's a cameo of George Washington, and I don't know if you noticed that or not, because when you look at it really close, you see all of these white molded things that are sort of glob together.

I see his face and.

Yeah.

Isn't that amazing?

We are trying to find the best work that's being produced out there in the field and making it available here.

We also travel our shows.

Increasingly, we're sending our shows across the country, sort of sending the name of Pittsburgh out to other places.

It's not just a gallery, though, it's much more.

The gallery is the primary focus.

We do about four shows a year here, but we also have a store where we sell work by about 400 artists from across the country.

Even if you don't buy something, you can handle the things and look at them and try to figure out how they're made.

It really kind of opens your creative thinking up.

And then we also have an education center, which is quite new.

Two years ago, we opened what we call the studio, and it really is a portal to creativity for everyone and for those who want a more intense creative experience.

The Society for Contemporary Crafts offers a number of courses.

This Japanese woodworking class is the only one of its kind taught in the United States.

Here, students learn the Japanese art of handcrafting furniture without using nails or glue.

And our point here is that everyone's creative.

Everyone has the ability to access that.

And through the classes and workshops that we offer, you have a chance to kind of reconnect with that.

Nearly 40% of the visitors here are from out of town, suggesting it's one of the city's relatively hidden treasures for residents.

But executive director Janet McCall says it isn't hard to convince the locals to come back once they discover what's inside the Strip District warehouse.

[Music Plays] The challenge is getting them to the front door, and once they get in and they see what's here, it really opens up their thinking and they get very excited about it.

We might make a difference in their life.

We certainly hope to make a difference in the quality of life of the region.

And the Society for Contemporary Craft also has an outreach component that includes a ten year association with the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

They also work with the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council and several homeless shelter and nursing homes in our region.

And you can see their latest show transformations through the end of February, and you can see more of the society's works at their satellite gallery.

And that's downtown at One Mellon Center at the T station.

Some of it's very fascinating.

And they say they have a store, but what are some of the objects on display?

Can you buy those as well?

You actually can you can buy them, which is a nice part abou the gallery as you can see them.

And if you really really like them, you could buy.

Of course, the store is kind of like the black hole to my wallet.

It just sucks in the sucks in my checking.

So what you're saying is you're not buying dinner for the crew tonight?

I won't be buying dinner!

Okay!

Thank you!

And thank you for watching!

We'll be back live at 7:30 tomorrow night!

Stay connected and have a good night!

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