American craft is craft work produced by independent studio artists working with traditional craft materials and processes. Examples include wood, glass, clay (ceramics), textiles, and metal (metalworking). Studio craft works tend to either serve or allude to a functional or utilitarian purpose, although they are just as often handled and exhibited in ways similar to visual art objects.
Dale Chihuly's 30-foot blown-glass chandelier in the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2000
Window of St. Augustine; by Louis Comfort Tiffany, now in the Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, Florida
Peter Voulkos (left) assisted by John Balistreri.
The Renwick Gallery, at the Smithsonian
The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typically excludes architecture. Ceramic art, metalwork, furniture, jewellery, fashion, various forms of the textile arts and glassware are major groupings.
Le Nove porcelain, Bowl with cover, 1765–70, painted with ruins, soft-paste porcelain
The front side of the Cross of Lothair (c. 1000), a classic example of "Ars Sacra"
Wine Pot, c. 18th century, China, Walters Art Museum
Surahi, Mughal, 17th century CE. National Museum, New Delhi
