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Here’s Your Chance to Take Part in a Series of Free Craft Events at the BARN During Handwork Week, April 26 – May 1

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Bainbridge Island - The BARN

By Jennifer Hemmingsten

Don’t miss your chance to be part of one of the most ambitious celebrations of American craft in a generation. During Handwork Week at BARN, April 26 through May 1, pull up a chair for artists’ talks with makers whose work has shown from Denmark to Dallas, catch a poetry reading, and wander the studios during a free open house. All of it free and open to the public.

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BARN, BIMA, the Museum of Glass, the Burke Museum, and the Evergreen State College’s House of Welcome are all participating in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a year-long collaboration bringing together more than 280 museums, galleries, and craft organizations across all 50 states. The heart of BARN’s contribution is Handwork Week, a series of intensive workshops drawing students from across the country. 

Most workshops are fully enrolled, but the week is full of free, public evening events, and everyone is welcome.

Monday, April 27, 6 PM — Watch a Bronze Pour See molten metal stream into a sand mold in a live foundry demonstration led by Bainbridge Island sculptor Jeff Oens, whose wildlife sculptures appear in public and private collections across the United States and Canada. Only six spaces available — register here.

Monday, April 27, 6:30 PM — Artists’ Talk with Richard Parrish Montana-based kilnformed glass artist Richard Parrish has shown work at the Corning Museum of Glass and in galleries from California to Denmark. His Tapestry series — composed of thousands of precisely cut glass stringers — balances mathematical precision with organic feeling, rooted in memories of grain fields and big sky country. Hear him talk about a practice built over more than two decades.

Bainbridge Island
Jeff Oens

Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 PM — Artists’ Talk with Daniel Winterbottom When University of Washington landscape architecture professor Daniel Winterbottom started wandering Seattle during the pandemic lockdown, he wasn’t planning to create award-winning reportage. He was simply seeking relief from isolation. The resulting series earned him one of only four Urban Sketchers Reportage Grants awarded globally in 2021. His talk explores how art becomes a way of paying attention.

Wednesday, April 29, 6:30 PM — Jeff Oens in Conversation A second evening with the local sculptor, this time in a more intimate conversation about his practice and the role of craft in public life.

Thursday, April 30, 6 PM — Ricardo Ruiz Poetry Reading at BIMA Washington State poet Ricardo Ruiz, whose work is rooted in the stories of Central Washington communities, brings language and craft into dialogue in a reading co-presented by BARN and the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

Bainbridge Island - The BARN
Richard Parrish

Friday, May 1, 4–6 PM — Handwork Open House The week closes with a free community walkthrough of BARN’s studios — a chance to see what a week of serious making looks like up close.

Saturday, May 2, 4 PM — Artist Talk with Alisa Banks at BIMA Dallas-based book artist Alisa Banks teaches BARN’s Print & Book Arts intensive during Handwork Week. Her artist talk at BIMA is open to the public and free.

Please register for events so BARN knows you’re coming. Free studio tours are also available at 1 PM on Wednesdays and Sundays — no registration required, just curiosity.

A few workshop seats still available

The Handwork Week intensives are mostly full, but a handful of spots remain in select classes. Tuition assistance is available, and classes are open to students 14 and older.

Free Handwork Week events take place at BARN, 8890 Three Tree Lane NE, Bainbridge Island, and at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. For the full schedule and event details, visit bainbridgebarn.org/handwork2026.

Jennifer Hemmingsen is a former journalist and the Marketing Communications Director at the BARN.

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