Smithsonian Launches New Digital Education Resource on Traditional Trades

The Smithsonian recently launched a new digital education resource, "Built by Hand: Skilled Artisans in the Traditional Trades," that features skilled artisans in the traditional trades across the country.

The project was put together by Marjorie Hunt, Folklife Curator and Education Specialist at Smithsonian, after many years of oral history interviews and documentation. It features dozens of specialists, like blacksmiths, stone masons, decorative painters, and stained-glass artisans, including their stories, the work they do, and why it's important.

"We invite you to meet extraordinary artisans—stone carvers, decorative painters, preservation carpenters, blacksmiths, ornamental plasterers, stained-glass artisans, and many others—and discover the skills and values that shape and give meaning to their work," says Marjorie Hunt, the exhibition's curator. "We hope this exhibition inspires a new generation of craftspeople to learn, practice, and preserve the building arts, and helps us all to value the humanity of the handmade."

The project spotlights artisans whom we're proud to have featured in Traditional Building, like John Canning, Chris Pelletieri, Rudy Christian, Alicia Spence, Joe Alonso, Andy Uhl, Sean Callahan, and James Turner. To learn more about the project and to read the stories of these skilled artisans keeping the traditional building arts alive, visit folklife.si.edu/built-by-hand.