The documentary series Craft in America returns with two new episodes, streaming online now and premiering on PBS this December. These episodes are part of the Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 initiative, a yearlong project marking the nation’s 250th anniversary and celebrating the diversity of the crafts that define America.
SOUTH and NORTH complete the series’ journey through craft across the United States, which began in December 2025 with episodes EAST and WEST.
The SOUTH episode explores craft artists who are building an inclusive and hopeful future, such as Jessica Osceola, an artist and member of the Seminole tribe of Florida.
“Making objects is something that we’re just born into,” says Osceola.“Craft links the generations. You’re looking at your past, your present, and your future, and it’s good that the chain never gets broken.”
Along with Jessica and the Osceola-Zepeda family of Naples, Florida, the episode features Ato Ribeiro, an artist in Atlanta, Georgia, who makes wooden quilts inspired by Ghanaian symbols; fiber artist Vicki Essig, who works with silkworms to create art garments in Spruce Pine, North Carolina; stained-glass mosaic artist Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo in Miami Beach, Florida; and Shaka Zulu and Edward Buckner, who participate in the Black Masking Indian society traditions of New Orleans, Louisiana, known for their elaborate beaded costumes.
In NORTH, Craft in America investigates the impact of the northern landscape on artists. Jeremy Frey, a featured artist in NORTH, reflects how his work and the environment are deeply connected.
“There is an invasive insect that’s killing all the trees, the emerald ash borer beetle,” says Frey, a contemporary basketmaker in Eddington, Maine. “We’re losing the material that the baskets are made of … Someday, I might be one of the last people weaving in black ash.”
The episode also features the annual Intertribal Canoe Journey in the Pacific Northwest; Haystack Mountain School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine; artist Sayaka Ganz, who works with reclaimed plastics in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Tia Keobounpheng in Minneapolis, Minnesota, exploring her Sami ancestry through wood and fiber wall sculptures.
Both episodes are streaming now on the PBS app, pbs.org, and craftinamerica.org.
NORTH and SOUTH premiere on PBS on Friday, December 18, 2026, at 9pm and 10pm (check your local listings), as well as on YouTube.
