State Fairs: Growing American Craft: Four Questions for Exhibition Contributing Curator Jon Kay

Abstract

Jon Kay served as a contributing curator for the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibition State Fairs: Growing American Craft. This exhibition was staged at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (August 22, 2025-September 7, 2026). In this interview, Kay reflects on the exhibition and associated catalogue, situating this collaborative project within his long-term work studying crafts, and working with craftspeople, associated with the Indiana State Fair. The following interview was undertaken by Jason Baird Jackson, with Jon Kay, between September 23 and October 5, 2024. It was initially published as follows:

Kay, Jon, and Jason Baird Jackson. 2025. “‘State Fairs: Growing American Craft: Four Questions for Exhibition Contributing Curator Jon Kay.” Shreds and Patches (blog). October 8, 2025. https://jasonbairdjackson.com/2025/10/08/state-fairs-growing-american-craft-four-questions-for-exhibition-contributing-curator-jon-kay/

In order to make this interview durably available, it is being added to the Published Works and White Papers series of the Material Culture and Heritage Studies Laboratory of the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University. It is deposited in IUScholarWorks with the consent of the interviewee.