William K. Thomas was just 12 years old when he made this model steamboat, which was exhibited at an agricultural fair in Portland, ME; Jim Ernst grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River, where he developed an interest in the steam-powered boats that once dominated the waterway.

Two of the many displays in the Renwick Gallery’s new exhibition, “State Fairs: Growing American Craft,” dedicated to artists’ contributions to the great U.S. tradition of state fairs with more than 240 artworks on view, dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.

‘Large Cross’ (ca. 1970), posted earlier: