Created by Thomas Loeser of Madison, WI, this honey locust bench is backed by broken shovel handles discarded by residents when spring arrives. While shoveling snow can cause back pain, these shovel handles now lend their support.

We saw this display as we were leaving 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.

I may post a few more miscellaneous pictures from the exhibit, just haven’t decided yet.

‘Great Blue Heron Decoys’ (2017-25), ‘Egret Decoys’ (2024), ‘Fish Decoys’ (2024-25), posted earlier: