With its soaring expressways and seemingly endless geography, little defines Houston in the public consciousness more than urban sprawl. Houston Center for Contemporary Craft takes on the implications of this development pattern in the national exhibition, SPRAWL. Co-curated by former HCCC curatorial fellow Susie J. Silbert and former HCCC curator Anna Walker, SPRAWL features 16 emerging and mid-career artists whose works deal with the urban landscape.

The Maker's Archive: Works by Tybre Newcomer features large sculptural work and intimate wall pieces that capture the transcendental relationship between craftsmen and their tools, transforming HCCC's front gallery into both archive and pilgrimage site. The exhibition debuts an entirely new body of work that builds on the artist's established fascination with tools, their histories and the craftsmen that use them.

Speaking directly to the endangerment of professional craft practices, Newcomer honors the field through his life-sized re-creations of workspaces and his construction of gilded niches, displaying tools like religious icons.

On view through Jan. 19.