With the demand for locally sourced goods and handmade products on the rise, terms like handcrafted, craftsmanship and artisanal are household words in the food industry and marketplace. Art-and-food-fusion events are increasingly prevalent, while craft, in this arena, denotes customized products and services.

In response to these trends and recent scholarship, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft presents Dining and Discourse: A Discussion in Three Courses, an exhibition that looks critically at the intrinsic relationship between craft and dining. The exhibition features 27 emerging and mid-career artists working in wood, glass, ceramics, fiber, metal and mixed media.

Curated by HCCC curatorial fellow Kathryn Hall, the show challenges contemporary notions of functionality, status and aesthetics by moving beyond the presentation of the beautifully set dinner table to spark discussion about the past, present and future of craft. Organized into three dining-room vignettes — Role Play, Hunter-Gatherer and Opulence and Excess — Dining and Discourse reveals new flavors within the age-old partnership of craft and food, as contemporary makers find inspiration in the dining experience.

On view through May 10, 2015.