As Hawai'i State Art Museum gallery director Peter Britos walks through the "Uncommon Objects" exhibit, he contemplates the nature of craft.

"Any cohesive community has to deal with craft," Britos says. "It's how we eat, how we do our everyday things. We all do crafts in order to survive. The unique thing about Hawai'i is that the regional art here is such a conglomeration of different traditions and practices. ... The folks in this community tend to retain the traces of their past in really unique ways."

Drawing from Hawai'i's collection of public art, which spans four decades, the exhibit explores the term "craft" from an art-historical perspective.

For many a museum patron, "craft" may not warrant a second thought. But for some, the term is loaded, weighted by tradition and distanced from "art." Painting and sculpture, historically, have been granted privilege over media such as ceramics, quilting or glass. It's precisely this murky history that "Uncommon Objects" sets out to embrace and explore.

"We could have gone in a number of directions," says Stacey Uradomo-Barre, curator of the show. "When we started meeting with the advisory committee, we would have hourlong discussions about the term craft and nobody could come up with a single definition for 'what is craft?' And for me, as an art historian, it's those places — where there are unresolved issues — that are the most interesting."

The question is timely. The American Craft Museum in New York City recently changed its name to the Museum of Arts & Design. The California College of Arts and Crafts is now California College of the Arts.

What makes an object craft or art? What's the difference between art and craft? For this show, the curatorial team wanted the public to address the question directly. For Britos, who stepped into his role last fall — too late to participate in the curatorial process — the questioning nature of the exhibit fits his vision for the museum's overall direction.

"That's what art does," says Britos, an artist himself. "It should engage and confront. ... It shouldn't be just nicey-nice and making pretty pictures. ... If this museum wants to make its mark, it needs to put on world-class exhibitions, like this one."

The exhibit, designed by James Kuroda, is grouped according to theme, such as functional beauty, aesthetic experimentation, transcending boundaries, and symbolic functionalism. Each is intended to probe the craft question as it is tied to utilitarian and conceptual objects.

The interpretation of vessels, for example, finds its way into several aspects of the exhibit. Pam Burton's asymmetrical vase is woven from bamboo, and Patricia Hickman's "Bewildered Heart," made from hog casings, bo tree leaves and braided fibers, considers the realm of the human body as a vessel. Roughly 160 pieces showcase a wide range of work and includes such familiar names as Satoru Abe, Michael Tom and Toshiko Takaezu.

One of the strengths of the show is its reflection upon Hawai'i's diversity. "Here you can see Japanese influence, Chinese influence, European, avant-garde and the indigenous culture, co-existing side by side," Britos says. "And it's communicated in ways that you just don't see in other places."

Hawai'i was the first state to finance an art in public places program, through the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts. During its 40-year history, it has amassed about 5,000 pieces. The collection, the foundation for the exhibit, is in more than 500 buildings statewide. Logistical constraints kept works from Neighbor Islands from being recalled for the show. Still, the depth of the collection demonstrates foresight, Uradomo-Barre says: "The collection is so rich and strong in craft-based media."

The state foundation staff, she says, "were forerunners in questioning the divide between craft and art. ... When they purchased pieces, they bought the best piece — not subscribing to that divide between art and craft."