Growth and change aren't often evident in the people and things we see regularly. But skip a few decades -- think class reunions -- and the differences brought about by passing years and shifting cultural practices can be striking.

A handsome exhibition at the Society for Contemporary Craft, "5 Contemporary Masters" also illustrates the dynamic evolution of craft in the decades between the organization's founding and now.

The late Elizabeth Rockwell Raphael noticed in the early 1970s that craftspeople were taking their materials in new directions, pushing edges of traditional form and application. She opened The Store for Arts and Crafts and People-Made Things in Verona (now the Society) to showcase such work, one of the few institutions in the country at the time to specialize in craft.

The Society is showing current work by five seminal figures of the art/craft movement who were among the first collected and exhibited by Raphael.

Supplementing the exhibition are pieces by each artist that are in the Society's permanent collection, and it is through comparison of the recent and earlier works that how far craft has traveled becomes apparent.

Three glass goblets from 1982 by Steven Maslach, for example, show his competence with technique, inventiveness and already luscious aesthetic. His current work is sculptural and influenced by the waters of the Pacific Northwest, where he lives. Long, sleek, cast and cold-worked forms call to mind the bows of ocean ships and of Native American vessels. The interiors, seen from above, are seductive pools of stilled liquid, projecting the saturated blues and greens of the sea or, in "Red Long Boat," the variegated crimson of an artery exposed.

Californian John Cederquist's "Hanging Drawers," a multi-pocketed walnut wall piece from circa 1978, shows the blend of humor, function, funk and craftsmanship that coalesce in eye-catching contemporary "side trays" and cabinets that are foremost elegant explorations of composition and design. Cederquist employs numerous woods in impeccable inlay with barely discernible joinings and gracefully applies color via aniline dyes.

Perhaps most well known is Lenore Tawney, who died last year and was the senior of this group of artists. She was a champion of weaving as a sculptural medium, and her "Wall Hanging" (circa 1973) -- with feathers woven into a linen background -- looks almost conventional today but was boundary-pushing when created. Throughout her career, Tawney displayed improvisation and confidence when combining materials, whether using a loom or the assemblage of sculpture exhibited here.

Jonathan Bonner's abstract copper "Weathervane" (1983) and "Perforated Bowl" (1991) give little clue to the later "Taha's Box" (2007), a performance represented by a short video and the box that co-stars with Bonner in this humorous work. "Shift 3," a tall abstract brass sculpture that seems posed for motion, is more representative of the kind of public art for which the Providence artist is nationally known.

New Yorker Marek Cecula's "Rice Bowl" and "Cup" of 1979 share finery, porcelain bodies and the slip-casting method with the five pieces from his "Beauty of Imperfection" series exhibited. But while the former exemplify perfection, the latter flip that ideal through cups and teapots that were altered as greenware and now slump and sport holes. Cecula deconstructs mass-produced industrial porcelain, giving it individuation while removing functional applications.

The usually dominant functional component of the earlier works doesn't make them lesser, just different. But it's notable that visionaries like Raphael exist, to offer the support to young artists that allows them to follow whichever muse entices.

"Masters" continues through Sept. 13 at 2100 Smallman St., Strip District. Admission is free. Visitors may use cell phones to access a free audio tour. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. For information: 412-261-7003 or www.contemporarycraft.org.

The Society for Contemporary Craft has established the Lydon Emerging Artist Program Award and is calling for applications for its 2009 competition. Applications and materials are due Nov. 3. For information call or visit the sources noted above.

The annual "8-Hour Projects," during which invited artists complete wall-sized works of art within eight hours, returns to Allegheny College in Meadville from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. The event, which is free and open to the public, picks up steam through the afternoon as artists work feverishly to complete their visions in time.

The resultant exhibition continues until Sept. 30, after which the works will be painted over, as have been those of past years.

Participants will be Pittsburghers Ken Batista, Julie Stunden, George A. Lipchak, Cara Erskine, Renee Ickes, Kim Beck, Eric Stern, Marc Burgess and Lauren Frances Adams. Also Mark Keffer of Bedford, Ohio; Michelle Droll, Kent, Ohio; Colleen McCubbin Stepanic, Springfield, Pa.; and Colleen Toledano, Philadelphia.

"Projects" takes place in the Bowman, Penelec & Megahan Galleries, Doane Hall of Art, 520 N. Main St. Artists' talks and an opening reception will be from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday. Information: 1-814-332-4365.