Staged Stories: New craft is far from homey

“Freedom BedcoverÓ isn’t your grandma’s quilt. Mark Newport stitched together comic book pages, highlighting select panels with embroidery, as a gift for his son Zachary. And Newport’s superhero costumes blow away the old leotard-and-tights uniform. Which is why they were chosen for “Staged Stories,Ó the new Renwick Craft Invitational exhibition.

With his toasty new fashions for Batman, Spiderman, Superman — and Sweaterman — the Cranbrook Academy of Art fiber professor trounces evil sex stereotypes, proving real men knit.

Newport adorns his supersuits with fitted hoods, button-up backs, classic cables, spiffy stripes, footies and the occasional pompom. Sizes range from larger-than-life to cozy; Newport lounges in Sweaterman’s costume while knitting to the dizzying pace of the “William Tell OvertureÓ in his “Heroic EffortsÓ DVD, which plays continuously in the gallery. Born into a family of knitters, Newport took up needles at an early age.

Equally intriguing: Prints depicting such scenes as an alter ego sitting naked on a sidewalk, tan lines marking an un-super physique, knitting as powersuiters stride by.

Inventive juxtaposition characterizes the work of the four Renwick invitees. Christyl Boger’s expertise in baroque palace porcelains informs her ceramic sculptures. Employing a hollow-building technique common to vessels, she shapes sublime classical figures — then decorates them like teacups with gold luster, china paint and decals. Stodgy statues these are not: Quirks include decorative accents on private parts and props that trick the eye. That inner tube and blowup dolphin look like vinyl because of Boger’s amazing way with clay.

SunKoo Yuh’s sculptures suggest politically charged graphic novels nearly vivified through clay. Piles of people, animals and plants form manic scenes frozen in time. He lets his glazes blend and run when firing to layer drama and frenetic energy into his takes on theater of the absurd.

And then, zen: Mary Van Cline’s landscapes ensconced in glass and embedded in decorative settings from seemingly ancient vessels to a glossy proscenium. Mystical scenes such as a beach apparition feel vaguely familiar; perhaps you saw them in a dream, a silent movie, a daguerreotype. Then again, these are staged stories; the billows of serenity are effects of masterful set design.

Using a vintage technique, Van Cline coats a glass plate with photo emulsion to produce a black and white image, which she then cuts and laminates to thick optical glass. Illumination creates a silent drama playing eternally within the glass.

Craft in four acts, each completely different, all immensely satisfying.