American Studio Woodturning Movement

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The American Studio Woodturning Movement can be traced back through diverse international movements and schools of thought, including Arts and Crafts, Mingei, Bauhaus and Scandinavian Design. [1] The field was born when a number of individuals, working in different parts of the United States, began to explore design and aesthetics utilizing the ancient process of woodturning. [2]

James Prestini was the first of these individuals to come to the public's attention with an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1949 that featured sculpture, as well as bowls that had more in common with historical approaches to ceramics and glass than work in wood. [2] [3] Others who are credited with pioneering this approach are Mel Lindquist, Ed Moulthrop, Rude Osolnik, Dale Nish and Bob Stocksdale. [4]

In the 1970s, in concert with the Back-to-the-land Movement and Studio Craft Movement, a new generation of individuals entered the field, including David Ellsworth, Giles Gilson, Stephen Hogbin, William Hunter (sculptor) and Mark Lindquist.

In 1986, the American Association of Woodturners was formed to serve the growing amateur and professionals in this burgeoning movement. [1]

Canadian artists Stephen Hogbin and Michael Hosaluk were central to the growth of the international woodturning movement as artists and educators, inspiring individuals in the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Germany to explore their own traditions in light of this new movement. Today, the leading figures in the field are international, while the amateur movement continues to grow. [1]

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Michelle Holzapfel

Michelle Holzapfel is an American woodturner and a participant in the American Craft movement. Michelle Holzapfel has five decades of experience turning and carving native hardwoods in Marlboro, Vermont, where she has lived her adult life. Holzapfel fits the definitions of both Studio artist and Material movement artist. A product of the revolutionary back-to-the-earth movement of 1960s and 1970s, she attributes the expressiveness of her turned and carved forms to the idealism of those years. Raised in rural Rhode Island, she has worked alone in her Vermont studio—shared only with her husband, the furniture maker and educator David Holzapfel—since 1976. Her wood pieces which feature intricate carvings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the U.S., Australia and Europe. Publications featuring her work include but are not limited to House Beautiful, American Craft, Woodworking, and Fine Woodworking.

Merryll Saylan is an American woodturner. She is credited with helping pioneer the popularization of the woodturning field and the application of color in wood art. She is noted as being one of the few women in the craft field, when she first began turning during the 1970s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Cutting Edge: Contemporary Wood Art and the Lipton Collection, Kevin Wallace, Fine Arts Press, 2011
  2. 1 2 Contemporary Turned Wood: New Perspectives in a Rich Tradition, Ray Leier, Jan Peters and Kevin Wallace, Hand Book Press, 1999
  3. "James Prestini". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  4. American Style, Volume 9, Number 1, Fall 2002