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Featured Artists

We're working to build our directory of American Craft Council artist profiles. For now, start by exploring the biographies of these featured Gold Medalist artists whose work was part of our 2011 exhibition: "Gold: American Craft Council Gold Medalists, 1994-2010" at SOFA Chicago and our 2012 ACC award winners. For more on the exhibition, watch Michael Monroe's video recap. If you’re looking for a particular artist who is participating in an ACC show, please visit the Baltimore ShowAtlanta ShowSt. Paul Show, or San Francisco Show pages.
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Sharon Church is a studio jeweler and professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dante Marioni rapidly established himself as one of the leading figures in the field of contemporary glass.

Anne Currier is a ceramic artist and Professor of Professor of Ceramic Art at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York.

Tom Loeser is a woodworker and professor of art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Andrea Gill is a ceramic artist and professor of ceramic art at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York.

Lewis Knauss is a fiber artist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Sherri Smith is a fiber artist and professor of weaving and textile design at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Stephen De Staebler (1933-2011) was a sculptor who lived and worked in Berkeley, California.

Born in 1922 in Pepeekeo, Hawaii. Toshiko Takaezu’s closed vessels and asymmetrical forms blend Eastern and Western traditions, recalling the landscape of her native Hawaii; the scale and drama of her pots demand an intimate participation from the viewer. For most of her career she divided her time between gardening, teaching, and her ceramic work.

Born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington. Dale Chihuly is one of the most influential contemporary glass artists alive, and he has created numerous significant site-specific installations, in sites ranging from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Born in 1925 in New York. Karen Karnes continues to exemplify the pinnacle of the studio pottery movement, as she has for the past 60 years. Karnes’ ceramics move deftly between functional and abstract forms, equally intriguing and inviting in both modes. She attended Brooklyn College before studying ceramics in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy and at Alfred University in 1952.

Born in 1924 in Kansas City, Missouri. In all aspects of his career, Warren MacKenzie has championed the functional potter. In his prolific body of work, Mackenzie uses form, color, and surface to create striking, expressive functional pottery.

Born in 1926 in San Francisco. Kay Sekimachi’s objects are at once simple yet crafted with an astounding complexity of detail.

Born in 1927 in Seattle. Jack Lenor Larsen is an innovator in textile design and technology. His handwoven fabrics represent the pinnacle of 20th century design, and his innovation continues to be a pervasive influence in this century. Larsen attended the University of Washington and Cranbrook Academy of Art, earning his MFA in 1951. He established Jack Lenor Larsen Inc.

Born in 1918 in Denver. June Schwarcz studied and worked in industrial design before a book on enamels inspired her to change her artistic focus. She soon began experimenting with different construction techniques and surface treatments, such as etching, electroforming, and engraving, to create forms which she then covered with transparent enamels.

Born in 1932 in Emporia, Kansas. Wendell Castle has been creating unique works of handmade sculpture and furniture for more than four decades, and his dreamlike pieces have challenged established rules of function and design. He pioneered the use of stack-lamination, which removed technical barriers and allowed a new level of formal experimentation.

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