Subscribe to our Craft Dispatch e-newsletter to stay looped in to all things craft! Sign Up ×

Meet the 2024 American Craft Council Awards Recipients

Meet the 2024 American Craft Council Awards Recipients

Every other year, the Council bestows four types of awards to recognize the inspiring individuals and organizations who are moving the field forward.

Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship | College of Fellows
Award of Distinction | Aileen Osborn Webb Award for Philanthropy

Nick Cave

Nick Cave (Chicago, IL)

photo of wendy maruyama

Wendy Maruyama (San Diego, CA)

photo of Anne Wilson

Anne Wilson (Evanston, IL)

Syd Carpenter

Syd Carpenter (Philadelphia, PA)

Michael A. Cummings

Michael A. Cummings (New York City, NY)

Einar and Jamex De La Torre

Einar and Jamex De La Torre (San Diego, CA)

Yuri Kobayashi

Yuri Kobayashi (Camden, ME)

Mark Newport

Mark Newport (Hamtramck, MI)

Michael Puryear

Michael Puryear (Shokan, NY)

Diego Romero

Diego Romero (Santa Fe, NM)

Lynda Watson

Lynda Watson (Santa Cruz, CA)

Diana Baird N’Diaye, Ph.D.

Diana Baird N’Diaye, Ph.D. (Cheverly, MD)

Cindi Strauss

Cindi Strauss (Houston, TX)

JoAnn Edwards

JoAnn Edwards (San Francisco, CA)

Carol Sauvion

Carol Sauvion (Beverly Hills, CA)

Photo of Charles Duddingston

Charles Duddingston (Minneapolis, MN)


 

Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship

Every two years, one or more ACC Fellows are recognized as a Gold Medalists, an award for a lifetime of achievements. It is the highest award given by the Council. Gold Medal awardees represent the extraordinary among a field of elite craftspeople.

COLLEGE OF FELLOWS

Since 1975, the American Craft Council has recognized people who have made an outstanding contribution to the crafts in America by awarding the distinction of Fellow of the Council. The body of awardees is known collectively as the College of Fellows.

HONORARY FELLOWS

AWARDS OF DISTINCTION

This award recognizes an organization, institution, corporation, or individual who has made significant contributions to the field of craft with a minimum of 25 years of service.

AILEEN OSBORN WEBB AWARD FOR PHILANTHROPY

Named after ACC's founder, this award recognizes exceptional contributions in support of the Council and the field of contemporary craft.

Thank You to the ACC Awards Committee

Susan Cummins, Honorary Fellow
Katherine Gray, Fellow
Chris Gustin, Fellow
Karen Hampton, Fellow
Mary Lee Hu, Fellow
Tom Loeser, Fellow (Chair)
Carolyn Mazloomi, Honorary Fellow

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PROGRAM SPONSORS 

Windgate logo.

The ACC Awards and College of Fellows program is possible thanks to generous support from the Windgate Foundation.

Maxwell Hanrahan logo

The ACC Awards and College of Fellows program is possible thanks to generous support from the Maxwell | Hanrahan Foundation.

The American Craft Council is pleased to announce that we have received a substantial grant from the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation to advance our shared goal of fostering the livelihoods of craft artists.

Maxwell/Hanrahan recognizes and provides direct financial support to exceptional hands-on practitioners. Inspired by ACC’s long history of facilitating peer-driven processes to select ACC Fellows and Gold Medal recipients, the Maxwell/Hanrahan grant will fund cash awards of $5,000 each for our nine 2024 ACC Fellows and $20,000 each for our three 2024 Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship recipients. The grant will also fund cash awards for Fellows and Gold Medalists in 2026.

More information about the grant is available here and below.

FAQs About New Cash Awards for ACC Award Recipients

How and when did ACC secure the grant funding to provide these cash awards?

The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation has been a funder of ACC for several years. In late 2023, the Foundation started a conversation with us about the ACC Awards program to explore whether adding a cash award for hands-on practitioners would align with our program goals and the Foundation’s priorities. This led to a series of conversations that culminated in the Foundation’s decision in early spring 2024 to provide this grant to ACC.

What is the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation?

The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation was started in 2018 by Delle Maxwell and Pat Hanrahan to “support individual teachers, scientists, conservationists, artists, and creators whose diverse perspectives enable us to discover new things about ourselves and our world.” The Foundation has four broad areas of funding interest: hands-on science, art and craft, teachers and classrooms, and protecting nature. More information is available online.

Which ACC Awards will be accompanied by cash awards as a result of this grant?

In accordance with Maxwell/Hanrahan’s focus on hands-on practitioners, ACC will provide cash awards to our 2024 Fellows and Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship recipients.

How did ACC determine which ACC Awards would be accompanied by cash awards and the amount each cash award would be?

The decision about which ACC Awards would be accompanied by cash awards emerged from conversations between ACC and the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation and reflects the Foundation's focus on supporting hands-on practitioners. ACC staff requested funding for cash awards in amounts that reflect the broader landscape of award funding in our field.

How does providing cash awards to artists align with ACC’s mission?

A core component of ACC’s mission is to foster the livelihoods of craft artists, which we have done for more than 80 years through a variety of activities. Over the next five years, one of our objectives is to increase financial support, broadly defined, from ACC to artists. We are grateful for Maxwell/Hanrahan’s partnership in advancing this objective through the ACC Awards program.

Will Fellows and Gold Medal recipients receive cash awards after 2024?

The grant period for this Maxwell/Hanrahan funding covers our biennial awards in 2024 and 2026. We will seek to continue our partnership with Maxwell/Hanrahan for awards cycles in 2028 and beyond, and to approach other funders as well.

What is the benefit of receiving an ACC Award, beyond the new cash awards available for Fellows and Gold Medal recipients?

The benefits of being selected as an ACC Award recipient include prominent coverage in American Craft magazine, a professionally produced video featuring each Award recipient that the recipient may use for a range of purposes, the opening or expanding of an artist file in the ACC Library and Archives to advance future scholarship and research, a complimentary lifetime membership to ACC, and recognition in a celebration program led by colleagues and peers in the field. ACC is deeply grateful to the Windgate Charitable Foundation for providing the funding that makes so many of these benefits possible.

 

Might cash awards also be provided to Honorary Fellows and Award of Distinction recipients in the future?

ACC will continue exploring a variety of avenues and opportunities to secure funding for cash awards to Honorary Fellows and Award of Distinction recipients. While the Aileen Osborn Webb Award for Philanthropy is also part of our biennial ACC Awards program, we would not seek to add a cash award to it given that award’s purpose.

What else is funded by the new Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation grant?

The large majority of this grant will go to cash awards for 2024 and 2026 Fellows and Gold Medal recipients. The remainder will cover a modest amount of program staff time and an Awards Committee Chair honorarium to support building relationships with people and organizations that can help increase the number of nominations submitted for heritage and traditional craft practitioners. These artists are a focus for the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation and a segment of makers ACC seeks to serve and engage more fully under our strategic plan.

Are there other funders supporting the ACC Awards program?

In addition to this new funding from Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, the ACC Awards have benefitted from critical and continuous funding from the Windgate Charitable Foundation for the past several years. Windgate’s support has enabled award-winning coverage of Awards recipients in American Craft, professionally produced video interviews with all Awards recipients, and the ACC Awards celebration, among other program elements.

Who is eligible for ACC Awards, and how can craft artists be considered for them?

The ACC Awards is a longstanding program that recognizes artists and appreciators for exceptional contributions to the field of craft with the lifetime distinction of Fellow of the Council. The value of peer-based recognition is deeply rooted in this program. Accordingly, Fellows and Honorary Fellows are nominated by past Fellows, as well as a small selection of guest nominators. To be eligible, nominees must demonstrate leadership in the field, outstanding ability as an artist/hands-on practitioner, or as a curator, scholar, advocate, etc., and 25 years or more of professional achievement. The Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship is ACC’s lifetime achievement award and can only be given to an ACC Fellow. Selection of the Fellows, Honorary Fellows, and Gold Medalists rests with the ACC Awards Committee, which is composed of Fellows and Honorary Fellows. For more information about all the ACC Awards and a list of all recipients since the Awards began, please visit ACC’s website.

For more information about the ACC Awards, please contact Rachel Messerich, Programs Manager, Legacy and Editorial, at [email protected].