Featured Artists in "Arts in Modern Handcrafts"
William Accorsi
William Accorsi originally planned to become a coal miner when he grew up. Instead, he decided to attend Muskingum College in Ohio and majored in elementary education. He played football, hoping that he would be able to become a coach one day. Little did he know, that he would become one of the most well-known craft artists. After he graduated, he worked for six years as an elementary school teacher and then a couple of years later, Accorsi had his first exhibited one-man exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in 1963. Then in 1970, Accorsi had his own show at the Smithsonian Institution. At this point in time, he began to become well-recognized on a national level. His work was mostly figures constructed out of maple wood, topped with varnish, and bright acrylic colors. Accorsi is considered a folk artist and has written many books over his lifetime. Accorsi unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago but his craftsmanship will be remembered forever in the history of craft.
Wendell Castle
Born in Kansas in 1932, Wendell Castle is considered to be the father of the art furniture movement. Castle received his BFA in Industrial Design and received the MFA in Sculpture. Soon after, he began working at the School of American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. Castle consistently works with the material of wood and essentially creates this kind of blend of sculpture with furniture. He has always believed that furniture does not have the same effect that sculpture does. Castle currently lives in Scottsville and serves as the Chairman of the Sculpture Department at the State University of New York in Brockport. His work his currently viewed at the MFA in Boston, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and many more. The piece of art in the beginning of this page is a work of Castle's taken from the traveling exhibition for, "Arts in Modern Handcrafts".
