david Holzapfel

David has been making furniture and objects from the unhewn hardwoods of Vermont for more than thirty years. He has exhibited in gallery and museum shows nationwide though most of his time is spent on private commissions. Publications featuring his work include The Christian Science Monitor, House Beautiful, and Vermont Magazine. He has lead workshops, served as an artist-in-residence for the Vermont Council on the Arts and given slide-lectures at the annual Furniture Society and SOFA Chicago conferences. He’s taught Italian at Marlboro College, sixth graders at the Marlboro School and written articles for Fine Woodworking and Woodwork Magazine.

date of birth

• March 10, 1950

Education

• BA Italian Poetry and Translation, Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT 1972
• Middlebury College, Italian Summer Institute 1975
• Self-taught woodworker

Work Experience

• Apprentice: Roy Sheldon’s Fabulous Tables 1973 - 76
• Furniture and object maker 6/76 to date
  
• Educator, Marlboro School 1989 to date

Career summary

Selected Exhibitions

• The State of Craft: the Studio Craft Movement
  In Vermont 1960 – 2010, 2010
• American Craft Oddessy, Renwick Alliance, DC 2001
• The Works Gallery, “Vermont Visions”, Phila. 1998
• Drury Gallery Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT 1998
• The Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT 1996
• Helen Day Art Center Stowe, Vt 1992
• DCH Gallery Boston, MA 1988
• Handcrafter’s Gallery Santa Fe, NM 1987
• Art and Architectural Design Baltimore, MD 1987
• Tyler Gallery Marlboro College, Vt 1986
• Ten Arrow Gallery Cambridge, Ma 1986
• Snyderman Gallery Phildelphia, Pa 1985
• Pritam & Eames East Hampton, NY 1985
• American Craft Gallery Cleveland, Ohio 1984
• Morristown Museum of Arts and Sciences, NJ 1983, 1984
• Vermont State Craft Center Windsor, Vt 1983
• Craftsman’s Gallery Scarsdale, NY 1981, 1984, 1986, 1993

Photography credits

Numerous craft and art publications including American Craft Magazine, Fine Woodworking, Woodwork Magazine, & Vermont Magazine

Selected lecture/teaching engagements

• "Making it in the Arts" Brattleboro Museum. For Brattleboro West Arts 2010
• "boards branches hollows and burls", Bennington Museum 2010
• “Embracing the Unhewn”, slide lecture w/Michelle Holzapfel Lexington, MA 2000
• “The way we work”, slide lecture given w/ Michelle Holzapfel SOFA, Chicago 1999
• “Considering the Unhewn: material based design and making”, slide lecture given at annual meeting of Furniture Society, TN 1999
• “Breaking Barriers” Conference, Emma Lake, Saskatchewan 1998
• Educator Marlboro School 1989-date
• Professor of Italian Marlboro College 1989
• Horizons: The New England Craft Program 1985, 1988
• Baltimore-Washington Woodworkers Guild
• Towson State University 1984
• Scarsdale Adult School Scarsdale, NY 1983
• Vermont Council on the Arts: Artist in Residence 1980-1984

Selected Publications

• "State of Craft: the artisans speak" Arlene Distler, Southern Vermont Arts & Living, Fall 2010
• “Natural Design” Nisha (Israeli design magazine) April 2008
• “Gallery” Woodwork Magazine #51 June 2005
• Wood Art Today Dona Meilach, Schiffer Publishing 2004
• Cabinets of Curiosities Editor, Judson Randall
  
• Woodturning Center & Furniture Society 2003
• The Workshop Scott Gibson, Taunton Press 2003
• “RFD” Vermont Public Television feature April, 23, 2001
• “A Croatian Story” (author) Woodwork Magazine Dec 1998
• “Vermont Made” Vermont Magazine Ju/Ag 1990
• “Handmade in Vermont” House Beautiful June 1988
• “Couple Turns Nature’s Mistakes into Art”Woodshop News Nov 198
• Creating Small Wood Objects as Functional Sculpture, Dona Meilach, Crown Publishers 1987
• “Working Where the Grain Goes Mad” Brattleboro, Maple Leaf Press 1986
• “Subtractive Woodworking: Furniture from Logs and Limbs” (authored) Fine Woodworking Magazine #54 Taunton Press 1985
• “Furniture and Figures from Bumps on a Log” Christian Science Monitor Jun 18,1985
• American Rustic Furniture, Susan Osborn 1984
• “Craft Couples’ Creations Give Wood Afterlife as Art” Baltimore Sun, Feb 1984
• Woodworking:The New Wave, Donna Meilach 1981
  
• Fine Woodworking Biennial Design Book II, Taunton Press 1979

• Selected Interviews / Blog Posts

  2009 - Vermont Folklife Center - Greg Sharrow; for "State of Craft," exhibit. In conjunction with the Vermont Craft History project.
  Vermont Crafts Council.
• 2009 -"Art Inspired by Nature: The Sensual Work of Sculptor and Furniture Maker David Holzapfel..." The Gardener's Eden. Michaela Harlow. 11/04/09
  http://www.thegardenerseden.com/?s=david+holzapfel
• 2008 - Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, by Josephine Shea. Nanette Laitman Documentation Project for Craft & Decorative Arts in America. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/collections_list.cfm/search_letter/H#ho

• Selected Public and Corporate Collections

  Museum of  Art and Design,  New York, NY
• Nordstrom Photography, Toronto, Canada
• Hannay Reels, Albany, NY
• Whoop Inc., New York, NY
• Woodturning Center, Philadelphia, PA
• Juan Montoya Design, New York, NY