Every two years, one or more Fellows are recognized as Gold Medalists, an award for a lifetime of achievement. It is the highest award given by the Council. Gold Medal awardees represent the extraordinary among a field of elite craftspeople. The significance cannot be overstated, and the value of material related to the individuals has proportional importance to the preservation and scholarship of American craft. Awardees are nominated by the College of Fellows and selected by the ACC Awards Committee.

July 27, 2024 to January 5, 2025

Fig Garden, Duncan, and Hallowell Galleries
Curator: Michele Ellis Pracy, FAM Executive Director and Chief Curator

The Fresno Art Museum’s auxiliary member group, The Council of 100, is delighted to announce American sculptor Wendy Maruyama as their Distinguished Woman Artist for 2024. She is the 34th artist to be given this annual award. Based in San Diego, California, Maruyama is recognized nationally and internationally for her master work in wood furniture and wildlife portraits and for her social commentary. Her solo exhibition at the Fresno Art Museum opens in July 2024 and is an overview of her work over the years. Curated by Michele Ellis Pracy, Fresno Art Museum Executive Director and Chief Curator, this exhibition of Maruyama’s work will be presented in the Vestibule, Fig Garden, Duncan, and Hallowell Galleries from July 2024 through January 2025.

Welcome to our first podcast of the 2023 season of Why Make? This episode is part one of our in depth conversation with the artist Wendy Maruyama. Wendy Maruyama is a furniture maker, sculptor and retired educator who resides in San Diego, California. Wendy’s work has tackled a wide scope topics, from traditional furniture forms, to exploring her Japanese heritage and the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WW2, to the issue of endangered animals.

As we discuss in the podcast, at 28:03 of Part 1, Wendy was born with significant hearing loss and cerebral palsy and at her request, to aid our listeners, we have included a full transcript of our conversation for this episode below. It can also be found in the episode notes on Apple podcasts

Furniture designer & maker, artist, and educator Wendy Maruyama is a legend in her field. Born with Cerebral Palsy, deaf, and growing up 3rd generation Japanese-American she discovered an interest in woodworking as a teenager and by early adulthood was one of the first two women to get an MFA in Furniture Design from RIT. Throughout her nearly 50-year career, Wendy has been extremely influential in the world of studio and artistic furniture. She’s also a badass feminist, and funny as all hell.

Digital Craft

The use of digital technologies in contemporary craft in the US

US based artist and design professor Donald Fortescue discusses recent work by craftspeople in the US which embraces digital technology. He defines the notions of sensuality, narrative and anachronism in this work and argues that digital technology is congruent with the core values of the crafts. He concludes that the challenge for artists and designers is to understand and become fluent not only with the technologies themselves but the meanings they carry with them.

a review of my exhibition, E.O. 9066

Xavier Vasquez shot this footage of the "Poston" tags, which was recently installed at the Escondido Center for the Arts.

Wendy Maruyama, furniture maker and educator, delves into matters of ethnicity, gender and world issues in her studio in San Diego, CA. Born an American of Japanese heritage, Maruyama satisfied her artistic passions by becoming an important furniture maker in a field dominated by men and in the process, overcame challenges related to her deafness and disability. Her recent series titled "WildLife Project" was inspired by the wrongful slaughter of African elephants and rhinoceroses.

IDENTITY: Artists explore issues of gender, race, culture and place, offering true expressions of their experience in this world. Featuring potter Diego Romero, photographer Cara Romero, furniture maker Wendy Maruyama, and sculptor Cristina Córdova. PBS premiere December 27, 2019 (check local listings).

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