Artist’s Statement

There is no real production; only interdependence.

- Alexandra David-Neel 

My work begins with the wiggly and the unhewn. The indigenous Vermont hardwoods I use in my furniture are junk to the lumber industry; burls, dog-legs, unmanageable crotches, gnarled branches and center-rotten trunks not valued by commercial mills as saw logs. Local loggers are the chief sources of supply. We provide loggers with another source of income and they provide us with commercially unavailable raw material.

The design process of my furniture begins with the organic life of the tree and has a direct influence on the individual, finished work. Careful design and responsive craftsmanship are crucial to the entire process.

The challenge with such raw materials is to make sense of them within the parameters of a practical, functional piece of furniture. My efforts are directed toward sustaining the material’s singular qualities while working with it to create a unique piece of furniture; both the design and making are thus material-based and interdependent.

I had bought two drums from Karamo Saho in Joli. He had cut them from local trees, and each of them followed the shape of the original trunk, so that they leaned slightly, but in opposite directions. Wherever they were, they would remain a part of the landscape from which they had been taken.

 - Mark Hudson, Our Grandmothers’ Drums


Resume

David has been making furniture and objects from the unhewn hardwoods of Vermont for four decades. 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, American Woodworker 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

 

Honorary Degree : Doctor of Education, Marlboro College 2015

 

Work Experience

  • Apprentice: Roy Sheldon’s Fabulous Tables 10/73 - 5/76

  • Furniture, photography and object maker 6/76 to date

  • Applewoods Studio established June 1976

  • Educator, Marlboro School 1989 - 2015

  • Vermont Humanities Council: Victor Swenson Humanities Educator Award 2014

 

Selected Exhibitions

  • Passaggi Mitchell-Giddings Gallery Brattleboro VT 2016

  • True to Form Drury Gallery, Marlboro College 2015

  • DwarfGlitch: 16 x 33 1/3 (installation)

  • Brattleboro Museum & Arts Center, VT 12/2013 – 3/2014DwarfGlitch : Opening ceremony

  • A Candle in the Night. Brattleboro, VT May 2013                   “On the Street”

  • Vermont Center for Photography March 2012

  • Holt Cemetary: two hours artist’s book 2012

  • “Low Tech/ No Tech. Plastic, Pinhole and Camera-less Show”  Vermont Center for Photography November 2011

  • The State of Craft: Fifty Years of Studio Craft in Vermont, Bennington Museum 2010

  • American Craft Odyssey, 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

 

Selected lecture/teaching engagements

  • Remarks VT Humanities Council Conference 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILxIhBKb9SA

  • “Making it in the Arts” with Michelle Holzapfel 2013, Brattleboro Museum and Arts Center

  • Granite State Woodworkers, studio tour and demonstration 2011

  • “David & Michelle Holzapfel, woodworkers”, Bennington Museum. Bennington, VT 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

  • 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

  • News and Notes: “ Marlboro Elementary’s David Holzapfel Receives Swenson Award” Vermont Humanities Spring 2015, Vermont Humanities Council Montpelier, VT

  • “Vermont Humanities Teacher of the Year”. Kelly Salasin, The Cracker Barrel. Vol. XXVI #1 Winter / Spring 2015

  • “Not Teaching to the Test” Sarah Buckingham, The Commons Vol. IX, #42, Issue # 277 10/22/2014

  • “From random pixels, abstract photography grows” Richard Henke. The CommonsVol. VIII, #18, Issue # 201 5/1/2013

  • “Michelle Holzapfel: A Great American Woodworker, an Artisan’s Life Story,” [sidebar] Spike Carlsen, American Woodworker magazine, Dec./Jan. 2012

  • “State of Craft: Exploring the Studio Movement in Vermont 1960- 2010” a review by Arlene Distler, American Craft magazine, Oct./Nov. 2010

  • “State of Craft: The Artisans Speak” by Arlene Distler. So Vermont Arts and Living. Fall / Holiday issue. 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 1987

  • 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”, 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

 

Interviews / Blog Posts

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw-H_FZFyLw 2016

  • Vt Humanities Council. Humanities educator of the year, 2014

http://thisvtlife.com/2015/01/26/david-holzapfel-vermont- humanities-educator-of-the-year/ 2015

  • 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

  • Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Josephine Shea. Nanette Laitman Documentation Project for Craft & Decorative Arts in America. 2008

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/collections_list.cfm/search_letter/H#ho

  • Vermont Public Television’s “RFD” 2001

 

Selected Public and Corporate Collections & Clients

Nordstrom Photography Toronto, Canada Museum of Art and Design New York, NY

Hannay Reels Albany, NY

Whoop Inc. New York, NY

The Center for Art in Wood Philadelphia, PA

Juan Montoya Design New York, NY