Touring Schedule:

Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, Ohio
(July 9 - August 27, 2000)

Selected by medium, with the designated medium changing with each biennial award, the Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder's Prize, a $5,000 cash award given in conjunction with a juried exhibition at SCC and a corresponding catalogue, is presented to an artist for excellence in the field of contemporary crafts. This internationally recognized prize, funded by the daughters of Elizabeth R. Raphael, was recently featured on CBS Sunday Morning.

The 1999 winner, David Sengel of Boone, North Carolina, was chosen from a field of 35 finalists whose works in wood address the theme of "transformation." Featuring outstanding examples of contemporary furniture, turned vessels and sculpture, Transformation: Contemporary Works in Wood (November 12, 1999 - February 26, 2000) displayed the depth and power that talented craft artists can wrest from this versatile natural material. Many of the finalists have works included in such collections as the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian, the American Craft Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and collections at Yale University, and are featured in museum and gallery exhibitions across the country.

The jury for the 1999 prize included Albert LeCoff, Executive Director of the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia; internationally known sculptor Wendell Castle; and SCC Executive Director Janet McCall; as well as Elizabeth Raphael's three daughters, Alexandra Raphael, Catherine Raphael, and Margaret Raphael, all of whom are involved in different branches of the arts.

Sengel's prize-winning piece, Haloed, derives in part from a traffic accident in 1998 in which he fractured vertebrae and suffered closed-head trauma. Sengel saved the metal "halo" that was screwed into his skull during his recuperation, as well as related x-rays of his brain, and incorporated them into the prize-winning piece. "The combination of 'found' metal and wood contrasts the sterile, hi-tech framework with the organic form (head, vessel, egg) which is suspended somewhere between powers of destruction and salvation, not unlike the fate of our species and planet in this age of technology," he writes in his artist's statement. As the winner, five additional pieces of Sengel's work were featured in the exhibition.

Educated in craft at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Sengel takes part regularly in exhibitions at the prestigious del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles, as well as the American Craft Museum in New York and other galleries around the country. His work can also be seen in the collections of the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, and the Decorative Arts Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas.

A 48-page catalogue designed by Landesberg Design Associates, features photo documentation and biographical information on each of the finalists, and is available at the Society for $12. A 10-minute video on the winning artist, produced by Alan I. Harris Group, also accompanied the exhibition. The video is available for viewing at the Society and may be purchased from SCC.

This is the second in the Raphael prize exhibition series. The 1997 exhibition focused on works in glass,with the prize going to Sybille Peretti for Vogelkuss-Birdkiss II. With each exhibition, the winning piece is acquired for the gallery's permanent collection, which dates back to 1971 and includes more than 350 pieces.