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College of Fellows

A cohort of peers.

From left to right: Photo courtesy of Michael Cummings, Photo by Marc Olivier Le Blanc, Photo by Cara Romero, Photo by Thomas R. DuBrock, Photo by Arius Photography, Photo by Reginald Cunningham, Photo by Sahar Coston-Hardy, Photo by Danielle Sykes, Photo by Darrel Ellis, Photo by Jenny Siegwart

Meet the fellows.

Since 1975, the American Craft Council has recognized individuals for outstanding contributions to the crafts in America by awarding the distinction of Fellow of the Council.

To be nominated, an artist must demonstrate leadership in the field, outstanding ability as an artist, and 25 years or more of professional achievement as an craftsperson whose has spent a significant portion of their career in the United States. Awardees are nominated by the active College of Fellows and an invited group of guest nominators. The final selection of the cohort is made by the ACC Awards Committee, whose members include only current Fellows—making this distinction even more meaningful because it is not awarded by critics, scholars, or collectors, but by one’s peers.

In addition to artists, individuals who have made their own significant contribution to the craft movement are nominated and elected as Honorary Fellows, their designation including all the distinction and recognition of the College. The significance of the College of Fellows to the field cannot be overstated, and the value of material related to the individuals has proportional importance to the preservation and scholarship of American craft.

  • Cindi Strauss

    Cindi Strauss of Houston, Texas is the Sara and Bill Morgan Curator of Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design and Assistant Director, Programming at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. At the museum, she is responsible for the acquisition, research, publication, and exhibition of post-1900 decorative arts, design, and craft. Over the course of her career, she has curated numerous major craft-based exhibitions including Ornament as Art: Contemporary Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection (20...

  • Diana Baird N'Diaye

    Diana N'Diaye, Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary visual artist/maker, and folklore scholar. Her artwork, research and writing, reference sacred expressions of identity across Africa and the Diaspora. As Senior Curator and Cultural Specialist at the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage she developed and leads the African American Craft Initiative a project for which she was recognized in 2022 as a crafts visionary by the American Crafts Council. Other recent awards include the ...

  • Diego Romero

    Cochiti Pueblo, (b. 1964) “Ambivalent views toward Indian culture made me strong in the belief that my art was both Indian and contemporary art and it was going to stay that way.” —Diego Romero Firmly positioning his work within an Indigenous visuality, Diego Romero has built a career constructing ceramic vessels that elevate Pueblo life to Olympian stature. A third generation professional artist, Romero was born and raised in Berkeley, California to a Cochiti father and a non-Native ...

  • Einar and Jamex de la Torre

    Collaborating brothers, Einar and Jamex de la Torre, were born in Guadalajara, México, 1963, & 1960. In a sudden family move, the Brothers moved to The United States in 1972, going from a traditional Catholic school to a small California beach town. They both studied at California State University at Long Beach and taught at the prestigious Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Currently the brothers live and work on both sides of the border, the Guadalupe Valley in Baja California, M...

  • Lynda Watson

    Lynda Watson was born and raised in Orange, CA. She did undergraduate work in Drawing and Illustration, Crafts and Jewelry, and received an MA and MFA in Jewelry/Metalsmithing from California State University, Long Beach. In 1970, she was hired to build a Jewelry/Metals Program at Cabrillo College in Aptos, CA where she taught full time for 25 yeas. She was awarded two individual National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and was named Santa Cruz County Artist of the Year in 1998. In 2022, sh...

  • Mark Newport

    Mark Newport’s work uses textiles, performance, print, and photography to reveal the vulnerability inherent in traditional western ideals of masculinity. His work was included in the prestigious Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art 2019, China; the 2019 Rijswijk Textile Biennial, The Netherlands, as well as in group exhibitions at the Textile Museum of Canada, The Mint Museum, and The Museum of Arts and Design. He has had solo exhibitions at The Arizona State University Art Museum; The Cranbrook A...

  • Michael A. Cummings

    In the tradition of the African griot (storyteller) Michael A. Cummings' quilts tell the stories of African American life. As a result of his masterful creativity, he has become one of America's premier quiltmakers. He is a native of Los Angeles and moved to New York City in 1970 and began. He met and became friends with Romare Bearden. Around 1973 he began experimenting with collage construction and by 1975 transferred to fabric collage, using applique techniques. He taught himself to sew and ...

  • Michael Puryear

    Michael Puryear is an internationally recognized designer/furniture maker. He is self-taught learning his craft through reading and experimentation and has been practicing his craft for more than 45 years. His work has been exhibited in Museums and galleries around the country such as the Museum of Art & Design in NYC; Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem MA. His work has been published widely, Including Makers: A History of American Studio Craft published by the Un...

  • Syd Carpenter

    Syd Carpenter is a sculptor working in clay and mixed media. She focuses on African American farms and gardens as a source of form and content attributing this interest to her mother, Ernestine and grandmother, Indiana Hutson, both of whom were master gardeners. After leaving graduate school she and husband Steve Donegan founded the 915 Spring Garden Studio Building, a facility for over 100 artists . There she began producing ceramic sculptures now included in the collections of the Metrop...

  • Yuri Kobayashi

    Yuri Kobayashi, a sculptor and furniture maker based in Rockport, Maine, brings a wealth of expertise honed through diverse educational and professional experiences. Originating from Japan, she holds a B.A. in architectural design from Musashino Art University and a woodworking certificate from Shinrin Takumi Juku. Also, she earned an M.F.A. in furniture design at San Diego State University, where she studied under Wendy Murayama. With over a decade of teaching experience at the Rhode Island Sch...

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