Born in 1928 in Oakland, California, Theodore “Ted” Cohen is a prominent exhibition designer and curator based in the Bay Area. He enrolled at the California College of Arts and Crafts with funding from the GI Bill to study painting (BA 1952) and later earned a secondary teaching certificate from San Francisco State College (1954). Uncertain about his painting abilities – but committed to working in the arts, he accepted a position as a preparator at the Oakland Art Gallery (now Oakland Art Museum) and worked his way up to become an exhibition designer in 1959. He held the position until 1986, while also working as a freelance exhibition designer and consultant for numerous museums and institutions including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Cohen also taught in the museum studies program at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California, and he has hosted seminars and workshops around the country. Though he presents many disciplines in his work as an exhibition designer, much of his career has been focused on the vibrant craft and arts scene in the Bay Area. He has developed exhibitions for many artists connected to the American Craft Council and curated several shows that highlight West Coast design. He was honored with a Fulbright Grant in 1980, and won a National Endowment for the Arts Grant in 1976 to develop an intern program at the Oakland Museum. He continues to work as a design consultant, and he is currently the exhibition designer at San Francisco’s Museum of Art and Design. Cohen was elected an Honorary Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2000.