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The Minneapolis College of Art and Design is pleased to be the first venue for the traveling exhibition “Studio Furniture: The Next Generation.” Organized and curated by Dean Wilson, chair of the Furniture Design program at 51���Ϲ���, the show brings together fifteen outstanding studio furniture artists whose work exemplifies new trends in a greatly expanding field. While these young designers build upon the hallmarks of the studio furniture tradition—high-quality craftsmanship, good design, sculptural emphasis, and limited production—their experimental use of materials and innovative concepts encourages viewers to reconsider their relationships with everyday objects. Familiar but unconventional, the chairs, tables, benches, shelves, and cabinets included in this exhibition will be as thought-provoking as they are visually engaging.

The young furniture designers included in this show are all recent graduates from the most noted furniture programs across the United States: (Rhode Island School of Design), (San Diego State University), (University of Wisconsin, Madison), (Cranbrook Academy of Art), (Virginia Commonwealth University), (San Diego State University), (Kendall College of Art and Design), (Minneapolis College of Art and Design), (San Diego State University), (University of Wisconsin, Madison), (Herron School of Art and Design), (Rhode Island School of Design), (San Diego State University), (Rochester Institute of Technology), and (San Diego State University).

In addition to highlighting the work of exhibition participants, the fully illustrated exhibition catalog features an essay by Edward Cooke Jr., professor of American Decorative Arts at Ya