On October 14th 2016, artist MYRA MIMLITSCH-GRAY will be inducted into the American Craft Council College of Fellows. It is a great honor and one she shares with the other fellows this year: Hank Murta Adams, Nick Cave, Edward S Cooke, Michael Cooper, Francoise Grossen, and Chris Gustin. Since 1975 members have been elected by their peers – the preceding Fellows, whose ranks include Lenore Tawney, Sam Maloof, and Betty Woodman. It is a profound form of recognition to be honored by those who have walked the same road.
Myra Mimlitsch-Gray earned her Master of Fine Arts degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1986, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Philadelphia College of Art in 1984. She has received numerous awards and distinctions for her work since then. In/Animate: Recent Work by Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, curated by Akiko Busch is on exhibit through December 2016 at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz. Her work is currently on view at the Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Yale University Art Gallery. Her major museum collections include the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan Wisconsin; Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, New York; Mint Museum of Craft and Design. Charlotte, North Carolina; Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, Massachusetts; Museum of Arts and Design. New York, New York; National Museums of Scotland; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; Racine Art Museum. Racine, Wisconsin; Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; Victoria and Albert Museum. London, England and Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven, Connecticut, among others.
An interview with Mimlitsch-Gray can be read on the ACC website here and below is a brief video.