Rick Wrigley's work has evolved across disciplines: First as an Art Furniture-maker, then as a designer and builder of houses, and finally as a sculptor.
Born in Arlington Virginia, he found work in his late teens as an apprentice to a classically trained British cabinetmaker.
In his early twenties, Rick furthered his formal training by attending the School for American Craftsmen at R.I.T. in Rochester NY, receiving his B.F.A. in furniture design.
After a stint as an artist-in-residence at Artpark in Lewiston NY he moved to the NYC area, where he was soon recognized as an important figure in the Studio Furniture movement. At this early point in his career he participated in invitational shows at the The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC, The Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Montreal, Canada, and The Silvermine Gallery in New Canaan, CT.
In need of a larger studio, he purchased a 19th Century mill building in Holyoke, MA which he renovated as living and work space. Winning a competition sponsored by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, he was commissioned to design and make 44 large hearing room doors for the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. One of these doors was exhibited in the show, “Architectural Art: Affirming the Design Relationship” at the American Craft Museum in NYC.
From the 1980s through 2005 he participated numerous museum shows featuring the work of Studio Furniture-makers, most notably “New American Furniture” at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and “Masters of their Craft” at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery. The Renwick subsequently purchased one of Rick’s marquetry sideboard cabinets for their permanent collection.
Commissions during this period included projects for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The Smith College Art Museum, The U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, and the Babson College Interfaith Chapel.
In 1995, Wrigley received a New England Foundation for the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship.
In 1999 he moved to Provincetown, MA where he began to shift his focus to designing and building houses — eventually completing the design and construction of 4 houses and a studio. He also executed commissions for the design of two additional houses.
In 2015 Rick returned to the studio with a new focus on sculpture. His sculpture has been exhibited at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and AMP Gallery, Provincetown. He now maintains studios in Brooklyn, NY and Provincetown, MA.
1955 Born in Arlington, Virginia
1976 Apprenticeship with a classically trained British cabinetmaker
1979 Artist-in-residence: Artpark, Lewiston, NY
1981 B.F.A., School for American Craftsmen, R.I.T., Rochester, NY
1991 Visiting Instructor, School for American Craftsmen, R.I.T., Rochester, NY
1995 New England Foundation For The Arts Visual Arts Fellowship
1996-99 Trustee, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA
2000-15 Architectural Designer / Builder
2015- Sculptor
2018-22 Group shows at The Provincetown Art Association and Museum, and Amp Gallery, Provincetown
2005 Furniture as Sculpture, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
2004 The Perfect Collection, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA
2003-04 Masters of Their Craft (organized by the Smithsonian Museum of American Art)
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA
Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL
Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
Muskegon Museum of Art Muskegon, MI
2003 Sit up and Take Notice, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
2002 Permanent Collection Exhibit, Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
2000 Studio Furniture, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN
1999 Drawn to Design, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1997 Centennial Furniture Exhibition, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA
1995 Please Be Seated, Masters of the Art of Seating, Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, FL
1993 The Domestic Object, The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA
1992 Wood: Form and Function, California Crafts Museum, San Francisco, CA
1989 Contemporary Furniture: 13 Major Figures, Gallery Naga, Boston, MA
1989-91 New American Furniture:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
The Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
1988-89 Architectural Art: Affirming the Design Relationship:
American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA
1988 A Centennial Exhibition, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
1987 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Contemporary Crafts Association, Portland, OR
1986 American Furniture: Past and Present, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA
1986 Artist Designed Furniture, Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
1984 Invitational Show, Silvermine Gallery, New Canaan, CT
1984 Material Evidence: New Color Techniques in Handmade Furnitur
The Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
The Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, AL
Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Montreal, Canada
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
The State of Connecticut, Legislative Office Building, Forty-four Hearing Room Doors -- Commissioned by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and Russell Gibson von Dolen Architects.
COLLECTIONS AND COMMISISONS
Smithsonian Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Springfield Museum of Fine Arts
Boston Public Library
Smith College Art Museum
Fuller Craft Museum
The US Embassy, Amman Jordan
The Hartford Courant
Time/Warner, Inc
Bell of Pennsylvania
Danaher Corporation
Larchmont Temple, Larchmont, NY
Home Box Office
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bowan, R.; Sobel, D.; Von Weigand, D.; The World of Art Today.
Milwaukee: Milwaukee Art Museum, 1988
Conway, Patricia, Art for Everyday: The New Craft Movement.
New York: Clarkson Potter, 1990
Cooke, Edward S., New American Furniture.
Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1988
Grow, Lawrence, Modern Style.
Pittstown: Main Street Press, 1985
Jencks, Charles, Postmodernism: New Classicism in Art and Architecture.
New York: Rizzoli, 1987
Krause, William, Contemporary Crafts for the Home
New York: Kraus Sikes, Inc., 1990
Mastelli, Rick and Kelsey, John, Tradition in Contemporary Furniture,
Free Union, The Furniture Society, 2001
Stearn, Robert A., International Design Yearbook.
Vol. I, 1985-1986.
London: Calmann & King, LTD., 1985