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 1955 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 2014 Wrigley returned to his studio where he is now finding new inspiration as a sculptor.  He has participated in group shows at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and is currently represented by AMP Gallery.