Rude Osolnik (1915–2001), was an American woodturner, author, and educator. He is considered an important figure within the

American studio woodturning movement The American Studio Woodturning Movement can be traced back through diverse international movements and schools of thought, including Arts and Crafts, Mingei, Bauhaus and Scandinavian Design.The Cutting Edge: Contemporary Wood Art and the Lipton Co ...

and in contemporary woodturning in the United States. He was the department head in the woodcraft industry program at Berea College for forty years. Osolnik was elected as an American Craft Council (ACC) honorary fellow in 1994.

Biography

Rude Osolnik was born March 4, 1915, in Dawson, New Mexico. He was the child of

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

immigrants. Osolnik graduated in 1937 from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. Osolnik taught at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky from 1937 until 1978, initially working in the industrial arts department and later as the department head in the woodcraft industry program. He took a break from teaching to served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He also spent a lot of time working at the

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is an Arts and Crafts center in the U.S. city of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The oldest craft school in Tennessee, Arrowmont offers workshops in arts and crafts such as painting, woodworking, drawing, glass, photog ...

in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Osolnik has work in museum collections, including at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, the High Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. He died of congestive heart failure on November 18, 2001, at Poverty Ridge in Berea, Kentucky.

References

External links

Oral history interview with Rude Osolnik, 2001 May 1
from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Osolnik, Rude 1915 births 2001 deaths American people of Slovenian descent American woodworkers Berea College faculty Bradley University alumni Deaths from congestive heart failure People from Berea, Kentucky People from Colfax County, New Mexico Woodturners

Biography

See also

References

External links