Rosanne Somerson (born June 21, 1954) is an American-born

woodworker Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinetry, furniture making, wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by ea ...

furniture designer This is a list of notable people whose primary occupation is furniture design. A * Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) * Eero Aarnio (born 1932) * Robert Adam (1728–1792) * Thomas Affleck (1745–1795) * Franco Albini (1905–1977) * Davis Allen ( ...

/maker,

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, and former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

(RISD). An artist connected with the early years of the

Studio Furniture Studio furniture is an American sub-field of studio craft centered on one-of-a-kind or limited production furniture objects designed and built by craftspeople. The work is made in a craftsperson's studio setting as opposed to being made in a high ...

, her work and career have been influential to the field.

Early life

In an interview on

Amy Devers Amy Devers (born July 2, 1971) is an American furniture designer, carpenter, television personality and design blogger. She currently is the host (with Alan Luxmore) and design expert on A&E's ''Fix This Yard'', the host of ''Victory Garden’s ...

' podcast ''Clever'', Somerson discusses her upbringing and how it affected the path she took. She attempted to join a woodworking/shop class in middle school, but wasn't allowed to participate and faced repercussions for asking. Somerson also made most of her clothes throughout high school. She attributes this to her reliance on hand-me-downs, along with her want to have unique clothes that she couldn't otherwise afford.

Education and early career

Born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, she began her

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

degree at

(RISD) in

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

, but switched her focus, and received her B.F.A. degree in

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

in 1976. During this time of transition, she took a semester off of her studies at RISD to attend full-time furniture making workshops at Peter's Valley Craftsmen (Peter's Valley School of Craft). After graduation, Somerson worked as a

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for ''

Fine Woodworking ''Fine Woodworking'' is a woodworking magazine published by Active Interest Media in Newtown, Connecticut, USA. History and profile The magazine began publication in 1975 by Taunton Press, with simple monochrome printing and stapled monochrome ...

'' magazine. She also assisted for photography with her former professor and mentor Tage Frid's three-part book series "Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking" published by

Taunton Press Taunton Press is a publisher of books for the hobbyist and building trades based in Newtown, Connecticut. It was established in 1975 by Paul Roman and his wife Jan. On December 3, 2023, Active Interest Media acquired The Taunton Press. Active I ...

(1996).

Academic career

She taught woodworking with the

Harvard Extension School Harvard Extension School (HES) is the Continuing education, continuing education School of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1910, it is o ...

from 1977 to 1978, and at the Boston Architectural Center in 1981. Somerson joined the Rhode Island School of Design faculty in 1985. Starting in 1985, Somerson ran the M.F.A.

Graduate Program Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

Furniture Design Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furniture is also used to hold objects ...

and she co-founded the creation of the Furniture Design department in 1995. She served as RISD's interim associate provost for Academic Affairs from 2005 to 2007, as interim

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

from 2011 to 2012, as provost from 2012 to 2013 and as interim president from 2014 to 2015. The RISD

Board of Trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

appointed her the college's 17th president on February 18, 2015. After being appointed president of the university in February 2015, Somerson appointed Pradeep Sharma to be

Provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

. Somerson's first speaking engagements as president came in the spring at the

National Art Education Association The National Art Education Association (NAEA) is a non-profit professional association founded in 1947 in the United States, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. It is the world's largest professional art education association. The NAEA's annua ...

Annual Convention and at

South By Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

EDU in 2015, where she discussed the impact of critical making. In April, 44 technicians at the college went on

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

, but the three-day

job action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

concluded with the ratification of their contract. In May, the work of Apparel Design seniors was showcased in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

for the first time at RISD Backstudio. Somerson's first semester as president concluded with filmmaker

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

delivering the college's

commencement address In the United States, a commencement speech or commencement address is a speech given to graduating students, generally at a university, although the term is also used for secondary education institutions and in similar institutions around the ...

. His remarks went viral and have been turned into a book. In the fall of 2015, Somerson spoke at the Nantucket Project, the Drucker Forum in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Art Basel Miami Beach Art Basel Miami Beach, sometimes referred to as "Art Basel Miami," is an art fair founded in 2002 as an offshoot of the flagship Art Basel fair in Switzerland. It is currently considered the most important art fair in the United States and was the f ...

. The three-year renovation of RISD's Illustration Studies Building was completed and an opening ceremony was held as part of the college's annual parent and alumni weekend. Somerson was inaugurated as the seventeenth president of RISD in October 2015. In July 2020, after the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent closure of the RISD campus, Somerson began negotiations with the RISD faculty union over the avoidance of possible layoffs by suggesting cost-cutting measures. The part-time faculty union, the

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college st ...

rejected the initial proposal. During the beginning of her sixth year as RISD's president, Somerson announced her plans for retiring on June 30, 2021. In retirement, Somerson plans on taking a

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

and will take on the role of President Emerita.

Artistic practice

Somerson has maintained a full-time professional

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

practice, Rosanne Somerson Furniture, since 1979 designing and building furniture for exhibition and by

commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

. Her current studio is located in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, tenth-largest city in the state, and the second- ...

within Smokestack Studios. Somerson is known primarily for one-of-a-kind and custom work, but is also a partner in DEZCO,

LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

, a small-scale production furniture company which focuses on environmentally-responsible and design-conscious production furniture. Somerson, along with

Wendy Maruyama Wendy Maruyama (born ) is an American visual artist, furniture maker, and educator from California. She was born in La Junta, Colorado. Maruyama was influential in the early period of post-modern artistic furniture. She challenges the masculine ...

, Kristina Madsen, and Gail Fredell, was one of the first women to break into the field of

: a field that mixes art, craft, sculpture, and furniture design. In these early years, the women in this field responded to the hyper-technical work of their male counterparts by building furniture with complex joinery and technically advanced bent wood laminations. This was done to "prove themselves" and "gain acceptance" into this male-dominated field. In the mid-80's, Somerson began to define her aesthetic style and to put personal expression into her work. Her focus became functional and timeless pieces using long-standing furniture making traditions to ensure decades of use. She started to create smaller works that valued function as well as emotional content; pieces that demanded an intimate relationship with the viewer. Through the use of subtle color, upholstery, and graphic elements, her work stood out in the field that was quickly turning towards the era's trends of bright-colors and abstraction. As her work and career progressed, Somerson's work narrowed focus on the emotional experience of furniture. Her 1992 piece titled "''Botanical Reading Couch''" invites viewers to lie back in the piece and recollect a familiar couch from home or from their childhood. This work in particular is less a self-expression as an artist but instead a concern for the emotional and physical needs of the user. The intimate and interactive nature of furniture as a medium allowed her to evoke memories and emotions from the viewer. In a 1991 artist statement, Somerson writes "My hope is to help the viewer find her or her own place of emotive satisfaction, coaxed and guided by the furniture;s utility in both its obvious and more subtle functions." Somerson's work has been included in the following museum collections:

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; 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 one of the world's lar ...

; Renwick Collection,

National Museum of American Art The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; 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 one of the world's lar ...

, Washington, DC; Brockton Art Museum, Fuller Memorial (

Brockton, MA Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 105,643 at the 2020 United States census. Along with Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County. It is the sixth-largest city in Massac ...

);

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

;

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

;

RISD Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877. It is the 20th-largest art m ...

, at Rhode Island School of Design;

Huntsville Museum of Art Huntsville Museum of Art (HMA) is a museum located in Huntsville, Alabama. HMA sits in Big Spring Park within Downtown Huntsville, and serves as a magnet for cultural activities. In 1957, the Huntsville Art League and Museum Association (HALMA) ...

, in Huntsville, Alabama; and

Smith College Museum of Art The Smith College Museum of Art, abbreviated SCMA, is the art museum of Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, Northampton, Massachusetts. First established in 1870, the museum is part of the American Alliance of Museums, Five Coll ...

Awards and distinctions

*2012 Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement,

The Furniture Society The Furniture Society, founded in 1996, is a membership-based, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation working to advance the art of furniture making by inspiring creativity, promoting excellence and fostering understanding of this art. The Soc ...

*2009 Named Fellow,

American Craft Council The American Craft Council (ACC) is a national non-profit organization that champions craft based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the council hosts national craft shows and conferences, publishes a quarterly m ...

, New York, New York *2002 National Distinguished Educator Award, James Renwick Alliance,

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, Washington, DC *2001 First Place, Centennial Arts & Crafts Exhibition, Providence Art Club, Providence, Rhode Island *1996, 1995, 1990 Faculty Development Grant, RISD *1988 Visual Artist Fellowship,

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

*1988 Finalist in Crafts, Massachusetts Arts Fellowship *1987 Grand Prize, American Craft Awards Competition, The Guild, also Westport Arts Council Grant *1984 Visual Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts *1984 WBZ Arts Grant, Fund for the Arts *1984 New Works Grant, Mass Council on Arts & Humanities to Brockton Art Museum *1983 Award of Outstanding Achievement, Women in Design International Competition *1983 Artist Residency,

Artpark Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park (or Earl W. Brydges State Artpark) is a state park located in the Village of Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. The park, which is officially named after former New York State Senator Earl Brydges, is gene ...

, Village of Lewiston,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

*1979 Honorable Mention, Containers,

Danforth Museum Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University (formerly Danforth Museum of Art) is a museum and school in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is part of Framingham State University. History The Danforth Museum Corporation was established on Au ...

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...

*1976 First Place, New England Winner Student Design Competition *1975 First Place, New England Regional Winner, "NHFL Craft/Design Competition" *1974 Scholarship, Edinburgh Arts '74, Completed Traditional Coopering Apprenticeship, Markinch Distillery,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Books

Works

References

External links

* New Events

* Cultured
"The RISD Connection"
* Surface
"Design Dialogues No. 32"
* Metropolis
"We Need More Boredom in Our Lives" op-ed
* Aesthetica
"Mapping the Invisible at RISD"
* American Craft
"Crafted Lives"
* Providence Journal
"As President, Rosanne Somerson if Crafting a Vision for RISD"
* WIRED
"Famed Designer Rosanne Somerson on Innovation and Failure"
* Rhode Island Monthly
"Inside RISD President Rosanne Somerson's Home"
* * Providence Business News

* WPRI
Executive Suite - Rhode Island School of Design
* Huffington Post

* Disegno
"Interview: Rosanne Somerson becomes president of RISD"
* Core 77
"RISD Welcomes a New President"
* Disegno
"Rosanne Somerson on the challenges of design education"
* Providence Business News
is a critical element to manufacturing innovation"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerson, Rosanne 1954 births Living people American woodworkers American furniture designers Rhode Island School of Design alumni Rhode Island School of Design faculty People from Fall River, Massachusetts Educators from Philadelphia Women woodworkers 21st-century woodworkers American furniture makers Presidents of the Rhode Island School of Design Harvard Extension School faculty Fellows of the American Craft Council American women academics 21st-century American women Women heads of universities and colleges