Renowned Wood-turning Expert to Speak at UA Visiting Artist Event

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Internationally recognized wood turning expert Mark Sfirri is appearing in Tuscaloosa and Homewood to speak to students and community members in the first of a collaborated art series hosted by The University of Alabama.

Sfirri has run the fine-woodworking program at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania, since 1981. He has received two national awards: the Distinguished Educator Award in 2010 from Renwick Alliance of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution and, in 2012, a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Collectors of Wood Art.

He will appear at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Bryant Conference Center for “Meet the Artist.” He also will appear at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13, at Woods Hall’s Sella Granata Gallery for  a talk titled “How to Succeed in the Art World.” Sfirri will discuss the business acumen needed to become successful in the art world. Both events are on the UA campus. He also will offer a woodturning workshop at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Homewood Senior Center, 816 Oak Grove Road in Homewood.

All events, sponsored by UA’s College of Continuing Studies and the department of art and art history, are open and free to the public. The events are a part of UA’s first “Visiting Artist” series, a series dedicated to connecting UA with the art community.

“With Mark Sfirri’s visit, we are bringing a nationally prominent artist to campus who can contribute to our Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, to UA undergraduate and graduate programs in art and art history, and to the wider arts and fine craft community,” said Craig Edelbrock, dean of the College of Continuing Studies

Sfirri studied furniture design at Rhode Island School of Design, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts in the 1970s. He has lectured and demonstrated his techniques throughout North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

For more information regarding Mark Sfirri or the visiting artist series, go to olli.ua.edu or contact Kevin Lake, communications specialist, at 205/348-4632 or ktlake@ccs.ua.edu.