Brent Skidmore

Brent now serves as Assis­tant Profes­sor of Art and Direc­tor of Craft Studies at UNC Asheville. He received his MFA in Sculp­ture from Indiana Univer­sity in 1990 and a BFA in Sculp­ture from Murray State Univer­sity in 1987.

While Brent’s back­ground is in sculp­ture he primar­ily makes studio furni­ture these days when he is not direct­ing the Craft Studies program­ming at UNC Asheville and in the Asheville commu­nity. He has been teach­ing in many capac­i­ties for 25 years at univer­si­ties and many of the craft programs across the nation such as Penland, Arrow­mont, Ander­son Ranch and Peter’s Valley. After being out on his own running Brent Skid­more Studio for 8 years, he returned in 2004 to full­time teach­ing at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michi­gan. In 2007, Brent accepted his current posi­tion at UNC Asheville where he contin­ues to teach in the depart­ment of Art and Art History. His work and processes are included in a Lark Publi­ca­tion enti­tled ​“The Penland Book of Wood­work­ing”. He has shown his work exten­sively across the nation, Finland and most recently inter­na­tion­ally in Dubai, UAE. Exhi­bi­tions of Brent’s personal work have included the Smith­son­ian Craft Show and SOFA-Chicago. The work of Brent’s students has been included in the Amer­i­can Craft Council show in Balti­more and the Inter­na­tional Exhi­bi­tion of Office Furni­ture in Dubai. Many of Brent’s students have received some of the highest honors given to new makers. Along with his commit­ment to his family, bike riding, hiking, studio work and educa­tional posi­tions he serves as an advo­cate for craft educa­tion, schol­ar­ship, and the profes­sional devel­op­ment of young artist. Brent has served as a board member for the Center for Craft, Creativ­ity and Design, located in Asheville, NC, that works to advance the aware­ness and impor­tance of craft in acad­e­mia and the main­stream. He has also served as a board member for Craft Emer­gency Relief Fund, CERF+ in Mont­pe­lier, VT that works to safe­guard and sustain the careers of craft artists and provides emer­gency resources that benefit all artists. He has had 11 Solo exhi­bi­tions, been in 90 Invi­ta­tional shows, 70 plus Group exhi­bi­tions and won many awards. The largest of which being the highest award given to a North Carolina artist that he had to return as he left NC and headed to Michi­gan to teach again after a long period as a full­time studio artist. That’s right, he had to return an $8000 award to teach again. Lastly, Brent has received well over 350 rejec­tion letters and his most recent one arrived this morning just after being accepted to another exhi­bi­tion making his total rejec­tion still win over his total accep­tance. You may ask, ​“why, does he keep doing it”?