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Born in Romford, England, in 1950, Graham Crowley attended the St. Martin's School of Art from 1968 to 1972 and the Royal College of Art, London, from 1972 to 1975. He was an artist-in-residence at Oxford University in 1982-83 and was a visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art. Crowley's work has been shown extensively in England and Europe, including exhibitions at the Venice and Paris biennials, at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and is included in a number of public collections. He has also completed several large-scale public commissions. Crowley worked originally as an abstract painter but began to paint figuratively in the 1970s. He has been influenced by cartoons and comics, particularly the work of Walt Disney. His works—exaggerated images of ordinary objects—suggest a child’s view of the world, in which household items are imbued with the potential to come alive. This perception is enhanced by the disproportionate scale of Crowley's objects and his often skewed perspective.

*Excerpted from Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.

Brent Crothers was born in Harford, Maryland. He attended Maryland Institute College of Art and received both a B.F.A and an M.F.A . When Crothers was twenty-four, he purchased twenty acres of undeveloped land and allowed himself to begin immersing himself in art, and his own intuitions. Crothers was very influenced by September 11, as it caused him to reevaluate life, peace, the environment, and relationships. He began using symbols such as the peace sign in his work as a result. Brent Crothers has exhibited his work in multiple solo and group exhibitions throughout the country and the world, and has experience teaching and lecturing at multiple institutions in the U.S.

Judith Cowan was born in London in 1954. She attended Bristol Polytechnic in 1973-74, and the Chelsea School of Arts in 1977-78. She is the recipient of a Gulbenkian Rome Scholarship as well as the Greater London Arts Association Award. Her drawings and sculptures have been shown extensively in England and are included in the collection of the Arts Council of Great Britain. Cowan's vocabulary ranges from antique vases and metalware to contemporary household implements. Her realist renderings of consumer products seem to propose truth as an empty vessel as they explore notions of containment, contrary meanings, and a hidden core.

*Excerpted from Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.

Jacqueline Conderacci was born in Rochester, New York, in 1953.  She attended the International Center of Photography, New York, in 1980, where she studied with Buzz Hartshorn, and she continued her photography courses in 1985 at New York University with Elaine Mayes and Mark Jenkinson.  Her work has been shown at Sardi’s and at OK Harris Gallery in New York.  Her elegiac series “Locked Up and In and Out” focuses on door locks to discuss issues of confinement and bondage.

*Excerpted from Tools as Art: the Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.

www.pix.jacquelineconderacci.com/

Chris Collicott (1953-2016), a New York City-based artist, was born in Essex, England, and studied graphic design at the Norwich School of Art. Before arriving in New York, he lived in London and Los Angeles, where he worked in the entertainment industry, creating visual models for TV, print ads, and album covers. Collicott soon established himself as a much-admired designer of whimsical items for practical purposes, such as the animal drawer-pulls that became his first success.  After moving to New York, he focused his unique talents on decorative home accessories, which he designed for Kikkerland Design, a company that sells playful, ingeniously crafted gifts. Even with the rise of 3D printing technology, Collicott continued to carve his prototypes by hand, which lent his creations a unique personal touch. Collicott’s innovative designs, most of them created for commercial products and artworks, encourage viewers to look beyond the mundane function of an object and appreciate its inherent aesthetic qualities.

Byron Clercx was born in 1960 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his BS in art from the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, and his MFA from California State University at Fullerton. As a professor, Clercx has taught and worked at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA; the University of Idaho; the School of Art & Design at Marshall University in WV (where he served as chair of the department, then as director); and currently serves as a director at the University of Central Florida School of Visual Arts & Design, and as a board member of the Seminole Cultural Arts Council. He has freelanced for Sculpture (a magazine dedicated to contemporary sculpture) and has given more than 40 public lectures, and his artwork has been featured in more than 80 exhibitions. Clercx works mostly with mixed media and sculpture, and is active in streetscape enhancement, public beautification projects, and promoting the arts in his community.

Born in Los Angeles in 1952, Tom Christopher received his B.F.A. from the Art Center College, Pasadena, California. He moved to New York City in 1981 and worked for CBS-TV as a courtroom sketch artist. He has also done illustrations for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Christopher returned to California in 1993, but he maintains a studio in New York. His work is exhibited regularly at galleries in New York and California. Among his commissions have been works for Absolut Vodka and for Long Island City, New York. Christopher's work was influenced by the Bay Area figurative painters of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His brushstrokes are loose and gestural, and he uses intense, primary colors, creating canvases that are full of energy and motion. He has painted a series focusing on tools and more recently has begun a series of New York cityscapes.

*Excerpted from Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.