Education
1993–95 Master of Creative Arts (Sculpture), University of Wollongong, Australia
1986–87 Associate Diploma Visual Arts (Design in Wood), Canberra School of Art, Australian National University
1975–79 Bachelor of Science (Honors in Botany), University of New South Wales, Sydney
Employment
2008–present Professor, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
1997–2009 Chair of the Furniture Program, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
1997–2007 Associate Professor, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
1994–96 Head of Furniture Design, Jam Factory Craft and Design Centre, Adelaide, Australia
1988–94 Self-employed furniture designer and maker, Australia
1983–86 Freelance botanical researcher and illustrator. Clients included the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney; New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service; Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra; CSIRO, Canberra
1979-82 Botanical researcher and illustrator. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia.
Selected honors and awards
2006 Inaugural Education Fellow, For-Site Foundation, San Francisco
2002 Virginia A. Groot Foundation Award
2001 Experimental Design Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1999 Professional development grant, Visual Arts and Crafts Fund of the Australia Council
1994 Professional development grant, ACT Arts and Special Events, Canberra, Australia
1993 Australia Council residency, Green Street Studios, New York
1990 Traveling grant, Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, Australia
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship, Canberra, Australia
1987 Craft training grant, Visual Arts and Craft Board of the Australia Council
Public collections
Museum of Arts and Design, New York
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Wollongong City Gallery, Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Selected solo exhibitions
2011 aWay station, Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin, California
2009 Genius Loci, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, California (catalog)
2005 Metaphor and Magnitude, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
2003 Permutations, John Elder Gallery, New York
2001 Experimental Design Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (catalog)
Correspondence, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, Australia
Empty Vessels, John Elder Gallery, New York
1995 aGROUND, Jam Factory Craft and Design Centre, Adelaide; Canberra Contemporary Art Space; and Wollongong City Gallery, Australia (catalog)
Selected group exhibitions
United States
2012 The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft. Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock.
2011 The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft. Asheville Museum, NC.
traces. threads. surfaces. aMuse Gallery, San Francisco.
The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft. Milwaukee Art Museum.
Breaking Ranks: Human/Nature. Headlands Center for the Arts.
Family Tree – Fine Woodworking in Northern California. Petaluma Art Center.
2010 The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft. Fuller Museum of Craft, Boston (catalog)
2008 Permanently MAD: Revealing the Collection, Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Bay Area Now 5, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (catalog)
2007 Shy Boy, She Devil, and Isis: The Art of Conceptual Craft, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (catalog)
CCA at 100: Innovation by Design, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
CCA Sculpture Selections, Sculpturesite Gallery, San Francisco
2006 The Sensuous Curve, Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco
2005 Convergence, Oceanside Museum of Art, San Diego; San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design; and SOFA, Chicago (catalog)
2002 . . . and Extreme Pattern, John Elder Gallery, New York
Visual Perspectives: 14 Years of the Virginia A. Groot Foundation, Groot Foundation Space, Chicago (catalog)
2001 SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, and Functional Art), Armory, New York
2000 Form Follows, Design Gallery, University of California, Davis
1998 lights-ON, John Elder Gallery, New York
SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, and Functional Art), Navy Pier, Chicago
1997 Design Australia: Westweek 1997, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles
1994–96 SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, and Functional Art), Navy Pier, Chicago
International
1998 The Somatic Object, Dr. Earl Lu Gallery, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore
1997 The Somatic Object, National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan (catalog)
1994 Art of the Object (Craft Australia touring exhibition of South America), Montevideo; São Paulo; and Santiago (catalog)
Australia
2007 Integration: The Nature of Objects, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
2005 Transformations: The Language of Craft, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (catalog)
1997 The Somatic Object, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
1996 New Furniture, Jam Factory Craft and Design Centre, Adelaide
South Australia: Crucible of Design, Jam Factory Craft and Design Centre, Adelaide (catalog)
1991–92 The Light Fantastic, Canberra Contemporary Art Space; Distelfink Gallery, Melbourne; and Sturt Craft Centre Gallery, Mittagong (catalog)
Selected professional experience
2011 Artist in residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin, CA.
2010 Artist in residence, Ceramics Program, California College of the Arts
2009 Artist in residence, College of Fine Arts, University of NSW, Sydney
Artist in residence, School of Art, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
2006 Artist in residence, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
2001 Artist in residence, School of Art, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
1997 Emigrated to the United States
1995–96 Research travel in the United States, including artist in residence at the Australia Council’s Studio, Green Street, New York (4 months)
1991 Churchill Fellowship. Research in Japan and the United Kingdom (7 months)
1982–83 Traveling and working in Japan (19 months)
Selected bibliography (reverse chronological)
Smith, Kate. “Exhibition Review: The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft,” The Journal of Modern Craft vol. 4, issue 3, 2011
Lavine, John. “Donald Fortescue: Maker, Teacher,” Woodwork no. 111, 2008
Martin, Stacy. “Doing It Naturally,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, July 16–22, 2008
Porges, Maria. “The Sensuous Curve,” American Craft vol. 66, no. 5, 2006: 74–75
Fortescue, Donald. “What Does It Take to Make It in the USA?” in Shifting Foundations: The Collected Papers of the Designing Futures Forum, Craftwest, Australia, 2003
Adamson, Glenn. “Donald Fortescue,” American Craft vol. 61, no. 3, 2001: 56–59
Kelsey, John, and Rick Mastelli, eds. Furniture Studio: The Heart of the Functional Arts, Furniture Society, 1999: 30
Rowley, Sue, ed. Craft and Contemporary Theory, Allen and Unwin, 1997
Ioannou, Norris. Masters of Their Craft, Craftsman House, 1997
Zimmer, Jenny, ed. Contemporary Craft Review 1: Collected Essays on Issues and Themes in Contemporary Craft, Craft Victoria, 1996: 21–23
Fortescue, Christopher. “Aground: A Review,” Object vol. 2, no. 95, 1995: 17–18
Outlaw, Anne. “Re:furnishing Memory,” Broadsheet vol. 24, no. 3, 1995: 23
Cochrane, Grace. The Crafts Movement in Australia: A History, UNSW Press, 1992: 399–400
Lockwood, Ken, ed. Artfile, Craft Arts International, 1992: 290–91
Raffan, Richard. “Design for Living,” Craft Arts no. 19, July–September, 1990: 64–66
