Daniel Jackson was born in Milwaukee in 1938. His mother was an antique dealer, and he was buying and restoring antiques by the age of 13. His later training was based in the Scandinavian approach to design, having studied under Tage Frid at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He followed that with an apprenticeship to Peder Moos in Denmark from 1960-62.

• Born: 1938
• Died: 1995
• Hometown: Nashotah, WI
• Education: Rochester Institute of Technology

He taught at the Philadelphia College of Art, now the University of the Arts, from 1964-1976. His influence was extremely important to the development of American Studio Sculpture and Furniture through his inspirational teaching (many of his students became teachers themselves so that his influence is now felt by several generations of woodworkers) – and by his guidance in setting up two of the preeminent woodworking programs in the country. In 1964 he established the woodworking department at the Philadelphia College of Art, and in 1975 he was asked by Jere Osgood to create the woodworking shop for the Program in Artisanry at Boston University.

Jackson’s Artistry and Legacy

Jackson produced relatively little work due to his untimely death in 1995, yet is widely considered to be one of the most influential makers and teachers of the American Craft and Studio Furniture Movement.

Summing up his approach to design, Jackson said: “There is not a great difference between the two (sculpture and furniture). Furniture must fill a specific function. Then it can go on to be aesthetic. Sculpture is purely aesthetic from the beginning. What I am trying to do is marry the two.”

Literature: Daniel Jackson: Dovetailing History, 2003