Robell Awake is an artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. His practice centers Black aesthetic traditions and histories through scholarship and craft, using craft objects as sites for cultural memory and critical inquiry. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with a forthcoming commission for the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Awake is a 2026 USA Fellow, a recipient of the Center for Craft’s Craft Research Fund Artist Fellowship, and was named one of Dwell magazine’s best emerging designers from around the world. His book, A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects, was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the “Best Books of 2025.”

He has taught at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Craft, and the Woodworking School at Pine Croft, and was a 2025 Visiting Artist at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Awake has also presented at institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Furniture Society, Warren Wilson College, Berea College, Washington College, the Atlanta History Center, and the North Bennet Street School.

CV

UPCOMING SOLO SHOW:
May 2026, New York City

REPRESENTATION:
Claire Warner
Volume Gallery, Chicago
claire@wvvolumes.com

PAST EXHIBITIONS:
• CHR, curated by Ebony L. Haynes, The Armory (September 2025)
• Human Resources, Solo Exhibition, Volume Gallery (April-June 2025)
• Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence (DAR Museum, 2025)
• Black Folks in Design, Verso Gallery (Fall 2023)
• Hammer and Hope, The Center for Craft (Fall 2023)
• Connections in The Making, The Center for Craft (Fall 2023)
• In the Making, The North Bennet Street School Gallery (Summer 2023)

PRESS:
• Atlanta artist not only claims a seat at the table, he created the chair, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (January 2026)
• Robell Awake by Michelle Millar Fisher, Bomb Magazine (June 2025)
• A History of Black Craft, All of It, WNYC (February 2025)
• Atlanta-based carpenter’s new book explores the history and work of Black craftspeople, Closer Look with Rose Scott, WABE (February 2025)
• New book honors historical contributions of unsung Black craftspeople, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (February 2025)
• Robell Awake discusses his new book 'A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects,’ Morning Edition, NPR (February 2025)
• Millennials Embrace Bicentennial Style, The New York Times (August 2023)
• Black designers tell a story of craft and history in New York exhibition, Wallpaper* (October 2023)
• A New Exhibition of Black Designers Explores the Role Aesthetics Play in Social, Economic, and Racial Justice Efforts, Sight Unseen (October 2023)
• Robell Awake, Cut the Craft podcast (March 2023)
• Robell Awake: Crafting Change, Fine Woodworking (February 2021)