Cranbrook Academy of Art Announces 2015 Florence Knoll and Kass Bradley Scholarship Recipients

January 29, 2015

Cranbrook Academy of Art, where Knoll co-founder Florence Knoll studied, has awarded Susan  Frank McGovern and Drew Pettinga the 2015 Florence Knoll Scholarship and Kass Bradley Scholarship, respectively.

Florence Knoll Scholarship. Established in 2004 by Knoll, Inc, the Florence Knoll Scholarship is awarded yearly to a graduate student with the aim of supporting the creation of art and design at Cranbrook Academy of Art.

This year's recipient of the Florence Knoll Scholarship, Frank McGovern, is a second-year student in the 3D Design Department. Originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas, he received a Bachelor's of Arts in International Relations from J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences in 2004.

"I am particularly fascinated by the social and cultural significance of the objects that populate our domestic spaces and I want to investigate those meanings through the production of my own interior/furniture objects,” McGovern says of his work. "I want to make interior objects that exist in the gray area between art, craft and design."

Prior to arriving at Cranbrook, McGovern taught English language and cultural awareness to students in Japan before joining the Japan Society in New York City.

Kass Bradley Scholarship. In honor of Kass Bradley, former Knoll President and COO, the Kass Bradley Scholarship is awarded annually by the Cranbrook faculty to a student who is pursuing museum studies, a curatorial project or research related to connoisseurship in association with the Cranbrook Museum of Art.

This year's recipient of the Kass Bradley Scholarship, Drew Pettinga, is a second-year student in the 3D Design Department. Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, he received a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Grand Valley State University.

Of his designs, hes says, “I am interested in product and furniture design, particularly that which involves the inventive use of upholstery, sewing and textiles.” This year, Drew plans to create furniture pieces with construction methods that are informed by sewing technology employed in other areas of industry."

In addition to Florence Knoll, Cranbrook alumni also include Knoll designers Harry Bertoia, Ralph Rapson and Eero Saarinen, whose father, Eliel Saarinen, directed the school's architecture program, as well as Masamichi Udagawa of Antenna Design.