Jackie Ferrara, Sculptor Who Humanized Minimalism, Dies at 95 | Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Jackie Ferrara, Sculptor Who Humanized Minimalism, Dies at 95

November 10, 2025
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Jackie Ferrara, "Minneapolis Project"
Jackie Ferrara

Jackie Ferrara, the sculptor who transformed simple stacks of lumber into structures of quiet mystery, died on October 22 in Basel, Switzerland. She was 95.

Ferrara, long admired for bringing warmth and craft to the cool precision of minimalism, found a defining moment in 1978 with the Minneapolis Project, a 14-foot-tall truncated pyramid built for the campus of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. The work was her first major public commission and marked a turning point in her career, expanding her practice from the studio to the landscape.

Constructed from natural wood and assembled by hand, the Minneapolis Project embodied Ferrara’s belief that geometry could be both exacting and humane. Where many of her contemporaries favored industrial materials and fabrication, she preferred the grain of wood and the evidence of touch.

The success of the Minneapolis Project led to dozens of commissions around the country, from small Midwestern towns to major museums.

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