The National Sculpture Society (NSS) will present the 2025 Sculpture House Annual Award to Chad and Denise Fisher. The award recognizes those who support figurative sculpture.

NSS Board Member, Alicia N. Ponzio expresses her support of the couple by saying, “Chad and Denise collaborate in life as well as in art to raise four children, to bring monumental sculptural works into existence via Fisher Sculpture LLC, to nurture and support the growing Core Sculpture Program at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, and to bring the larger community of figurative sculptors together at the annual Sculpture Retreat at Lyme Academy. They’re tireless in their efforts and prolific in their endeavors. The feeling that ‘anything is possible’ consistently materializes when interacting with Chad and Denise.” NSS Fellow Fred X Brownstein adds, “Chad and Denise are like lightning sharing their energy with love for the art of sculpture. Chad shapes form in space and Denise creates the space.”

In 2017, Chad and Denise, along with Chad’s father, Fran Fisher, built a personal bronze foundry. Denise found her role as owner/project manager immensely rewarding. The foundry has handled commissions from the Gary Gordon MOH Memorial, the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center and the Delaware County Veterans Memorial. Denise feels that “Learning about each person that is being sculpted has been a gift for our family. Our kids have learned what it looks and sounds like to be a humanitarian, hero and a loving person in this world.” The foundry has also worked with inspirational players from the Philadelphia Flyers, the Chicago Bears Football Club, the NFL Hall of Fame, and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Chad studied at Syracuse University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, before receiving his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He has also studied at the New York Academy of Art, the Janus Collaborative, the Schuylkill Academy of Fine Arts, and the Barnstone Studios. In fall 2023, the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts hired Chad as the new Charlotte Colby Danly Sculpture Chair, a role he has embraced wholeheartedly.

In 2002, Bruner Barrie, past owner of Sculpture House, along with Jack North, former president of Chavant and Marc Fields, president of The Compleat Sculptor, established the Sculpture House Annual Award. Previous recipients of the annual award include foundry owner Robert J. Spring; author and historian Donald Martin Reynolds and Rebecca Reynolds, Executive Director of Manship Artists Residency.

In 1893, leading U.S. sculptors and architects founded the National Sculpture Society to “spread the knowledge of good sculpture.” The award presentation will take place on June 6th as part of the Society’s Sculpture Celebration, June 6-7, 2025, in New York City. For more information about the Fishers, the awards luncheon, or the Society, please contact Gwen Pier at news@nationalsculpture.org or 212-764-5645 ext. 101.