Andrew Raftery

Andrew Raftery studied at Yale University, Yale School of Art and Boston University College of Fine Arts. Employment is recorded with Rhode Island School of Design. Work by Andrew Raftery is recorded in the collections of Smithsonian American Art Museum, Print Collection and Whitney Museum of American Art. Distinctions recorded are Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Award and Guggenheim Fellowship.

• Name — Andrew Stein Raftery • Born — 22 May 1962 • Birthplace — Goldsboro, North Carolina, U.S. • Education — Boston University (BFA) Yale University (MFA) • Known for — Burin engraving, teaching

In 1984, Raftery earned his B.F.A. degree in painting from Boston University, and took his first intaglio printing class with Sidney Jack Hurwitz. In 1988, he completed his M.F.A. degree in printmaking from Yale University. He is a professor at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) teaching in the printmaking and painting departments, since 1991. He credits Stanley William Hayter and his proteges in Atelier 17 as an influence, and the collection of Charles Randall Dean as a guide, before its acquisition by the Library of Congress. In 2004, Raftery's work was featured in Jonathan Weinberg’s book, Male Desire: The Homoerotic in American Art. Raftery helped contribute to the 2009 publishing of the RISD Museum exhibition catalog, The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650 alongside Emily J. Peters and Evelyn Lincoln (of Brown University). His major works in this period were the portfolios Suit Shopping (2000–2002) and Open House (2004–2008). In 2009, he was elected as an academic member of the National Academy in New York City. From that year until 2012, Raftery assisted in research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the wear of engraved copper plates through printing, necessary for more confident dating of historical prints; this required using a traditional hammered copper plate and lozenge-shaped burin for the first time in his career.