Description
After graduating from the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City, Morgan Andersen spent 1978 and 1979 learning the art of bow making with Frank Passa in San Francisco who had worked with Simone Sacconi at the Wurlitzer shop in New York. Passa had also received guidance in his bow making from Emile Ouchard. After working for Passa, Andersen returned to his native Washington State where he has resided ever since.
In 1986, Andersen won two gold medals for his work in the Violin Society of America competition and followed by a subsequent gold medal in 1988. In 1991 he won 3rd prize for violin bow making in the Etienne Vatelot City of Paris competition. In 2011 he again entered the Etienne Vatelot City of Paris Competition, and was awarded the Grand Prix for his violin bow.
Morgan, with a group of others, founded the Oberlin Bow Workshop in 1996 which has become an important gathering of contemporary bow makers from North America and Europe for the purpose of working together and exchanging ideas. Morgan is currently a member of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, as well as serving on the Board of Governors of IPCI-USA, a non profit organization dedicated to the conservation of Pernambuco, the wood used in making fine bows.