David Hostetler  David L. Hostetler (December 27, 1926 – November 18, 2015) was a wood carver and bronze sculptor of works capturing the female form. He was also a professor emeritus of Ohio University. Born in Beach City, Ohio, on December 27, 1926, Hostetler had a close relationship with his Amish grandfather, an influence which stayed with him throughout his career. His interest in art came by accident: during World War II, while studying as an engineer in the US Army, he suffered a shrapnel wound in the leg during a training exercise in California. While recuperating for six months, he became interested in art after receiving drawing materials from a Red Cross volunteer. He received his art degree from Indiana University in 1948 and in 1949 was awarded a Master's of Fine Arts from Ohio University, where he taught for 38 years. His art career spanned more than 60 years, progressing from folk images to stylized forms and including guest teaching and lecturing throughout the United States and Mexico. Hostetler retired as a full professor of sculpture from Ohio University in 1985 where he was named Professor Emeritus. Some of his students who have gone on to fame include Jim Dine, whose work has been collected and exhibited internationally since 1960; David True, an artist who has exhibited at the Whitney Biennial and who now teaches at Columbia University; Harvey Breverman, a well-known painter and printmaker; Glenn Randall, a leader in the field of English antiques; and Dianne Perry Vanderlip, a curator of contemporary art at the Denver Art Museum. In addition to the art and academic worlds, he explored farming, worked as a salesman, trained as an engineer and was founding an art museum, drumming in a jazz band and collecting Americana. Hostetler and his wife, Susan Crehan-Hostetler, lived on a farm outside Athens, Ohio during the winter months and in Nantucket, Massachusetts, during the summer, where they own the Hostetler Gallery and where he played drums in his own jazz band. His longtime appreciation of the great Jewish philosophers inspired his interest in the Jewish faith, philosophy and way of life, and at the age of 69, Hostetler began studying to convert to Judaism. Hostetler died from complications of emergency gallbladder surgery on November 18, 2015. Hostetler earned wide acclaim for his unique treatment of the feminine form. Most of his pieces begin as wood carvings, with bronze versions cast directly from the wood.