GARDINER — The Center for Maine Craft this month is exhibiting the works of four artists granted Maine’s first Master Craft Artist Awards by the Maine Crafts Association. They are Lissa Hunter of Portland, Fred Woell of Deer Isle, and Christopher Becksvoort and Paul Heroux, both of New Gloucester.

The award honors excellence in craftsmanship, inspired design and singular voice in an artist’s body of work.

Each of the four artists has a career in making, educating and innovating in the craft mediums of fiber, metals, wood and clay. Each is well-known in Maine’s art scene, as well as nationally renowned for his/her excellent craftsmanship.

Dedicated to environmental sustainability and traditional methods of craftsmanship, Becksvoort has earned high praise for the quality and beauty of the furniture and objects he makes. His background is in both environmental sciences and the arts, with studies in wildlife science/forestry at the University of Maine; in photography at Montgomery College in Montgomery County, Md.; and in wood technology at the University of Southern Maine.

Becksvoort’s belief is that a well-designed, well-built piece of furniture that lasts 100 years is preferable to one that can be bought at one-quarter the price but must be replaced every 10 years. To that end, he uses native, sustainably harvested cherry and linseed oil – no plywood, particle board or toxic chemicals.

Becksvoort has done restoration work for the last remaining Shaker community, at Sabbathday Lake, since the late 1970s. He has designed a line of fine woodworking tools and has written “The Shaker Legacy: Perspectives on an Enduring Furniture Style,” published by The Taunton Press, 1998.

A ceramic artist, Heroux attended the School of The Boston Museum of Fine Arts and since 1983 has been art lecturer and head of ceramics at Bates College.

Heroux’s work is frequently exhibited throughout New England and has been selected for museum collections at the Currier Art Museum in Manchester, N.H., Bowdoin College, the Portland Museum of Art, the DeCordova and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Published nationally and regionally for his inspired works in clay, Heroux was also recently included in “The Inspired Garden,” a new book from Down East Press.

“It is important to me that my work is visibly strong and durable, so that it invites touch and use. I am a craft artist. Tactile experience and the potential for use are crucial to my definition of a craft object,” said Heroux.

The Center For Maine Craft is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the West Gardiner Service Plaza. The center display works by more than 300 Maine craft artists, musicians, authors, illustrators and artisan food producers.

To learn more about the Master Craft Artist Awards Exhibition and the Maine Crafts Association, go to www.mainecrafts.org.