Peter Voulkos

Peter Voulkos is regarded as the potter who helped change the direction of contemporary American ceramics in the late 1950s. Voulkos freed clay from its traditional, historical and technical limitations by expanding the aesthetic possibilities to include gesture and sculpturally expressive forms. The artist's influences at the time included the history of European and Oriental ceramics, jazz and Abstract Expressionist painting.Cruciform Vase, completed in 1958 when Voulkos was teaching at the Los Angeles County Art Institute, exemplifies an early step in a new direction. While the work is open at the top and has a vessel reference, the artist's intent was clearly sculptural. His forms were vigorously thrown, cut, altered and stacked. To this central core he added cross-arms and glaze. The asymmetrical form, the firing cracks and the gestural strokes of the glaze serve to disrupt the viewer's concept of vessel and to reinforce the feeling of improvisation and spontaneity in the creative process. Like a sketch in clay, this work is analogous to action painting in the round.Peter Voulkos was born in Bozeman, Montana in 1924. He received his B.S. at Montana State University in 1951 and his M.F.A. at the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1952. He has taught at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana; Black Mountain College near Ashville, North Carolina, Los Angeles County Art Institute (Otis Art Institute), Los Angeles, California and the University of California, Berkeley and has had an enormous influence on several generations of artists working in clay. Studio in Oakland, California. Peter Voulkos, like Nevelson, introduces abstraction through another medium previously thought of as unconventional for the modern movement: ceramics. In 1950, Voulkos entered the ceramic program at the California College of Arts and Crafts at the Archie Bray Foundation. Three years later, during a brief visit to the Black Mountain College in North Carolina, he met the painter Joseph Albers, the avant garde musician John Cage, and the dancer Merce Cunningham. Voulkos also traveled to New York where he met leading Abstract Expressionists. From 1954-59, he headed the new ceramic department at the Otis Institute (previously the Los Angeles County Art Institute) where he instructed Paul Soldner and John Mason. His combined experiences with the leading modernists in the arts helped change his philosophy toward traditional pottery. Richard Foley and Suzanne Marshall wrote, "A number of factors, including Voulkos' admiration for historical and contemporary European and Oriental ceramic work, his involvement with jazz, his exposure to Abstract Expressionist painting, and interaction with like-minded colleagues and students, reinforced his interest in using clay as an expressive, sculptural medium." (Ceramic Sculpture: Six Artists, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, 1981, p. 40.)The Cruciform Vase work in the Arts Center collection is made from stoneware with blue and white underglaze, finally covered in a clear overglaze. With firing cracks at all the joints and with bold gestures in the glaze, Voulkos has captured the quick organic movement of the Abstract Expressionists, including Elaine De Kooning, Philip Guston and Jack Tworkov.(http://webkiosk.lbma.org:1500/Art650$47 Long Beach Museum of Art, California 6-24-08)Peter Voulkos (aka Panagiotis Harry Voulkos)American(Bozeman, Montana, January 29, 1924 - February 16, 2002, Bowling Green, Ohio)Modern and Contemporary Post-World War II 1945 - present Studio CeramistPeter Voulkos was born in Bozeman, Montana. From 1943 to 1945 he served in the US Naval Air force as a nose gunner in the Pacific theater. After serving in the military, Voulkos went back to Montana and studied painting and ceramics. Like most potters at the time Voulkos worked only with the vessel form and concentrated on acquiring traditional skills of throwing and decorating pots in the Asian and Scandinavian ceramic traditions. In 1954, at the invitation of director Millard Sheets, Voulkos started teaching at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. With Paul Soldner, his first student, he set up a ceramics studio at the school. Perhaps because of his background in painting, Voulkos did not see himself as limited by the constraints of creating only functional ware. He began teaching his students to use themselves as source material, expressing their ideas in the forms they created, instead of being confined by functionality. At the time, these ideas were considered controversial and caused many debates among artists. His new expressive approach to working with clay initiated a radical transformation in the ceramics field. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Voulkos moved away from clay and began to work in metal. Returning to ceramics in the mid-1970s, Voulkos produced two hundred plates "decorated" with holes and scratches. These pieces were fired in a gas kiln with a glaze made to imitate effects achieved in a wood firing.Death February 16, 2002, Bowling Green, Ohio Exhibition History 2006 - TBD: "Innovation and Change: Great Ceramics from the ASU Art Museum Permanent Collection," Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona; travel venues TBD 2001 - 2006: "A Ceramic Continuum: Fifty Years of the Archie Bray Influence," August 20 - January 8, 2006, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana; June 4 - July 31, 2005, Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho; February 29 - April 25, 2004, University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, Kentucky; May 22 - July 18, 2004, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane, Washington; August 8 - November 7, 2005, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada; January 5 - March 2, 2003, Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon, Georgia; March 30 - May 25, 2003, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama; September 20 - November 9, 2003, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida; February 17 - April 14, 2002, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; May 12 - July 7, 2002, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan; July 28 - September 22, 2002, Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred University, Alfred, New York ; October 13 - December 8, 2002, Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum, Logan, Kansas; June 15 - July 31, 2001, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana; August 25 - October 28, 2001, Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho; November 25, 2001 - January 20, 2002, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana 2005 - 2006: "Peter Voulkos: Echoes of the Japanese Aesthetic," November 12, 2005 - February 4, 2006, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California 2005: "Centers and Edges: Modern Ceramic Design and Sculpture, 1880 - 1980," June 2 - September 18, 2005, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 2005: "Terra Firma: Part I," January 31 - March 16, 2005, Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center, Manhattan Beach, California 2005: "On the Wall," May 7 - June 4, 2005, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California 2004: "Heirlooms of the Future - Art of Contemporary American Designer Craftsmen," June 10 - November 30, 2004, Mingei International Museum, San Diego, California 2004: "Standing Room Only," Scripps College 62nd Ceramic Annual, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California 2003: "Great Pots: Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy," February 14 - June 1, 2003, Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey 2003: "Shared Passion: Sara and David Lieberman Collection of Contemporary Ceramics and Craft," February 8 - May 18, 2003, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona 2002: El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition, Palm Desert, California 2002: "California Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation," August 31 - November 24, 2002, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California 2000: "1999 - 2000 Masters Exhibition: Stephen De Staebler, Jack Earl, Robert Turner, Peter Voulkos, Betty Woodman, Eva Zeisel," March 3 - April 15, 2000, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 2000: "Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950 - 2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California 1999: "Radical Past: Contemporary Art and Music in Pasadena, 1960 - 1974," February 7 - June 6, 1999, Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, California 1996: "The Art of Peter Voulkos," Newport Harbor Art Museum (Orange County Museum of Art), Newport Beach, California 1994 - 1996: "Revolution in Clay: The Marer Collection of Contemporary Ceramics," October 22 - December 4, 1994, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California; January 8 - February 26, 1995, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida; March 25 - May 21, 1995, Avampato Discovery Museum, Charleston, West Virginia; June 11 - July 30, 1995, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan; August 27 - October 15, 1995, Canton Art Institute, Canton, Ohio; November 12, 1995 - January 7, 1996, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas; January 28 - March 17, 1996, Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas; April 14 - June 2, 1996, Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, Georgia; September 15 - November 3, 1996, Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, Alabama 1995 - 1996: "The Art of Peter Voulkos," July 22 - November 12, 1995, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California; December 9, 1995 - February 25, 1996, Newport Harbor Art Museum (Orange County Museum of Art), Newport Beach, California 1990: "Peter Voulkos: Major New Works," March 3 - 24, 1990, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York 1984: "Artists Choose Artists III," May 23 - June 30, 1984, CDS Gallery, New York, New York 1979: Scripps Annual Ceramic Exhibition, Scripps College, Claremont, California 1979: "A Century of Ceramics in the United States 1878 - 1978," Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York 1979: Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1978: "Nine West Coast Clay Sculptors," Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York 1978: Retrospective Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California 1977: "Modern Era Update," Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Alabama 1977: Contemporary Crafts Association, Portland, Oregon 1976: Bicentennial Exhibit, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California 1976: Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan 1975: "Sculpture: American Directions, 1945 - 1975," National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1975: Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1974: "Public Sculpture/Urban Environment," Oakland Museum (of California), Oakland, California 1974: Sculpture Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York 1974: Scripps Annual Ceramic Exhibition, Lang Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California 1974: "Peter Voulkos: Ceramics," April 16 - May 4, 1974, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California 1971: "OBJECTS: USA," June 20 - July 11, 1971, Chattanooga Art Association, George Thomas Hunter Art Gallery, Chattanooga, Tennessee 1969: Scripps Annual Ceramic Exhibition, Lang Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California 1968: "Voulkos & Kaneko: Ceramics," August 13 - October 5, 1968, David Stuart Gallery, Los Angeles, California 1968: "Portraits of Artists," November 10 - December 20, 1968, Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, California 1968: "The West Coast Now," February 9 - March 6, 1968, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon; May 15 - June 15, 1968, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California 1965: "Peter Voulkos: Sculpture," April 14 - June 20, 1965, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California 1964: Hack-Light Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona 1962: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California 1961: David Stuart Gallery, Los Angeles, California 1960: "New Talent in the Penthouse," Penthouse Gallery, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York 1959: Pasadena Art Museum (Norton Simon Museum of Art), Pasadena, California 1959: "Peter Voulkos: Sculpture, Painting, Ceramics," May 4 - May 23, 1959, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California 1958: Brussels World's Fair, Brussels, Belgium 1957: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 1957: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 1956: Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California 1955: "L'Exposition Internationale de la Ceramique," Gold Medal, Cannes, France 1954: Scripps Annual Ceramic Exhibition, Lang Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California 1953: "Designer Craftsmen U.S.A. 1953," Ceramics Prize, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York 1953: Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York 1953: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California 1953: Museum of Contemporary Crafts (Museum of Arts & Design), New York, New York 1952: Scripps Annual Ceramic Exhibition, Scripps College, Claremont, California 1951: Scripps Annual Ceramic Exhibition, Scripps College, Claremont, California Collections The Marer Collection of Contemporary Ceramics, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California City of Palm Desert, California The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, California Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, California La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, California Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado Museum of Contemporary Art (New Museum), New York, New York Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Tokyo Folk Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California Work History 1959 - 1985: Instructor, University of California, Berkeley, California 1964: Instructor, Summer Session, Greenwich House Pottery, New York Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York, New York 1960 - 1962: Instructor, Summer Session, Greenwich House Pottery, New York Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York, New York 1958 - 1959: Instructor, Summer Session, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 1954 - 1959: Instructor, Los Angeles County Art Institute (Otis College of Art and Design), Los Angeles, California 1953: Instructor, Summer Session, Black Mountain College, Asheville, North Carolina 1952 - 1954: Instructor, Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana Education 1982: D.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California 1980: Hon D.F.A., Otis Institute Parson School Design, Los Angeles, California 1972: Hon D.F.A., California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California 1968: L.H.D., Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 1952: M.F.A., California College of Arts and Crafts, Los Angeles, California 1950: B.S., Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana Born January 29, 1924, Bozeman, Montana