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Born in 1924 to Greek immigrant parents in the town of Bozeman, Montana, Peter Voulkos is one of America’s most significant sculptors of the 20th century. Voulkos got his start in art in the late 1940s, when he was studying at Montana State College, Bozeman on the G.I. Bill, after being drafted and serving as an airplane armorer-gunner in the Pacific in World War II. In classes with Frances Senska, he discovered ceramics, the medium that would characterize his career. After graduating from Montana State College, Bozeman in 1951, Voulkos moved west and earned his MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California.
Returning to Montana after graduation, Voulkos attracted attention “as a prodigious natural potter and a producer of elegantly thrown functional earthenware,” according to Roberta Smith for the New York Times. He also produced dinnerware to sell through high-quality stores, and was noted for his wax-resist method of decoration.Voulkos gained a reputation as a master of ceramics techniques, winning twenty-nine prizes and awards from 1949 through 1955. However, a summer spent teaching at the experimental Black Mountain College (he was invited to teach at BMC by Karen Karnes) near Asheville, North Carolina in 1953 resulted in a dramatic shift in Voulkos’s artistic priorities, as well as his aesthetic. It was at Black Mountain College that Voulkos met Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Charles Olson. He then visited New York City (as a guest of pianist David Tudor and Mary Catherine Richards) and encountered Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline—Abstract Expressionist painters who influenced the new direction Voulkos would go on to pursue.
In 1954, Voulkos was invited to teach at the Los Angeles County Art Institute (now Otis), and he established a new ceramics department and graduate program that attracted other young artists including John Mason, Ken Price, Billy Al Bengston and Paul Soldner. It was here that, inspired by the scale and spontaneity of the New York School, Voulkos began to build progressively larger works that cast aside utility and abandoned ceramic conventions. Decoration became aggressive, as he slashed at and pierced the clay, which he then energetically painted with glaze. Peter Voulkos exhibited these new works in shows at the Landau Gallery in Los Angeles, which announced to the world a new way of approaching ceramics.
Disagreements with the more conservative administrators of the LA County Art Institute led to Voulkos’s departure for the University of California, Berkeley, in 1959. While at Berkeley, Voulkos experimented with bronze and produced large-scale bronze sculpture, while continuing his ceramic work and doing demonstrations of ceramics throughout the U.S. In 1979, a young ceramist named Peter Callas constructed the first Japanese wood fire kiln in the United States and Voulkos experimented with it, creating works that exploited the spontaneity of the process. The artist retired from his teaching position at Berkeley in 1985, and began working full-time on his own projects. If anything, his creativity and productivity seemed to accelerate in his later years, as he focused on clay and later, bronze.
The influence of Peter Voulkos on the field of ceramic art and sculpture is hard to overstate—Roberta Smith described the magnitude of his impact when she wrote, “few artists have changed a medium as markedly or as single-handedly as Mr. Voulkos.” Voulkos is often credited with contributing to the demolition of the traditional hierarchies between the fine arts and craft, and the elevation of ceramics out of the decorative arts to which they had been consigned. His work as an innovator, teacher, and colleague inspired generations of ceramists to push boundaries and find liberation in their medium.
Peter Voulkos passed away on February 15th, 2002 from a heart attack. During his lifetime, he was honored with countless awards and fellowships, and has exhibited in nearly 100 solo shows around the world. His work is represented in major museum collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Oakland Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and those listed below.
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Education
1952 Master of Fine Arts, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland
1951 Bachelor of Science in Applied Art, Montana State College, Bozeman
Museum Collections
Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Nagoya, Japan
Albany Mall, Albany, New York
American Museum of Ceramic Arts, Pomona, California
The Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Stanford, California
Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
The Art Gallery, Paul Creative Arts Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham,
New Hampshire
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
Banff Centre, School of Fine Arts, Alberta, Canada
Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Philadephia
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cinncinati, Ohio
City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco, California
City of Fresno, Fresno, California
City of Highland Park, Illinois
Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, State Fair Community College, Sedalia, Missouri
David & Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Den Permanente, Copenhagen, Denmark
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, Alabama
Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, University of California, Los Angeles, California
Fredrick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Het Kruithuis, Museum of Contemporary Art‘s Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Museum of American Art at the
Renwick Gallery of Contemporary Crafts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana
Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
Ichon World Ceramic Center, Ichon, Kyonggi Province, Korea
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana
International Museum of Ceramic Art, New York State College of Ceramics at
Alfred University
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, California
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, Minnesota
Montana State University School of Art Permanent Collection, Bozeman, Montana
Musée des Arts Decoratifs de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Museum of Arts and Design (formerly the American Craft Museum), New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Japan
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas
National Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Japan
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Nordenfjield Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California
Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland California
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadephia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Building and United States Courthouse, Honolulu,
Hawaii
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California
Scripps College, Claremont, California
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery & Scultpure Garden, University of Nebraska, Lincoln,
Nebraska
Southern Illinois University Art Museum, Carbondale, Illinois
St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Tokyo Folk Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, California
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015 Peter Voulkos: Sculpture, Pottery, Prints, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica,
California
2013 Peter Voulkos: Works, 1956 – 1997, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York
2011 A Survey, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2009 The Montana, Otis & Berkeley Years, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco,
California
2005 Peter Voulkos, Bronze: 1986-2002, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Peter Voulkos: Echoes of the Japanese Aesthetic, American Museum of Ceramic
Art, Pomona, California
2004 Works on Paper, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2003 Selected Work: 1953-2000, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
Osceola Gallery, Emeryville, California
LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, New York
2002 Galerie Yoramgil, Beverly Hills, California
2001 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
Art Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, California
2000 Gallerymateria, Scottsdale, Arizona
Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University at Logan, Logan, Utah
1999 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Mussi Artworks Foundry & Gallery, Berkeley, California (catalogue)
1998 Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
1997 Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
1996 Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan (catalogue)
William Traver Gallery, Seattle, Washington
1995 Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, traveled to: the National Museum of Modern Art,
Kyoto, Japan (catalogue)
Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, traveled to:
the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Fisher Gallery, Auckland,
New Zealand; and the Dowse Art Museum, Wellington,
New Zealand (brochure)
The Oakland Museum, Oakland, California, traveled to: the Newport Harbor
Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California; and the American Craft Museum,
New York
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1993 Hordaland Kunstnersentrum, Bergen, Norway, traveled to: Ram Galleri,
Oslo, Norway; Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway; and
Kunstnernes Hus, Salthomsgade, Denmark;
Grimmerhus Center for International Studiokeramik, Middledfart, Denmark
Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1992 Louis Newman Galleries, Beverly Hills, California
1991 Leedy/Voulkos Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California (catalogue)
1990 Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
1988 Twining Gallery, New York (catalogue)
Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1987 Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1986 Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1985 Bancho Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (brochure)
Exhibit A, Chicago, Illinois
1984 Faith and Charity in Hope Gallery, Hope, Idaho (catalogue)
Magnolia Gallery, Oakland, California
Gallery 181, College of Design, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
Exhibit A, Chicago, Illinois
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1983 Art Center, Tokyo; traveled to Kyoto Art University, Kyoto, Japan;
and the Tokoname Ceramic Research Center, Tokoname, Japan (brochure)
Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
1982 Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut
1981 Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, Florida (brochure)
Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Exhibit A, Chicago, Illinois
1980 Okun-Thomas Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
1979 Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Northern Arizona University Art Gallery, Flagstaff, Arizona (brochure)
Hill’s Gallery of Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1978 Exhibit A, Chicago, Illinois
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; traveled to Contemporary Arts Museum,
Houston, Texas; Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York; and the
Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (book)
Exhibit A, Evanston, Illinois
1977 Contemporary Crafts, Portland, Oregon
1976 Exhibit A, Evanston, Illinois
Yaw Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan (catalogue)
1975 Kemper Gallery, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri; traveled to
Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1974 Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1972 San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California (catalogue)
1968 Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
1967 David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
1965 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California (catalogue)
1964 Hack Light Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
Art Unlimited, San Francisco, California
1963 David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
1961 Primus-Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
1960 Museum of Modern Art, New York (brochure)
1959 Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California (catalogue)
1958 Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, California
1957 Bonnier’s, New York
Downstairs Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
1956 Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1954 American House Gallery, New York
1953 Art Gallery, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
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