Elemental — Earth and Fire, Ceramics as Art

Wood-fired Stoneware by Peter Voulkos, 2016, Palo Alto Art Center

Above is  a detail of a large wood-fired stoneware sculpture by Peter Voulkos. The piece stands almost 4 ft. high, and is 2 feet wide and weights over 150 pounds. Imagine muscling that around a studio and into a kiln.

Peter was born in Bozeman, Mt and went to Montana State College. I attended the same school a few years after Peter (he went to school on the WW II GI Bill and I on the Korean War GI Bill). I never met Peter, but knew his brother Manny who owned an all-nite diner where I and other vets often ended up after the pubs closed.

Later, after moving to California, I got the urge to learn ceramics and made a few pieces that are still littering the shelves around the house. Here is a gallery of some of the shelves.

Burnished, hand-formed, ceramic pieces, by author (Cat of unknown origin)

Stoneware (by author), paper boxes and puppet

Collected objects

Fired Clay by author, unknown painting.

Peter’s work is on permanent display in the Anderson Collection at Stanford, and the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

Cheers, Carto

This week’s challenge is “Elemental” — You know: Earth, Fire, Water, etc. Check it out here.