Bowl

• Title Bowl
• Category Ceramic
• Medium Ceramic
• Medium Other, Pacific Northwest (subject or artist)
• Dimensions 5"h x 13"w x 13"d
• Year Completed c. 1967
• Description Ceramic bowl with a blue, yellow, green design.
• Notes Robert Sperry was a preeminent ceramist hailed as “one of the great contributors to ceramic art as we know it today.” He began as a traditional ceramist who then later expanded to the realms of sculpture, abstract expressionism, and large-scale public murals. Sperry was born in 1927 in Bushnell, Illinois, to a farming family who moved back and forth between their land in Illinois and Canada, eventually settling in Druid, Saskatchewan soon after his birth. Before finishing 12th grade, he was drafted Into World War II. While stationed in Germany, Sperry met an artist from India who he traded cigarettes with for painting lessons which inspired Sperry to become an artist. After his two years of service, he finished high school and then attended university, earning a B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, a B.F.A. from the school of the Art Institue of Chicago in 1953, and an M.F.A. from the University of Washington in 1955. His first artistic interest was painting but his medium changed to ceramics when he saw an exhibition of Peter Voulkos’s (1924-2002) and Rudy Autio’s (1926-2007) ceramics at the Archie Bray institute in Montana. He Joined the University of Washington’s faculty in 1955 where he became the head of the ceramics department and served for 30 years. In the 60s, through grants from the Japan Society in New York and the Center for Asian studies at UW, he explored filmmaking, documenting Japanese folk Potters in “Village Potters of Onda” (1966). His love of film grew to the point he cut back on teaching ceramics courses so he could teach and produce films. The 70s marked a period of experimentation during which Sperry tried new methods of glazing and decorating, incorporating new materials such as gold and silver luster which can be seen in this piece. Ultimately, Sperry focused on his distinctive black and white crackle and crawl glazes for which he is known. After a long and successful career, he died in 1998 due to multiple myeloma, producing art on Adobe Photoshop till his death.
• Artist Robert Sperry American 1927-1998
• Credit Carlson Collection
• Location Library Art Storage I4
• Accession Number 1973.0017
• Status Available Request this art work
  
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