Peter Voulkos

Peter Voulkos - early life

• Born in 1924 to Greek immigrant parents in the town of Bozeman, Montana.

• He was drafted and serving as an airplane gunner in the Pacific in World War II.

• Voulkos got his start in ceramics in the late 1940s, when he was studying at Bozeman State.

Peter Voulkos – traditional master

• Voulkos was described “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

• Voulkos gained a reputation as a master of ceramics techniques, winning twenty-nine prizes and awards from 1949 through 1955.

Peter Voulkos – changing ideas

• Voulkos spent a summer teaching at Black Mountain College near Asheville, North Carolina in 1953.

• At Black Mountain College and later in New York, Voulkos met Robert Rauschenberg , Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and other Abstract Expressionist painters .

Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon

Franz Kline, Mahoning

Willem de Kooning, Woman V

Peter Voulkos – starting a movement

• In 1954, Voulkos was invited to teach at the Los Angeles County Art Institute .

• 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.

• Voulkos exhibited these new works in Los Angeles announcing to the world a new way of approaching ceramics.

Peter Voulkos• Voulkos' sculptures are

known for their visual weight, free-formed construction, aggressive and energetic design.

• Voulkos would vigorously tear, pound, and gouge the surfaces of his works.

Peter Voulkos – later years

• 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 teaching in 1985, and began working full-time on his own projects.

• His creativity and productivity seemed to accelerate in his later years, as he focused on clay and later, bronze.

Bronze outdoor sculpture

Peter Voulkos – the legacy

• 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 helped to make ceramics a fine art instead of a decorative craft.

• His work as an innovator and teacher inspired generations of ceramists to push boundaries and find freedom in their medium.

• Voulkos died in 2002.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wuxa_Tj04Q

Techniques: Peter Voulkos Bottle

• Techniques:• ***Intentionally leave areas rough, unrefined,

“broken”• Build in sections• Allow all cracks to show • Do not smooth joints• Carve in holes• Partially peel back layers

Focal E&P

• Focal Elements: Texture, form• Focal Principles: Balance, Variety, Emphasis

Requirements

• 8-10” tall, 4-6” wide at widest point.• Built from multiple sections with additions of

smaller pieces.• Must clearly be intentionally unrefined• Must have 1 spout

Sketching

• Draw 2 possible “bottles” based on Voulkos’ style.

• Draw one per page• Show cracks, connections, holes, textures etc.• Remember:• Focal Elements: Texture, form• Focal Principles: Balance, Variety, Emphasis