Peter Voulkos
Artist
Peter Voulkos in his studio on Glendale Boulevard in Los Angeles, 1959. Image courtesy of the Voulkos & Co. Catalogue Project
Peter Voulkos (1924-2002) grew up and studied art in Montana, then moved to Oakland, California to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he received his MFA in 1952. In 1953 Voulkos was invited to teach ceramics alongside figures such as Merce Cunningham and John Cage at the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Like Cage, Voulkos was inspired by Eastern philosophy, particularly Zen Buddhism, which privileges meditative and repetitive motions in art production. Voulkos’s approach to ceramics was to combine large slabs of clay that generated weighty, yet seemingly spontaneous, sculptures. Teaching was an important complement to Voulkos’s artistic practice, and he mentored several generations of artists.
Works of Art
-
Little Big Horn, 1959, Peter Voulkos. Polychromed stoneware. 62 x 40 x 40 in. The Oakland Museum of California, gift of the Art Guild in memory of Helen Schilling Stelzner. © Mrs. Ann Voulkos, Voulkos Family Trust. Image courtesy of the Voulkos & Co. Catalogue Project. Photo by Joe Schopplein
Explore the Archive
-
Video: Irving Blum, John Mason, and Billy Al Bengston speak about the work of Peter Voulkos, 2010–11
-
Henry Takemoto and Peter Voulkos in front of Takemoto's mural at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, 1959. Image courtesy of Henry Takemoto
-
Peter Voulkos's exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum, 1958. Courtesy of the Voulkos & Co. Catalogue Project
-
John Mason and Peter Voulkos photographing a sculpture outside their shared studio on Glendale Boulevard in Los Angeles, ca. 1959. Courtesy of the Voulkos & Co. Catalogue Project
-
Peter Voulkos, John Mason, and Paul Soldner at Otis Art Institute (now called Otis College of Art and Design) in Los Angeles, 1956. Image courtesy of Soldner Enterprises and Stephanie Soldner Sullivan
