Analysis and Importance of Peter Voulkos' Work in Ceramics - Research Paper Example

This discussion will also include an analysis of some of this artists’ work. Biography Peter Voulkos is a well-known ceramic artist who in the 1960s was honored as the leading ceramic artist in California. He is acknowledged for raising ceramics to a higher rank of pensiveness and articulation of a person’s ideas. Peter Voulkos was born by his Greek immigrant parents in the year 1924. He went to school in Montana State University, where he studied painting and ceramics. He also won himself a masters of fine arts degree in California College of the Arts.

Production of dinnerware was the first activity he undertook in his ceramics career. He later pioneered a department of art ceramics in Otis College of Art and Design and University of California, Berkeley. In the latter university, he worked until the year 1985 from 1959. His work was influenced by abstract expressionism whereby they renovated traditional ceramics to large scale and non-traditional ceramics (Carasso 56). Peter Voulkos began his ceramics work in his senior year in the year 1949 at Montana State College.

Despite being a ceramic artist, Voulkos also used other materials in his sculptures. He used bronze, and in other cases, he painted his works. Some of the pieces of art he made using bronze casting are Missoula and Bucci. In his later years, Voulkos was initiated into the use of wood-fired to make his sculptures. His work is found in quite a number of museums all around the world such as Museum of Modern Art, found in New York, Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, found in Japan, Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, and The National Gallery, in Melbourne, Australia among other museums.

Voulkos normally did his work in the presence of an audience. This was to help the audience, which was inclusive of other artists, to understand the techniques he used in his work. His work many times comprised of a plate, ice buckets, and stacks with wood firings. Normally, this ceramic artist destroyed other smaller pieces of art then made a new one of a larger scale. Peter Voulkos passed on in the year 2002 due to a heart attack after leading a ceramics workshop at a college in Ohio, Bowling Green State University (Carasso 57).

Significance of Peter Voulkos ceramic work Peter Voulkos has been of great importance to the field of ceramics. To begin with, he facilitated the movement of abstract expressionism. This as stated above entailed the transformation of traditional ceramics to non-traditional ceramics. He amongst other artists made use of this movement in their artwork. This enhanced the way in which they expressed themselves. Peter Voulkos made the transition easy by elevating the conservative ceramics above the accepted limits.

This formed a platform for abstract expressionism. Through this mode of expression, he managed to be the leading sculptor in the 1960s and created an avenue for California to be a centre for moulding using clay. This show the role he played in improving the use of clay in ceramics. It also illustrates his role in the facilitation of abstract expressionism, which faced challenges then, but currently is being used by many artists. Voulkos also loved working with an audience. This is of great importance since it created a channel through which he could educate his students on how he created his pieces.

It also created an avenue for other artists to learn relevant techniques that could assist them in their work. As a result of this,