Peter Voulkos
Peter Voulkos is known for Abstract Expressionist ceramic sculpture and plates characterized by large-scale, unglazed fractured surfaces that set the stage for the mid-twentieth century break with traditional concepts of clay, functional ...
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Typical Marks
About
- Biography
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Peter Voulkos is known for Abstract Expressionist ceramic sculpture and plates characterized by large-scale, unglazed fractured surfaces that set the stage for the mid-twentieth century break with traditional concepts of clay, functional pots, and the potter. His early career inBozeman, Montana, began with the influence of his instructor, Frances Senska, andwas spent honing his skills as a potter making a large body of elegantly thrown and glazed bottle vases and dinnerware.
Voulkos was an influential ceramics teacher. He founded two major ceramics programs: The first in 1954 at theOtis College of Art and Design, then called the Los Angeles County Art Institute, at which his work rapidly became abstract and sculptural; and the second, in 1958 at the University of California, Berkeley. His programs produced a roster of potters, many of whom went on to teach, and whose combined influence produced much of the iconic work of the 20th century including Ken Price, Billy Al Bengston, Paul Soldner, Stephen De Stabler, Jun Kaneko, Larry Shep, Mac McClain (McCloud), John Mason, James Melchert, Michael Frimkess, Jerry Rothman, and Henry Takemoto.
These students highly individual work did not have a ?Voulkos look?. The common thread was the approach to clay that allowed personal direct expression. The work produced during this period revolted against the traditional production of the vessel or container that formed the foundation of American pottery. During this time, Voulkos produced new forms that were aggressively asymmetrical, no longer needed to be useful, sometimes ?crudely? formed, and very controversial. Voulkos established a unique American ceramic aesthetic.
In 1962 Voulkos shifted his interest to metal, however, in 1973 he returned to ceramics creating an iconic series of 200 plates that were thrown for him to rework. While in the leather stage, Voulkos energized these thrown forms by embedding white porcelain bits, gashing, slashing and puncturing the surfaces.
HisAbstract Expressionistceramics were influenced by a trip in the summer of 1953 to New York City and to North Carolina . He was invited by Karen Karnes to give a three-week course at Black Mountain College, North Carolina. At Black Mountain he came into contact with Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Merce Cunningham. and Joseph Albers amonug others. In New York he met with Franz Kline and Philip Guston and other expesssionist artists. In the fall of 1953, Voulkos returned to teaching at Otis College of Art, California. Voulkos is credited with pushing back the boundaries of clay, literally reinventing American ceramics. His work clearly crossed the traditional divide between ceramic ascraft and asfine art.
- Education
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1951
BS Painting, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana
1952MFA California College of the Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
- Apprenticeships & Residencies
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1951-1954
Resident Potter, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana
- Primary Work Experience
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1943-1946
United States Army
1953Instructor, Black Mountain College, Asheville, North Carolina
1954-1959Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California
1959-1985Faculty, University of California, Berkeley, California
- Public Collections
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Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Nagoya, Japan
Albany Mall, Albany, New York
Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University, Alfred, New York
American Museum of Ceramic Arts, Pomona, California
Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
Banff Centre, School of Fine Arts, Alberta, Canada
Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri
David & Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Illinois
Den Permanente, Copenhagen, Denmark
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, Alabama
Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, University of California, Los Angeles, California
Fredrick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minnesota
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Het Kruithuis, Museum of Contemporary Art's Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana
Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
Ichon World Ceramic Center, Ichon, Kyonggi Province, Korea
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Missouri
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, California
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, Mineesota
Montana State University School of Art Permanent Collection, Bozeman, Montana
Musée des Arts Decoratifs de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Japan
National Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California
Paul Creative Arts Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara
Scripps College, Claremont, California
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery & Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
Southern Illinois University Art Museum, Carbondale, Illinois
St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Tokyo Folk Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, California
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
- Bibliography
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Coplans, John. Abstract Expressionist Ceramics. Irvine, CA: University of California, 1966.
Fischer, Hal. "The Art of Peter Voulkos.” ARTFORUM, November 1978.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Peter Voulkos: A Retrospective 1948-1978. San Francisco, CA, 1978.
Slivka, Rose. Peter Voulkos: A Dialogue with Clay. New York, NY: New York Graphic Society in association with American Crafts Council, 1978.
Slivka, Rose and Karen Tsujimoto. The Art of Peter Voulkos. Oakland, CA: Kodansha International and the Oakland Museum, 1995.
- CV or Resume
- Website(s)
Citation: Peter Voulkos, "The Marks Project."
Last modified May 13, 2026. https://www.themarksproject.org/artists/peter-voulkos
Objects
Collections
Everson Museum of Art Collection
United States
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Everson Museum of Art Collection
United States
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California
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Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California -
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
Claremont, California
Treadway Toomey Auctions
Oak Park, Illinois
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Treadway Toomey Auctions
Oak Park, Illinois
