Long Platter: Fall with Green Fruit
James Melchert is primarily known for bright colored sculptures that reveal his ties to Conceptual Art,as well as for his later works using factory produced ceramic tiles, in some cases broken, drawn on, reassembled, and painted with glazes.
As a student of Peter Voulkos at Berkeley in the early 1960s he was part of the beginnings of the California Clay Movement. Melchert employed various techniques as needed to produce his work. In 1962 Melchert and Ron Nagle formulated a white earthenware (whiteware) clay which, unlike traditional earthenware, did not dull colors but intensified them. This whiteware advance was immediately adopted by Robert Arneson and others.
In the early 1990s Melchert completed a 225 foot long by 12 foot high tile wall installation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology biology building. Melchert made the tiles while an artist-in-residence at the Tile Guild Inc. in Los Angeles. The Tile Guild's Artist Residency program allows artists to produce large tile works using a kiln with a capacity of 750 square feet of tile per day.
Other works by Arbuckle
Arbuckle in other collections
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Dallas, Texas
, United States
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Last updated: April 22, 2026
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