Peter Voulkos - The Man Who Broke the Rules
What happens when a master potter decides to break all the rules?
In the first of two episodes, Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh explore the life and work of Peter Voulkos, the artist who helped transform American ceramics after the Second World War.
From his Montana childhood and wartime service to his first encounter with clay, Voulkos begins as a brilliantly skilled traditional potter. But through teachers, fellow artists and the experimental world of 1950s America, he starts cutting, tearing and rebuilding clay in radically new ways. By the mid-1950s, pottery was becoming sculpture and a revolution in clay was underway.
Featured Artworks:
Photo of Voulkos doing pottery workshop Alfred University, 1998 by Stephanie Rozene Photo Filming Voulkos at work, Alfred University, 1998, by Stephanie Rozene Voulkos Correcting a student, Alfred University, 1998, Stephanie Rozene. Voulkos finished platters on table, Alfred University, 1998, by Stephanie Rozene Photo of John Balistreri assisting Peter Voulkos. 1990s (Creative Commons) Voulkos at Potters wheel, ca. 1956 Photo of Frances Senzka smiling Photo of Edith Heath, Date Unknown, (Wikipedia) Photograph of Maija-Grotell-1920s (Wikiedpia) Marguerite finishing a vase, ca.1950s. 1998 Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona Foundation Face Vessel, ca. 1970s, Marguerite Wildenhain Archie Bray and Rudy Autio photograph, ca. 1951 Photograph of Frances Senska and her pots, 1988, Linda Best photo / Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Chicken and Wine Set, 1960, Frances Senzka Ya Ba Bo jar, 1970, Frances Senzka Bottom of Ya Ba Bo jar, 1970, Frances Senzka Peter Voulkos Painting his Ceramics, ca. 1950s Ceramic National Piece, 1950, Peter Voulkos ???? Gourd Shaped Vases, Vases with Leaf, Green-Swirled Vases, 1952, Peter Voulkous Archie Bray Putting Soda in Beehive Kiln ca. 1950s Yanagi, Leach, Autio, Voulkous and Hamada at the Archie Bray Foundation Voulkos kicking the wheel for Hamada at Archie Bray Foundation, 1952 Karen Karnes, (1925-2016), Western Regional Archives, State Archives of North Carolina David Weinrib, (1924 – 2016) Robert Rauschenberg at Black Mountain College, Black Mountain, NC, United States, circa 1951. Photo: Cy Twomble M.C Richards (1914 – 1999) Wikipedia Picture Untitled Stoneware with Acrylic Paint, ca. 1953, MC Richards Collaboration with Peter Voulkos Covered Jar, 1953, Peter Voulkos Jackson Pollock at work – photograph by Hans Namuth (Wikipedia) Marguerite Wildenhaine, ca. 1962, Wikipedia page. Rocking Pot, 1956 Peter Voulkos (Smithsonian ART Museum) Peter Voulkos working, ca. 1960. Tony Prieto Tall Vase, Stoneware, 1950. The Everson Museum of Art. Photo credit Stephanie Rozene.
Professor Paul Greenhalgh is a specialist on the art and design of the Modern period. He has written widely on Art Nouveau and curated several exhibitions including the major survey Art Nouveau 1890-1914, which toured internationally (2000-01). His books include Ephemeral Vistas (1988), Modernism in Design (1990), Art Nouveau 1890–1914 (2000), The Modern Ideal (2005), Fair World (2011), L’Art Nouveau: La Revolution Decorative (2013), Ceramic Art and Civilisation (2021) and Pablo Picasso: The Legacy of Youth (2022). He has held positions as Head of Research at the V&A Museum, London; President and Director at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Director of the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich; and Inaugural Director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation, London. He was born and raised in Bolton, and is a proud Lancastrian.
Stephanie Rozene is a ceramic artist, Professor of Art, and the Ceramics Program Coordinator at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York she has been teaching, writing and making art since 2004. At Hartwick she's been honored with the Wandersee Scholar in Residence award twice, along with the Teacher Scholar Award. Stephanie's research uses historical ornament and porcelain as a visual language to critique contemporary political rhetoric, and she also explores the history of clay as a cooking tool. Her work has been shown extensively both nationally and internationally. She is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and is the Vice President of the board of trustees for the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine, and was educated at NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, Canada and the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
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