ROBERT SILVERMAN
Robert Silverman balances material, process, and idea in a strong, unified whole. In his materials, he brings together pieces with international origins: large-format tiles that originate in China and glazes from England and the Netherlands. Silverman’s technically demanding process combines complex glazing and multi-firing methods that unite the materials in a way that supports and conveys his underlying concepts. These ideas are presented through words, letterforms, coded symbols, color, and texture.
We know not through our intellect but through our experience. ― Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Unlike other philosophers, Merleau-Ponty emphasized the body as well as the mind as a gateway to understanding the world. His belief that the body and that which it perceived could not be separated seems perfectly suited to the perceptual and haptic sensibilities of fired clay.
I was initially trained as a social geographer and later as an artist. Acknowledging this early training and reflecting the mind-body understanding, my current work connects the way in which we both visualize information and viscerally experience this process of perception. — Robert Silverman
TILE WORK
Bobby Silverman’s brilliantly-glazed, large-scale porcelain tiles begin as raw clay in China, where ceramic tradition dates back hundreds of years. Working with expert craftsman, Silverman designed a paper-thin flat tile up to 43 x 33”, which is in itself a technical achievement. The blank tile is fabricated in Jingdezhen, China, fired to a high temperature, crated, and shipped to his studio in the United States. Silverman then masterfully glazes the porcelain and fires it numerous times in his kiln to create a visual language of pure color, vivid striping, or abstract text using Morse code or braille. Because Silverman makes his masterful understanding of the chemistry of ceramics look effortless, the viewer sees a pristine, vibrant work of art that is reminiscent of color field painting, but resonates with a color and light that only glaze can achieve.
ABOUT “TIRANA”
In October 2000, artist Eddie Rama became the Mayor of Tirana, Albania. At that time the capital city was a downtrodden remnant of the Soviet Union. The city budget was squandered, corruption was rampant and crime was the norm. But Rama had an idea to raise the spirits of his town — he painted many of the grey buildings loud colors and bold designs.
When the colored buildings began to multiply, a mood of change started to transform the spirit of the people. There was less litter in the streets, people started to pay taxes. As Rama said “Beauty was giving people a feeling of being protected. This was not a misplaced feeling — crime did fall.”
Inspired by Rama’s vision, I use everyday commercial tile and glaze materials to create surfaces and imagery that blur the traditional lines drawn between art, design and architecture. In doing this I hope to elevate everyday materials and give them meaning beyond their manufactured intent.
EDUCATION
1981-1983 MFA Ceramics, New York State College of Ceramics Alfred University, Alfred, NY
1978-1980 BFA, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
1974-1978 BFA Social Geography, cum laude, Clark University, Worcester, MA
1976-1977 Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2007 Louisiana State Council of the Arts Artist Entrepreneur Grant
2004 Louisiana State Council of the Arts Mini-Grant Individual Fellowship
1999 Louisiana State Council of the Arts Individual Fellowship
1995 Southern Arts Federation/National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship
1988 New York State Council of the Arts Artist in Resident Fellowship
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014 Art and Industry, Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2011 European Ceramic Work Center ( with CW&T), ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
2008 Harvey Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO
2007 Code/Ornament, Bentley Gallery Scottsdale, AZ
2007 Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
2006 European Ceramic Work Center, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
2006 Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ
2004 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2003 Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
2003 Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, KS
2001 Ferrin Gallery, SOFA, New York, NY
2001 Gallery Materia Scottsdale, AZ
2000 Farrell/Pollack Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
2000 Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
1998 Gallery Materia, Scottsdale, AZ
1998 European Ceramic Work Center, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
1998 Firehouse Arts Center, Norman, OK
1989 Jane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016
Kindred Beasts: The 2016 Everson Biennial, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
2015
Waterfall Mansion, New York
2014
Made in China: The New Export Ware, Ferrin Contemporary at Independent Art Projects, North Adams, MA
Made in China: The New Export Ware, Ferrin Contemporary at Miami Project, Miami, FL
Made in China: The New Export Ware, Ferrin Contemporary at New York Ceramics Fair, New York, NY
2103
Ceramic Top 40, Belger Art Center, KC, MO
Convergence, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY
2011
British Ceramic Biennial, Stoke-On-Trent, England
2010
Boom or Bust, Lyons Weir Gallery, NY, NY
(Re)Form, H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO
Ceramics and Architecture, Dutch Design Week, European Ceramic Work Center, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
2009
Survey of Contemporary Art, Harvey Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO
2008
New Now, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygen, WI
Summer Show, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2007
Multiples, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
2005
Summer Show, Gallery Artists, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
SOFA New York, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2004
SOFA Chicago, Sherry Leedy Gallery,
Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, SOFA, Chicago
2003
21st Century Ceramics, Columbia College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH
Art Form Palm Beach: International Fair for Dimensional Fine Art, Ferrin Gallery, Palm Beach, FL
Shared Passion: The Sara David Lieberman Collection, Arizona State University Museum of Art, Tempe, AZ
2002
An Invitational, Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
La Grange National 2002 Biennial, Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, La Grange, GA
2001
A Ceramic Continuum: Fifty Years of the Archie Bray’s Influence, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
2000
Color and Form, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
SOFA Park Ave Armory/ Gallery Materia, New York, NY
Blue Heron Gallery, Deer Isle, ME
SOFA Chicago, Navy Pier/ Gallery Materia, Chicago, IL
1999
Revolution of Style, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Rendezvous, Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearny NE
An Invitational, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO
1998
Introductions, Ferrin Gallery, Northampton, MA
Summer Show, Nancy Margolis Gallery, Portland, OR
1997
The Best in Contemporary Clay, Miller Gallery and the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
1996
Southern Arts Federation Art Auction Governor’s Mansion, Atlanta, GA
LaGrange National Biennial XIX, Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange, GA
1995
1995 SAF/NEA Regional Fellowships in Crafts Halsey Gallery, Charleston, SC
Winter Showcase, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
1995 Monarch National Ceramic Competition, Kennedy-Douglas Center for the Arts, Florence, AL
Artists on Their Own, Jane Hartsook Gallery, New York, NY
10th Annual San Angelo National Ceramic Competition, Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX
1994
University of Washington Invitational, Seattle, Washington
1993
Art in Bloom, New Orleans Art Museum, New Orleans, LA
NCECA Clay National, The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS/COMMISSIONS (selected)
Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT
The Berman Collection, New York, NY
Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH
Ceramic Research Center at Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, La Grange, GA
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO
European Ceramic Work Center, s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse NY Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
Landmark Bank, Madill, OK
The Marer Collection, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, New York, NY
President’s Collection, Clark University, Worcester, MA
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Schein-Joseph International Ceramics Museum, Alfred, NY
PUBLICATIONS (selected)
2011
“Exposure,” Ceramics Monthly Magazine, October 2011
2009
Ceramics and Architecture, European Ceramic Work Center, Netherlands
“Ceramics and the Elastic Mind,” Studio Potter, V37 N2
“Garden Gallery,” Phoenix Home and Garden
2008
“Why the Y,” Ceramics Monthly Magazine
2007
“The MFA Factor,” Ceramics Monthly Magazine
2005
“NCECA National,” Ceramics Monthly Magazine
2004
The Craft and Art of Clay, Susan Peterson, Prentice Hall
2003
21st Century Ceramics, Catalogue published by Columbus College of Art and Design, Bill Hunt
Shared Passion: The Sara and David Lieberman Collection, Catalogue, Peter Held, State University Press, Tempe, Arizona
2002
Ceramics: A Potter’s Handbook, Glenn Nelson and Richard Burkett,8-4
“A Glimpse of the Invisible,” Ceramic Art and Perception, Volume 49
2001
Post Modern Ceramics, Mark Del Vecchio, Thames and Hudson
A Ceramic Continuum: Fifty Years of Ceramic Influence, University of Washington Press
Nouvel Object VI: Artists from Around the World, pg 184
“Bobby Silverman,” Revista Internacional Ceramica, No. 75
2000
“Bobby Silverman: Objects, Still-Lifes, Installations,” Ceramic Art and Perception
1999
”Bobby Silverman: Objects of Pure Perception,” American Craft Magazine
“Bobby Silverman,” Ceramics Monthly Magazine
1998
Bobby Silverman, European Ceramic Work Center Catalogue
1996
“AAF/NEA Winners,” American Craft Magazine
1994
“Bobby Silverman, An Autobiography,” Ceramics Monthly
1993
“Soda Firing,” Studio Potter Magazine, Volume 21, Number 2
LECTURES (selected)
2012
Columbia University, New York, NY
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
2011
Archie Bray Foundation 60th Anniversary, Helena, MT
2010
Hunter College, NY, NY
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2009
NCECA Conference 2009, Ceramics and the Elastic Mind, Lecture, Phoenix, AZ
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2008
University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2007
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
2006
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, CO
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2005
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygen, WI
2004
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, CO
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
2003
Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus OH
Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM
Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, KS
2001
Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC
Phoenix Art Museum Contemporary Arts Forum, Phoenix, AZ
Arizona State University, Scottsdale, AZ
2000
Haystack School, Deer Isle, ME
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
92nd St Y, New York, NY
Hunter College, New York, NY
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
1999
Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT
Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
University of Montana, Missoula, MT
1998
Arrowmount School of Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
1997
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, CO
Arizona Clay, Phoenix, AZ
Firehouse Art Center, Norman, OK
1996
Peters Valley Craft Center, Layton, NJ
University of Massachusetts, New Bedford, MA
1995
The Art of Craft Symposium, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
University of Florida, Gainseville, FL
1989
Emerging Talent, NCECA, Kansas City, MO
1984
Betzalel Art School, Jerusalem, Israel
Beersheva Art School, Beersheva, Israel.
Edinburough School of Art, Edinburough, Scotland
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2007-Present Established Alsio Design LLC, Brooklyn, NY
1990-2007 Co-Chair Ceramics Department Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
1989-1990 Adjunct Professor Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
1987-1989 Resident Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT
1984-1987 Adjunct Professor Massachusetts College of Art, Boston MA