On View
On viewObject number1998.1
Yellow Stone Saga
Artist
Peter Voulkos
(American, 1924-2002)
Date1985-1988
Mediumanagama woodfired stoneware
DimensionsOverall: 42 × 34 × 30 in. (106.7 × 86.4 × 76.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Richard and Ethel Groos
Exhibition History"Art and the American Experience," KIA (Sept. 13 - Dec. 6, 1998).
"KIA Art School Faculty Exhibition," KIA Galleries 2&5 (Oct. 25 - Nov. 23, 2003).
"Off the Wall: Art in Three Dimensions," KIA (Sept. 17 - Dec. 4, 2011).
"Lasting Legacy: A Collection for Kalamazoo," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Sep. 6, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015).
"Out of the Fire: Masterworks of Ceramics," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, changing exhibitions galleries (Jan. 14 - Mar. 12, 2017).
"Unveiling American Genius," KIA Permanent Collection Exhibition, Traditional, Markin, Nay and Groos Galleries (March 1, 2021 - December 31, 2023).Label TextPeter Voulkos used clay the same way action painters like Franz Kline used paint. And like the Franz Kline painting in this gallery, Yellow Stone Saga reveals evidence of the artist’s working process and the importance of spontaneity and improvisation in Voulkos’ art.
This large vessel-shaped sculpture is from a series the artist called “stacks.” The cracks, handprints, surface marks, and coloration created by the heat, ash, and high temperatures of a wood-fired kiln were unpredictable outcomes the artist embraced. When he used traditional pottery techniques to create sculpture, Peter Voulkos inspired a new ceramic movement in America.
