Jose A. Cunha

Palissy Majolica Bowl Snake Spider Frog Caterpillar Butterfly Lizard

circa 1870s

"Pod" is a precious sculpture with a decorated tactile surface and a warm glaze giving the piece a soft glow. The transparent glaze enhances the creamy tones of the clay. Ms. Oka Doner created unique hand-size sculptures during the 1960s of which the "Pod" is an exquisite example. Her clay technical skills cover a wide range from enormous wall pieces to small decorative pieces that demand to be touched and held. This piece, despite being a fruit, is the perfect example of her famous "Tatooed" figurative sculptures. Michele Oka Doner (born in Miami Beach, Florida, United States) is an American artist and author who works in a variety of media including sculpture, prints, drawings, functional objects and video. She has also worked in costume and set design and has created over 40 public and private permanent art installations. She is best known for her “A Walk On The Beach,” a one and a quarter mile long bronze and terrazzo concourse at Miami International Airport. It is composed of over 9000 bronzes embedded in terrazzo with mother-of-pearl. At one and quarter linear miles, it is one of the largest artworks in the world. She is granddaughter of painter, Samuel Heller. She attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her art instructor Milton Cohen was experimenting with The Space Theater and George Manupelli began the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Their students were engaged in poetry, dance, light, music, all combined into a unitary vision, a motif that shaped Oka Doner's student years and is characteristic of her work today. She participated in a Manupelli experimental film, a "Map Read" performance with art drawing instructor Al Loving and Judsonite dancer Steve Paxton as well as several "Happenings." Another influence was art historian and Islamic scholar, Oleg Grabar, who illustrated how patterns in architecture are able to dissolve space. She received her BS and MFA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 2008 she was a U of M Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York; Diane Brown Gallery, New York; Art & Industrie Gallery, New York; Willoughby, Marlborough Gallery, New York; Studio Stefania Miscetti in Rome; and Gloria Luria Gallery in Miami, Florida. During the 1960s Michelle Oka Doner was living and working in Detroit, Michigan, where she became acquainted with Charles McGee and his gallery located in the Fisher Building...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY "El Tren" is a whimsical and playful rendition of a train. It is beautifully glazed in various colors. This particular ceramic was from the collection of Jane and Richard Knight’s Estate. Jane Knight was a famous fiber and textile artist. Richard was a photographer who worked for Eliel Saarinen and Alexander Girard. The Knights and Girard became close friends and it was Girard who gifted “Santa Cruz De Las Huertas Jalisco” to the Knights. Alexander Girard left his personal collection to the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM. The Girards eventually amassed a collection of more than 106,000 objects from across the globe. Their 1978 gift of this collection to the Museum of International Folk art quintupled the size of their collection and prompted the construction of a new wing, which opened in 1982 and houses a mere 10% of the Girard Collection in the permanent exhibition Multiple Visions: A Common Bond, which was designed by Alexander Girard himself. This collection includes numerous multiples and is notable for its great breadth, including traditional arts, popular arts, and paper ephemera. “I believe we should preserve this evidence of the past, not as a pattern for sentimental imitation,” Girard once said, “but as nourishment for the creative spirit of the present.” Indeed, folk art was an important inspiration for Girard’s design work. The renowned Candelario Medrano...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY “Santa Cruz de las Huertas Jalisco” is a whimsical, charming and colorfully ceramic rendition painted blue and red of a local bus that traversed the town where the artist Candelario Medrano...

This turned Burlwood vase has rich earth tones with copper highlights. The swirling burl pattern comes through the glossy surface that contrasts with the...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY "Record Player" by Jerome Ferretti, Detroit muralist, painter and sculptor, is a genuine Symphonic Record Player with built...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY "Kryptonite Wares" is a clever and humorous collection of both superfluous and everyday objects purchased from the Dollar Store. It is a wry comment by the artist...

Earthenware and glaze "Flat Pot XVIII" (2019) Glazed earthenware flat goblet wall sculpture Hanging system on back side Earth tones, cream and brown on terracotta clay Certificate o...

"Flat Pot XVI" (2019) Glazed earthenware flat vessel shaped wall sculpture Hanging system on back side Pastel tones, light minty sea foam green blue on te...

"Flat Pot I" (2019) Glazed earthenware flat tea cup wall sculpture Hanging system on back side Earth tones and pastels, light blue with deep green on terracotta clay Certificate of ...

"Flat Pot XIII" (2019) Glazed earthenware flat pitcher wall sculpture Hanging system on back side Earth tones and pastels, cream, beige, green, sea foam, light blue on terracotta cl...

"Flat Pot VI" (2019) Glazed earthenware flat pitcher wall sculpture Hanging system on back side Earth tones, brown and beige design on terracotta clay Certificate of authenticity

Flat Pot XI (2019) Glazed earthenware wall sculpture Earth tones -- brown, terracotta, beige Flat vessel image with pattern glaze