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Viola Frey Art

American
She born in 1933, Viola Frey grew up on her family's vineyard in Lodi, California.[2] She received a BFA in 1956 from California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts), where she studied painting with Richard Diebenkorn and ceramics with Vernon "Corky" Coykendall and Charles Fiske.[3] Her fellow students included Robert Arneson, Manuel Neri and Nathan Oliveira.[4] After receiving her bachelor's degree, she attended graduate school at Tulane University and studied with Mark Rothko and George Rickey. She left Tulane in 1957 without receiving her master's degree[5] and moved to New York to work with ceramicist Katherine Choy at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York.[6] The Clay Art Center was one of the earliest venues on the East Coast geared toward artists exploring ceramics as a fine art medium without the functional constraints of craft.[3] Career Frey returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1960 where she became an internationally respected artist and a leading figure in contemporary ceramics. She was well known for her monumental, brightly colored ceramic sculptures, which explored issues of gender, cultural iconography and art history. Along with Robert Arneson and Peter Voulkos, Frey reshaped and defined the use of ceramics as a fine art medium through her robust sculptures. "Frey was one of a number of California artists working in clay in the 1950s and 60s who turned away from that medium's conventions to produce works with robust sculptural qualities associated with Abstract Expressionist painting, Pop art and what would come to be known as California Funk."[7] "Viola has had a profound impact on the visual arts. She was able to take the culture surrounding her and reform those elements into a totally original form of sculpture that defined one of the great contributions to modern art," commented Michael S. Roth, former President of the California College of the Arts.[8]
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Artist: Viola Frey
Yellow Still Life by Viola Frey (NP#5016)
By Viola Frey
Located in Morton Grove, IL
VIOLA FREY (1933-2004) Rare Yellow Still Life 1966 oil on canvas, signed 'V. Frey' lower right 34 x 44in (86.3 x 111.8cm) Provenance- The Nevica Project, Ch...
Category

1960s Contemporary Viola Frey Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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Viola Frey (American, 1933-2004) Untitled (Floral Still Life) Acrylic on canvas Signed lower right Sight: 28 1/8in H x 46in L, Framed: 31 3/8in H x 49 1/2in Viola Frey's works are i...
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Untitles Still Life by Viola Frey (NP#5015)
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'Contest, ' by Viola Frey, Drypoint Etching
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Pedestal Dish by John Gill (INV# NP3150)
By Viola Frey
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Viola Frey Hand Sculpture stoneware 12 x 9 x 6" 1983 Viola Frey (1933 - 2004) was born in 1933 in Lodi, California, and died in Oakland, California, in 2004. In 1965 Frey began teac...
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"Figure Study H", 1996, Figurative Expression, Ceramic Sculpture
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"Figure Study H" is exemplary of Viola Frey's colorful, larger-than-life ceramic sculptures. These brash and richly colored figures depict a woman sitting and a man moving away. Frey’s sculptures typically represent men in suits and ties, and women old-fashioned brightly colored dresses. She also depicted women holding a globe, thus empowering them. The men with confused faces are sometimes standing or falling. Viola Frey was born in Lodi, California in 1933. She was an American artist working in sculpture, painting and drawing, and professor emerita at California College of the Arts. She received a BFA in 1956 from California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts), where she studied painting with Richard Diebenkorn and ceramics with Vernon "Corky" Coykendall and Charles Fiske. Her fellow students included Robert Arneson, Manuel Neri and Nathan Oliveira. After receiving her bachelor's degree, she attended graduate school at Tulane University and studied with Mark Rothko and George Rickey. She left Tulane in 1957 without receiving her master's degree and moved to New York to work with ceramicist Katherine Choy at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York. Frey returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1960. Along with Robert Arneson and Peter Voulkos, Frey reshaped and defined the use of ceramics as a fine art medium through her robust sculptures. Frey was one of a number of California artists working in clay in the 1950s and 60s who turned away from that medium's conventions to produce works with robust sculptural qualities associated with Abstract Expressionist painting, Pop art and what would come to be known as California Funk. In the 1970s, after moving to a larger studio in Oakland, Frey started creating her signature larger-than-life ceramic figures. Standing up to twelve feet high and constructed of separate pieces, the massive men appear in generic suits and ties, while the large female figures are often depicted in heavily patterned, 1950s-style dresses. In 1979, Viola was included in "A Century of Ceramics in the United States 1878-1978", which Garth Clark co-organized with Margie Hughto...
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1990s Viola Frey Art

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Ceramic

Untitled (Portrait of a Woman with Hat Charger, Platter)
By Viola Frey
Located in Kansas City, MO
Artist : Viola Frey Title : Untitled (Portrait of a Woman with Hat Charger, Platter) Materials : ceramic, glazes Date : 1988 Dimensions :...
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1980s Modern Viola Frey Art

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Bluebird Lady
By Viola Frey
Located in Morton Grove, IL
Provenance- Originally purchased thru the Greenberg Gallery in St. Louis. Sissy Thomas of Okun/Thomas Gallery contacted Dorothy Weiss Gallery (who represented Viola at the time) an...
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Viola Frey Art

Bluebird Lady
Bluebird Lady
H 97 in W 23 in D 18 in

Viola Frey art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Viola Frey art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Viola Frey in ceramic, clay, glaze and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1980s and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Viola Frey art, so small editions measuring 20 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Frank Gallo, Jean Richardson, and Bill Reid.

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