Meulensteen

At once minimal and monumental, the ceramic works of Richard De Vore exemplify a unique focus and refinement. Stark and commanding from a distance, the seductive surfaces of his vessels pull the viewer in to reveal a characteristically subtle handling of form. Building up layer upon layer of glaze and using multiple firings, De Vore achieved unusual depth of color, giving his pieces a uniquely contemplative sensibility. Each vessel balances decay and rebirth through composition, surface, and texture. Richard De Vore (1933-2006) has been the subject of numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. In 2008 the Cranbrook Art Museum hosted Richard De Vore: Retrospective and Last Works, which was accompanied by a monograph edited by Gregory Wittkopp and Emily Zilber. De Vore’s work is represented in major museum collections throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Los Angeles Museum of Art; the de Young Museum, San Francisco; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. A recipient of National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships (1976, 1980, 1986), he was named American Craft Council Fellow in 1987. De Vore attended the University of Toledo as an undergraduate and later received his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1957. At Cranbrook he studied with Maijia Grotell, who later chose him to succeed her as head of the school’s ceramics department, a position he held from 1966 to 1978. Before retiring from teaching, he was a professor of art at Colorado Sate University from 1978 to 2004.

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