News Article

“ROBERT SPERRY,” an exhibition of ceramic plates drawn from private collections, will be on display in the Gonzaga University Jundt Art Museum Arcade Gallery from Aug. 15 through Nov. 17.

Sperry began as a painter with a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1954, he went to the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Mont., to work with ceramicists Peter Voulkos and Rudy Autio, whom he greatly admired. Sperry was profoundly interested in new ways of seeing the world and new ways of understanding. At Bray, he showed himself to be a great innovator.

From there, Sperry continued his education at University of Washington, where he earned a master of fine arts degree, and upon graduation joined the faculty. As chair of the UW ceramics program, Sperry promoted experimentation grounded in technical excellence and fostered an atmosphere of debate and exchange.

He was an exceptional risk-taker in the arts and was fascinated by the interaction of materials. Although known principally as ceramicist, Sperry also was a printmaker, a painter, and a filmmaker, producing documentary, narrative, and experimental pieces. He is credited with building a community of his colleagues during his tenure at UW that remains an institution in the art world today. Sperry became professor emeritus in 1982, but continued to teach part time. He died in 1998.

Sperry’s ceramics are represented in major public collections worldwide, including the American Craft Museum, New York; the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum; the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Seoul (Korea) Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Seattle Art Museum. His work also is in many corporate collections including IBM Field Engineering Educational Center, Atlanta; Lannon Foundation, Palm Beach, Fla.; SAFECO Insurance Company, Seattle; Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.; and the Bank of American Collection, Seattle.

Free showings of the video “Living Treasures: Robert Sperry — A Northwest Master” will be held in the Jundt Lecture Hall, every Saturday at 1, 2 & 3 p.m., from Aug. 18 through Nov. 17, except holidays Sept. 21- 23 and Oct.13-15.

The Jundt Art Museum is open to the public at no cost from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday noon-4 p.m. It is closed on Sundays and the aforementioned school holidays.