Born: San Francisco, 1939

Education: San Francisco State College, B.A. 1961

Currently lives and works in San Francisco.

2023

Conniption, Modern Art, London (forthcoming)
Extraterrestrials, Modern Art, London (forthcoming)
Fast of Words, Matthew Marks Gallery, Los Angeles

2021

Necessary Obstacles, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

2020

Handsome Drifter, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (catalogue)
Lincolnshire Squire, Modern Art, London (catalogue)

2019

Getting to No, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York (catalogue)
Euphoric Recall, Fridericianum, Kassel
Midnight Stroll, The Perimeter, London
Nocturn Around, Vienna Secession

2017

Ice Breaker, Matthew Marks Gallery, Los Angeles
Amended Testimony, Stuart Shave Modern Art, London (catalogue)

2015

Five O’Clock Shadow, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Chewing Gum Monuments, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (catalogue)

2014

Peripheral Cognition, San Diego Museum of Art (catalogue)

2012

Odd Ball, Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels (catalogue)

2011

Hamiltoe, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
Sleep Study, Lefebvre & Fils, Paris; Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels (catalogue)

2010

Sculpture, James Harris Gallery, Seattle
Spit Shine, James Kelly Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2009

Bookends, Weeromas, and Flareware, George Adams Gallery, New York

2008

Duo Mysto, Don Ed Hardy & Ron Nagle,Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
Ron Nagle is a Sweetheart, Galerie Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels
New Sculpture, George Adams Gallery, New York

2006

Buddy Holly Center, Lubbock, TX
Garth Clark Gallery, New York

2005

Natalie and James Thompson Gallery, San Jose State University, CA
Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2004

Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

2003

Dolphin, Kansas City, MO
Garth Clark Gallery, New York

2002

Variety Show, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles

2001

Garth Clark Gallery, New York (catalogue)

2000

Perimeter Gallery, Chicago

1999

Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
Garth Clark Gallery, New York

1998

Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1997

Revolution Gallery, Ferndale, MI

1996

Garth Clark Gallery, New York
Byron Cohen / Lennie Berkowitz Gallery for Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
Revolution Gallery, Ferndale, MI

1995

Garth Clark Gallery, Los Angeles
Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York

1993

A Survey Exhibition 1958–1993, Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, CA. Traveled to Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (catalogue)

1992

Bella Artes Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Michael Himovitz Gallery, Sacramento

1991

Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

1989

Charles Cowles Gallery, New York

1988

Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

1985

Charles Cowles Gallery, New York

1984

Quay Gallery, San Francisco
Betsy Rosenfeld Gallery, Chicago

1983

Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
Delahunty Gallery, Dallas

1982

Quay Gallery, San Francisco
Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis

1981

Charles Cowles Gallery, New York

1979

Currents 4, Saint Louis Art Museum (catalogue)
Matrix Gallery I, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley

1978

Adaline Kent Award Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (catalogue)

1977

Yaw Gallery, Birmingham, MI

1975

Quay Gallery, San Francisco

1968

Rolf Nelson Gallery, Los Angeles
Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco

2023

Reveal: Recent Acquisitions 2020–2023, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
Taylor Davis Selects: Invisible Ground of Sympathy, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston

2022

California Clay: The Big Bang, Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum, Clarinda, IA

2021

The Flames: The Age of Ceramics, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (catalogue)

2020

Artifices Instables: Histoires de Céramiques, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco — Villa Sauber (catalogue)

2019

Closer Look: Intimate-Scale, Sculpture from the Permanent Collection, Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, CA
Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
One hundred drawings, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York (catalogue)

2018

Handheld, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT
Jay DeFeo: The Ripple Effect, Le Consortium, Dijon, France. Traveled to Aspen Art Museum, CO

2017

That Continuous Thing: Artists and the Ceramics Studio, 1920–Today, Tate St Ives, United Kingdom
Small Gifts from Big Donors – Part 3, Racine Art Museum, WI
Something Living, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

2016

Lineage: Mentorship & Learning, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
Ceramix: From Rodin to Schütte, La Maison Rouge, Paris
The Campaign for Art: Contemporary, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Lighting the Fire: Ceramics Education in the American West, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT

2015

Outside the Lines: Color Across the Collections, Newark Museum
The Ceramic Presence in Modern Art: Selections from the Linda Leonard Schlenger Collection and the Yale University Art Gallery, The Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

2014

Beyond Craft: Decorative Arts from the Eagle Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Traveled to Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Canton Museum of Art, OH (catalogue)
Color Shift, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley
Cross Section: Recent Acquisitions, Mills College Museum, Oakland, CA
Ron Nagle / George Ohr: Look Closer, Look Again, George Adams Gallery, New York

2013

Burn These Eyes Captain and Throw Them in the Sea!, Rodeo Gallery, Istanbul
Grapevine, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles
The Encyclopedia Palace, Venice Biennale

2012

Le monde comme volonté et comme papier peint, Le Consortium, Dijon, France
Automaton, Galerie Buchholz, Cologne
Légèreté?, Maison Particulière, Brussels

2011

Everything You Can Imagine is Real, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
Paul Clay, Salon 94, New York
Contemporary Ceramics, Danese Gallery, New York
Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Ceramics: The Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

2010

TEFAF Showcase, Galerie Pierre Marie Giraud, Maastricht, Netherlands

2009

Electric Mud, Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston (catalogue)
Get with the Program, George Adams Gallery, New York
Not New Work: Vincent Fecteau Selects from the Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Down to Earth, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, Grimbergen, Belgium
Dirt on Delight, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

2008

The Scholar's Eye: Contemporary Ceramics from the Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

2007

Moon Proof Madness, Di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA
California Collections: Start Here, Oakland Museum of California
The Enigmatic Object, George Adams Gallery, New York
Craft in America: Expanding Traditions, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; Traveled to Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR

2006

One of a Kind – The Studio Craft Movement, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(The coffee was very slow in coming.) An Exhibition of Cups, Paul Kotula Projects, Ferndale, MI
A Ceramic Legacy: The Stephanie Janssen and R. Michael Johns Collection, Arizona State University Art Museum, Ceramics Research Center, Tempe (catalogue)
Ceram-a-Rama: California Dreamin', Arizona State University Art Museum, Ceramics Research Center, Tempe

2005

Artist / Teacher / Artist, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, CA

2004

25th Anniversary Exhibition, University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA

2003

Postmodern Ceramics, Dolphin Gallery, Kansas City, MO
The Artful Teapot, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto

2002

Ceramic Modernism, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto
Poetics of Clay, Museum of Art and Design, Helsinki

2001

USA Clay, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
West of Westermann, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York

2000

Paper Cuts, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
Made in California: Art, Image and Identity 1900–2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

1999

Bay Area Now II, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (catalogue)
Eye Candy, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

1998

SOFA – 1998 NYC, Park Avenue Armory, New York (catalogue)
Clay into Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (catalogue)
More than Clay: The Toki Collection of Ceramics, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA. Traveled to Richmond Art Center, VA (catalogue)
Points of Origin: Sources of Academic Influence, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York

1997

L'Chaim! A Kiddush Cup Invitational, Jewish Museum, San Francisco
Ceramic Still Life: The Common Object, Oliver Art Center, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland
The Renwick at 25, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
REVOLUTION, 314 W. Institute Place, Chicago
Abstract Expressionist Ceramics: Myth and Reality Revisited, Garth Clark Gallery, New York
The Third Annual Exposition of SOFA: Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art, Coconut Grove Conventions Center, Miami
Celebrating American Craft: American Craft 1975–1995, Danish Museum of Decorative Art, Copenhagen (catalogue)
Homage to George Herriman, curated by Bill Berkson, Campbell Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco
The Minimalist Object, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York

1996

Made in Kent, Kent State University School of Art Gallery, OH
The Fine Art of Craft and Sculpture, Horwitch LewAllen Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
California Funk, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York
SUM: Selections and Introductions, Revolution Gallery, Ferndale, MI
Robert Arneson Tribute Exhibition, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
Fin de Siecle II, (Reinterpreting the 70's), Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York
Night of 101 Cups, Benefit for the Ceramic Arts Foundation, Garth Clark Gallery, New York
Illustrious History: 1871–Present, Montgomery Gallery and John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
Sampling, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
East Bay Ceramic Artists, University Art Gallery, California State University East Bay, Hayward
Clay: Recent Ceramic Sculpture, Sonoma State University Art Gallery, Rohnert Park, CA

1995

Discards, Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Spokane Art School and Momentum Gallery, WA

1994

Night of the Mosque, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
Summer Group Show, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
Commodities, Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Bay Area Ceramics, Bank of America Corporation Headquarters, San Francisco
Shrines, Symbols and Cherished Objects, Fuller Museum of Art, Boston
Here and Now, Bay Area Masterworks from the di Rosa Collections, Oakland Museum of California
Contemporary Crafts and the Saxe Collection, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
Group Show from the Permanent Collection, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
The Art Cup, Garth Clark Gallery, Los Angeles
Ceramic Sculpture, Jan Weiner Gallery, Kansas City, MO

1993

93 Holiday Greetings and Wishes for 94, Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York

1992

Contemporary Uses of Wax & Encaustic, Palo Alto Cultural Center, CA

1990

Functional Fantasy, Transamerica, San Francisco
Rituals of Tea XI, Garth Clark Gallery, Los Angeles
Vessels: From Use to Symbol, American Craft Museum, New York
Buildings with Clay, Hoffman Gallery, Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, Portland
Ceramics for the Marer Collection, Pasadena City College Art Gallery, CA
Bay Area Sculptors of the 1960's: Then and Now, 1990, Braunstein / Quay Gallery, San Francisco

1989

Surface and Form, National Museum of Ceramic Art, Baltimore (catalogue)
American Clay Artists, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia (catalogue)

1988

Greenwich House Permanent Collection, Jane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich House Pottery, New York
Expression in Color, Ceramics, New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit
From the Permanent Collection, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
OSO Bay Biennial, Corpus Christi State University, TX

1987

American Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical, American Craft Museum, New York. Traveled to Denver Art Museum; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Milwaukee Art Museum; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (catalogue)
Bronze, Plaster and Polyester, Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia (catalogue)
Clay Revisions: Plate, Cup, Vase, Seattle Art Museum. Traveled to Portland Art Museum, OR; Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Gibson Gallery, Potsdam College, NY; Tucson Museum of Art; and Santa Barbara Museum, CA (catalogue)
Gallery Group Exhibition, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
The Eloquent Object, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK. Traveled to Oakland Museum of California; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Chicago Public Library Cultural Center; Orlando Museum of Art, FL; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
American Ceramics Now: The 27th Ceramic National Exhibition, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY. Traveled to American Craft Museum, New York; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, OH; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and Birmingham Museum of Art, AL (catalogue)
Shoebox Show, Art Store Gallery, Oakland, CA

1986

American Potters Today, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (catalogue)
Art Department Faculty Retrospective Exhibition, Mills College, Oakland, CA
Abstract Energy Now, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
New Views, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
Featured Artists of N.E.C.A. 1986, Southwest Craft Center, San Antonio
Pacific Connections, University Art Gallery, San Diego State University (catalogue)
Sculpture, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo

1985

Fired Clay: Vessel and Image, Greenberg Gallery, Saint Louis
M. Lee Fatherree Photographs of Artists, Concourse Gallery, Bank of America World
Headquarters, San Francisco
Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980, Oakland Museum of California (catalogue)
Organic Abstractions, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Ceramics: An American Survey, Museo de la Cerámica, Barcelona (catalogue)
Past Models, Future Shapes, Sun Valley Center Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Clay, Dayton Art Institute, OH (catalogue)
California Sends Her Best, Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Surface / Function / Shape: Selections from the Earl Millard Collection, University Center Gallery, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (catalogue)
The 20th Century: The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (catalogue)

1984

The Dilexi Years: 1958–1970, Oakland Museum of California (catalogue)
Preview, Sarah Squeri Gallery, Cincinnati
Contemporary Ceramic Vessels: Two Los Angeles Collections (The Betty Asher Collection The
Howard and Gwen Laurie Smits Collection), Baxter Art Gallery, Pasadena, CA (catalogue)
A Passionate Vision: Selections from the Daniel Jacobs Collection, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA (catalogue)

1983

Selections of Contemporary Drawings, Glastonbury Gallery, San Francisco
California Clayworks: Selections from the Permanent Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
California Clay in the Rockies, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass Village, CO
Who's Afraid of American Pottery?, Museum of Contemporary Art, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Contemporary Clay Sculpture: The Daniel Jacobs Collection, Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY

1982

Northern California Art of the Sixties, de Saisset Museum, University of Santa Clara, CA (catalogue)
American Clay II, Meredith Contemporary Art, Baltimore (catalogue)
Twenty American Artists: Sculpture 1982, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (catalogue)
Miniatures '82, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA

1981

Polychrome, Fuller Goldeen Gallery, San Francisco
California Innovations, Art Gallery, California State University, Fullerton. Traveled to Palm
Springs Desert Museum, CA (catalogue)
Centering on Contemporary Clay, University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City
Clay, Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence

1980

Sculpture in California 1975–1980, San Diego Museum of Art
Betty Asher's Cups, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
The Vessel, Delahunty Gallery, Dallas (catalogue)
Continental Clay Connection, Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada
The Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia (catalogue)
A Century of Ceramics in the U.S., Everson Museum, New York
West Coast Ceramics, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (catalogue)

1978

Foundations in Clay, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art

1977

Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture, William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (catalogue)

1976

American Crafts, 1976, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (catalogue)

1975

Super Mud, Carborundum Museum of Ceramics, Niagara Falls, NY

1974

California Ceramics and Glass, Oakland Museum of California (catalogue)
Second Annual Cup Show, David Stuart Gallery, Los Angeles
Fred and Mary Marer Collection, Scripps College, Claremont, CA (catalogue)

1973

Thinking, Touching, Drinking Cup Show, Invitational Kyoto (catalogue)

1972

Cup Show, David Stuart Gallery, Los Angeles. Traveled to Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York
A Decade of Ceramic Art: The Joseph Monsen Collection, San Francisco Museum of Art (catalogue)

1971

Coffee, Tea & Other Cups, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York

1970

Teacups, Teapots, Gorillas, Etc., Moore College of Art, Philadelphia (catalogue)
Objects: U.S.A., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC (catalogue)

1968

American Craftsmen Invitational, Henry Gallery, Seattle (catalogue)

1966

Abstract Expressionist Ceramics, University of California, Irvine. Traveled to San Francisco Museum of Art (catalogue)

1965

New Ceramic Forms, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York

1963

Work in Clay by Six Artists, San Francisco Museum of Art

1962

Three Potters, Lewis Vidal Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA