George Herms (born 1935) is an American artist best known for creating assemblages out of discarded, often rusty, dirty or broken every-day objects, and juxtaposing those objects so as to infuse them with poetry, humor and meaning. He is also known for his works on paper, including works with ink, collage, drawing, paint and poetry. The prolific Herms has also created theater pieces, about which he has said, "I treat it as a

Joseph Cornell Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was an American visual artist and film-maker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental filmm ...

box big enough that you can walk around in. It's just a continuation of my sculpture, one year at a time." Legendary curator

Walter Hopps Walter "Chico" Hopps (May 3, 1932 – March 20, 2005) was an American museum director, gallerist, and curator of contemporary art. Hopps helped bring Los Angeles post-war artists to prominence during the 1960s, and later went on to redefine pract ...

, who met Herms in 1956, "placed Herms on a dazzling continuum of assemblage artists that includes

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, paint ...

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, and Joseph Cornell, as well as California luminaries

Wallace Berman Wallace "Wally" Berman (February 18, 1926 – February 18, 1976) was an American experimental filmmaker, assemblage, and collage artist and a crucial figure in the history of post-war California art. Personal life and education Wallace Berman ...

and Edward Kienholz." Often called a member of the West Coast

Beat movement The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generat ...

, Herms said that

taught him that "any object, even a mundane cast-off, could be of great interest if contextualized properly." "That’s my whole thing," Herms says. "I turn shit into gold. I just really want to see something I've never seen before." George Herms lives and works in Los Angeles.

Early life and education

George Herms was born in 1935 in

Woodland, California Woodland is a city in and the county seat of Yolo County, California, located approximately northwest of Sacramento, and is a part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 61,032 at the 2020 census. Woodland's origins date to 1 ...

. His grandfather was an entomologist and one-time mayor of

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, and his father was an agronomist. During World War II, Herms was sent by his parents to the College of Engineering at Berkeley, which he left after approximately six weeks when "the football season was over." Subsequently, he worked for Remington Rand, on the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC), before leaving for Mexico and other travels. His parents offered him $100 per month to return to college, so he took the money and "bought some jazz records and lived on $13 per month," and returned to Los Angeles, living for some time in Topanga Canyon, where he met the artists Wallace Berman on the occasion of his 20th birthday. Herms helped

hang his first show in 1957 at

Ferus Gallery The Ferus Gallery was a contemporary art gallery which operated from 1957 to 1966. In 1957, the gallery was located at 736-A North La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. In 1958, it was relocated across the street to 723 North La Cienega ...

. Reportedly, Herms decided to become an artist when a transient sat down next to him in a

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

bus depot and said, "There's the makers, the takers, and the fakers. Which will you be?" Herms did not have a formal art school education, yet he has been called the "godfather of West Coast assemblage art." During the late 1950s, Herms resided in a number of different cities in California, including Berkeley, Larkspur and

Hermosa Beach Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of th ...

before returning for a short period of time to Topanga in 1961. In 1959, Herms became an original member of Bruce Conner's Rat Bastard Protective Association.

Teaching and residencies

Herms has been a lecturer in Studio Art at

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

, and

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

(UCLA); Sculpture at UCLA and

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is ...

; and, Public Art at the Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture. From 1977 to 1979, he was a Visiting Artist at

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU ...

. In 1981, Herms was an artist in residence at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

in Colorado, and in 1991 an artist in residence at The Robbins Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1994, he was an artist in residence at

Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

in Los Angeles.

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

One of George Herms's earliest solo shows, "Secret Exhibitions," was mounted in 1957 in

. Herms has been the subject of many other one-person exhibitions, including shows organized by the Semina Gallery in

Larkspur, California Larkspur is a city in Marin County, California, United States. Larkspur is located south of San Rafael, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 Census, the city's population was 13,064. Larkspur's Police Department is shared with that of the ...

(1960); the Batman Gallery in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

(1961); two shows at Rolf Nelson Gallery in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

(1963, 1966); two shows at the Molly Barnes Gallery (1969, 1970); a retrospective of works from 1960 to 1972 at

California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...

(1972) and the Memorial Union Art Gallery at UC Davis (1973), for which catalogues were produced; a show at TJB Gallery in

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws v ...

(1975) called "Pseudonymphia" and featuring the work of several of Herms's imaginary artists such as Paul Mistrie, Eric Hammerscoffer, Iris Firewater, Sigmund Fletcher, and Astropoet Moonstone (Tarzan Feathers was not included in the show); several shows at L.A. Louver in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

(1976, 1982, 1986, 1989); a retrospective exhibition at Newport Harbor Art Museum in

(1979), which traveled and for which a catalogue was produced; a show at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the 13th-m ...

(1980); an exhibition at the University of Denver Art Gallery (1981); a show at California State University at Fullerton (1984); a show at the Oscarsson/Siegeltuch Gallery in New York (1986); a show at the Tyler Gallery at Temple University in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

(1988); a retrospective organized at the

Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is located in the Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on the arts and artists of Southern California. The gallery was first established in 1954. Main building The Los Angeles Municipal ...

for which a catalogue was produced (1992); a show at Redbud Gallery in Houston, Texas (2002); a show at Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia (2002), for which a catalogue was produced; two shows at Ace Gallery in Los Angeles (2003, 2004); a retrospective exhibition curated by

at the

Santa Monica Museum of Art The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), formerly known as the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA), is a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles, CA. As an independent and non-collecting art museum (or kunsthalle), it exhibits the ...

(2005); a show at Franklin Parrasch Gallery in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

(2006); a show at

Galerie Vallois The Galerie Georges-Philippe et Nathalie Vallois is a contemporary art gallery owned by Georges-Philippe and Nathalie Vallois and is located in Paris, France. In addition to recent contemporary art, the gallery also specializes in works by Nouvea ...

, Paris (2007); a show at Susan Inglett Gallery,

(2008); an avant-garde "jazz opera" performed at REDCAT Gallery,

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

’ experimental art venue (2011); and a show at OHWOW Gallery in Los Angeles (2013).

Group exhibitions

George Herms's work has been selected for group exhibitions, beginning with the "Gangbang" exhibition in 1960 at the Batman Gallery in

. The following year George Herms was included in the ground-breaking exhibition "The Art of Assemblage" at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

in New York, which traveled to a number of other venues and produced a catalog, and Herms's work was selected for inclusion in "Object Makers" at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...

in Claremont. In 1963, his work appeared in the group exhibition "California Collage Show" at the Pasadena Museum of Art in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

and was also selected for "Fifty California Artists," an exhibition at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

in New York, which exhibition traveled and produced a catalog. In 1964, his work was included in "Sterling Holloway Collection" at UCLA. In 1967, he participated in the group exhibition"Selection, 1967: Recent Acquisitions in Modern Art," at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. The next year, the

University of California at Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 und ...

chose Herms's works for "Assemblage in California." Following his participation in other major group exhibitions in the 1960s, Herms continued to be selected for major group exhibitions in the 1970s, including: "Tableaux d'Aujourd'hui" at Maitre Binoche in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

(1971); "Surrealism is Alive and Well in the West," at the Baxter Gallery at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

(1972), which produced a catalogue; "Kurt Schwitters and Related Developments," at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art (1973); "Poets of the Cities of New York and San Francisco 1950–1965," Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (1974), which traveled and produced a catalogue; and, in 1974, Herms was selected for exhibitions at Giancarlo Bocchi Gallery in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, Nicholas Wilder Gallery in Los Angeles, and by the Otis Library, at the

Otis Art Institute Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

in Los Angeles, California; "Other Voices" at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

(1975); "Assemblage' and "3 Los Angeles Sculptors" at the

Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art The Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art (LAICA) was an exhibition venue for visual arts that ran between 1974 and 1987 (approximately) in Los Angeles, California. It played an important role in showing experimental work of the era as well as ...

(1975); "Great Egg Sale" at the Newport Harbor Art Museum (1976); "Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era" at the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

(1976–77), which traveled and was catalogued; "3 Generations-Studies in Collage," Margo Leavin Gallery in Los Angeles (1978); and "100 + Directions in Southern California Art, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art (1978). Herms was included in a number of important group exhibitions in the 1980s, including "Recent Acquisitions" at the Newport Harbor Art Museum (1980); "Major Works" at L.A. Louver Gallery (1980); "Sculpture in California 1975–80" at the San Diego Art Museum in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

(1980), which produced a catalogue; "Furnishings by Artists" at the Art Gallery at Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles (1980), which produced a catalogue; "Southern California Artists 1940–1980" at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art in Laguna Beach, California (1981), which produced a catalogue; "Collage and Assemblage" at the

Mississippi Museum of Art The Mississippi Museum of Art is a public museum in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the largest museum in Mississippi. Location It is located at the corner of 380 South Lamar Street and 201 East Pascagoula Street in Jackson, Mississippi.Lee Ellis, ''F ...

in Jackson, Mississippi (1981), which traveled and produced a catalogue; a group show at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) (1981); "Humor in Art" at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art (1981); "California: A Sense of Individualism" at L.A. Louver Gallery in Venice, California (1981); "California: The State of Landscape 1972–1981" at Newport Harbor Art Museum (1981), which traveled and produced a catalogue; "The West as Art" at

Palm Springs Desert Museum The Palm Springs Art Museum (formerly the Palm Springs Desert Museum) was founded in 1938, and is a regional art, natural science and performing arts institution for Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, in Riverside County, California, United St ...

in Palm Springs, California (1982), which produced a catalogue; "Contemporary Triptychs" at Galleries of the Claremont Colleges in Claremont (1982); "American/European Painting and Sculpture" at L.A. Louver Gallery (1983); "Boxed Art" at Laguna Beach Museum of Art (1983); "Annual Exhibition, American Academy in Rome" in

Rome, Italy , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(1983), which traveled and produced a catalogue; "Collage, The Americans" at The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas (1983), which produced a catalogue; "Contemporary Collage: Extensions" at Galleries of the Claremont Colleges (1983), which produced a catalogue; "Narrative Sculpture" at Palm Springs Desert Museum (1984), which produced a catalogue; "American/European: Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture" at L.A. Louver Gallery (1984); "Gala, Gala" at The Museum of Contemporary Art ( MOCA), Los Angeles (1985); "American/European: Painting and Sculpture" at L.A. Louver Gallery (1985); "San Francisco: 1945–1965" at the

Oakland Museum The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cal ...

in Oakland, California (1985), which produced a catalogue; "Sculpture and Sculptor's Drawings" at the L.A. Louver Gallery (1986); "Shrines and Altars" at Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (1986); "Recent Acquisitions" at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

(LACMA) in Los Angeles (1987); "Assemblage" at Kent Fine Art, Inc. in New York (1987), which produced a catalogue; "Artists Against AIDS" at

Pacific Design Center The Pacific Design Center, or PDC, is a multi-use facility for the design community located in West Hollywood, California. One of the buildings is often described as the ''Blue Whale'' because of its large size relative to surrounding buildings a ...

in Los Angeles (1988), which produced a catalogue; "Loans from the Norton Simon Museum" at LACMA (1988); "Poetic Objects" at the

San Antonio Museum of Art The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) is an art museum in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. The museum spans 5,000 years of global culture. The museum is housed in the historic former Lone Star Brewery (1886) on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio ...

in San Antonio, Texas (1988–89), which traveled and produced a catalogue; "Rezoning ( bill bissett, George Herms, Jess and Al Neil)" at

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

in British Columbia, Canada (1989), which produced a catalogue; "Artists Against AIDS" at Pacific Design Center (1989), which produced a catalogue; "The 'Junk Aesthetic': Assemblage of the 1950s and Early 1960s" at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County Branch in Stamford, Connecticut (1989), which traveled; and "Forty Years of California Assemblage" at the Wight Art Gallery at UCLA (1989), which traveled and produced a catalogue. Herms participated in major group exhibitions in the 1990s, including "The Denim Jacket Show" at the Newport Harbor Art Museum (1990); "Novel Ideas" at the

Laguna Art Museum The Laguna Art Museum (LAM) is a museum located in Laguna Beach, California, on Pacific Coast Highway. LAM exclusively features California art and is the oldest cultural institution in the area. It has been known as the Laguna Beach Art Associati ...

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and ...

(1990); "Crossing the Line: Word and Image in Art" at the Montgomery Gallery at

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popu ...

(1990); "Artist's Artists" at Long Beach Museum of Art in Long Beach, California (1990); "Wallace Berman, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, George Herms and Jess" at Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York (1991); "California Artist's Books" at The Armory Center in Pasadena, California (1991); "Poem Makers: Wallace Berman, George Herms and Jess" at L.A. Louver Gallery in Los Angeles (1992); and, "Sight, Vision: The Urban Milieu #3 (Wallace Berman, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Wally Hedrick, George Herms, and Jess") at Gallery Paule Anglim in

(1992). In 2011, Herms was the focus of a group show at the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles entitled "Xenophilia (Love of the Unknown)." Herms work was included in the 2016-2017 exhibition "Based on a True Story: Highlights from the di Rosa Collection" at di Rosa, Napa, curated by Amy Owen.

Public art

George Herms has had public art commissions, including "Clock Tower Monument in Unknown" at the MacArthur Public Art Program in Los Angeles (1987); "Moon Dial" in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

(1988); and, "Portals to Poetry" in Citicorp Plaza in Los Angeles (1989).

Visiting artist, artist residencies and teaching

* 2009 Lecturer in Drawing and Painting, California State University, Fullerton, CA * 2006 Artist-in-Residence, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME * 1991-98 Taught Sculpture, Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture, Santa Monica, CA * 1994 Taught Sculpture, Otis Parsons, Los Angeles, CA * 1991 Artist in Residence, The Robbins Foundation, Philadelphia, PA * 1987-94 Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles, CA * 1987 Taught Sculpture, Otis Parsons, Los Angeles, CA1985 Lecturer, University of California, San Diego, CA * 1981 Artist in Residence, University of Denver, CO. * 1980-81 Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles, CA * 1977-79 Visiting Artist, California State University, Fullerton, CA * 1976 Lecturer in Studio Art, University of California, Irvine, CA

Awards and honors

In 1962, artist Jess Collins and poet Robert Duncan awarded George Herms the "Servant of Holy Beauty" award. The

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Herms received three Individual Fellowships in 1968, 1977 and 1984, respectively. Herms was also awarded the Rome Prize, Fellowship in Sculpture from The American Academy in Rome from 1982 to 1983. Herms was subsequently granted a

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

in Sculpture from 1983 to 1984. In 1987, he was awarded a Working Grant from the Pollock Krasner Foundation and, in 1989, he was a Finalist in the "Pico Seagate" competition. Herms also received the 1998 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award and a Fellowship at the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

in 2000.

Notes

External links

* George Herms papers at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. Accession No. 2009.M.20. The bulk of the papers comprise full documentation of Herms's life and work from 1960–2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Herms, George 1935 births Living people Beat Generation people Assemblage artists People from Woodland, California University of California, Berkeley alumni Artists from Los Angeles