Robert David Brady
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Robert Brady (born 1946) is an American
modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
who works in
ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
and
wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
. Born in
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
, he has made his home in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
for many decades. Brady is a multi-faceted artist who works in ceramics, wood, painting, and illustration, and is best known for his abstract figurative sculptures. Brady came out of the California Clay movement, and the Bay Area Arts scene of the 1950s and 1960s, which includes artists such as
Peter Voulkos Peter Voulkos (born Panagiotis Harry Voulkos; 29 January 1924 – 16 February 2002) was an American artist of Greek descent. He is known for his abstract expressionist ceramic sculptures, which crossed the traditional divide between ceramic ...
,
Viola Frey Viola Frey (August 15, 1933 – July 26, 2004) was an American artist working in sculpture, painting and drawing, and professor emerita at California College of the Arts. She lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area and was renowned for her ...
,
Stephen de Staebler Stephen De Staebler (March 24, 1933 – May 13, 2011) was an American sculptor, printmaker, and educator, he was best recognized for his work in clay and bronze. Totemic and fragmented in form, De Staebler's figurative sculptures call forth the m ...
, and
Robert Arneson Robert Carston Arneson (September 4, 1930 – November 2, 1992) was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at University of California, Davis for nearly three decades. Early life and education Robert Carston Arn ...
who was his mentor and teacher in college.


Education

During his senior year in high school, Brady was trying to fill an elective requirement at the last minute when he enrolled in a pivotal arts and crafts class. He credits his teacher, Tom Tucker, with changing the direction of his life by inspiring his future career in ceramics. After high school, Brady attended the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC, currently known as
California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in Sa ...
, or CCA) in
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, from 1964 to 1968, and received his BFA in 1969. After graduating he did a short stint in the United States Navy, but was still unsure of where his future lay when he got out, so spent some time painting houses in order to support himself and his first wife. A chance encounter with an article on famous ceramic artist
Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...
reignited the fire Brady previously felt for clay, and he immediately switched gears, deciding to go back to school to receive a master's degree from the University of California in Davis. During his time at UC Davis, Brady learned under acclaimed artists
Robert Arneson Robert Carston Arneson (September 4, 1930 – November 2, 1992) was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at University of California, Davis for nearly three decades. Early life and education Robert Carston Arn ...
and
Manuel Neri Manuel John Neri Jr. (April 12, 1930October 18, 2021) was an American sculptor who is recognized for his life-size figurative sculptures in plaster, bronze, and marble. In Neri's work with the figure, he conveys an emotional inner state that is re ...
. Later, while working at CCAC as a guest artist and instructor in 1978, Brady learned the art of Raku during a workshop from Hal Riegger /sup>, (author and pioneer of ''Raku in the U.S.''), and subsequently began teaching those workshops alongside Riegger out in the California desert. Brady first gained critical acclaim right after leaving school, when he caught the attention of some well-known art collectors during his first solo show. Those collectors were impressed by his 5-foot and 6-foot coil-built vessels; soon Brady's work began appearing in decor and fashion magazines. This exposure was an instrumental factor in launching his professional art career.


Materials and methods

Brady initiated his career in the ceramic arts, by investigating and experimenting with form and color, including Raku glazes,
polychromy Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...
, oil pastels and mixed-media. In his smaller earthenware vessels, he tested the effects of pigmented clays and
monotype Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The ...
printing methods on the clay. In making his large scale, and semi-abstract, figurative work, Brady initially used clay and bronze. However, starting in the late 1980s, he began a transition into using wood. He found the material more suited to creating the large scale, thin and elongated, yet often top-heavy sculptures he was making. These, and many other pieces of his, show an affinity for a very primal and ancient type of folk art which Brady has been exploring for decades. Including the ceramic, wood, and bronze sculptures, Brady has additionally used a variety of materials and methods to create masks, prints, paintings, and drawings to communicate through his art.


Teaching career

Brady has enjoyed a long and varied career as a teacher and honored professor of ceramics and art from the mid-1970s well into the early 2000s. His teaching jobs have spanned the U.S. from California to Maine, and Hawaii to Alaska, and overseas teaching opportunities have taken Brady to Japan, Canada, England, Jamaica, and Italy. His first job as an instructor was in the department of art at
California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...
(SSU) where he was an associate professor. While at SSU he taught ceramics and drawing from 1975 to 1980, and again from 1982 to 1985. He also worked at the
American River College American River College (ARC) is a public community college in unincorporated Sacramento, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System. History The college was opened in 1955 as American River Junior College, on the site ...
in Sacramento, California, in 1975, and at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, Tennessee (a campus of
Tennessee Tech Tennessee Technological University, commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech, is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie ...
School of Art, Craft & Design) (https://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/), where his wife, artist Sandy Simon, also taught. Having been a guest instructor/artist/speaker at innumerable schools, art centers, potteries and museums over the years, Brady has generously shared his wealth of knowledge with generations of other artists and art lovers. He has said, “The greatest reward in my career as an artist is the satisfaction of creating and discovery," and, "Being an artist has led to the appreciation and integration of aesthetic awareness in all aspects of my life. I am grateful for the rich and provocative life afforded me by being a member of the arts community."


Collections


Museum work

Many collections of Brady's artwork can be found around the world. Examples of the work can be found in The
Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...
(Sacramento, California), 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 ...
(SFMOMA), the
Oakland Museum of California 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, Cali ...
(OMCA), the
Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single col ...
, and the
Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
(Amsterdam).


Gallery work

The Stremmel Gallery (https://localwiki.org/reno-sparks/Stremmel_Gallery), Reno, Nevada
The Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
’s
Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...
, Washington, D.C.http://www.askart.com/askart/artist.aspx?artist=100807 Robert David Brady on AskArt.com


Public installations

Public works of Brady's can be found at The
Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...
, the
di Rosa di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art is a non-profit art center in Napa, California. di Rosa maintains a collection of approximately 1,600 works of art by Northern California artists including Robert Arneson, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Tony Labat, ...
Preserve in Napa, Ca, 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, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
(LACMA), as well as in North Carolina, Little Rock, Arkansas, Salt Lake City, Utah, New York, West Palm Beach, Florida, Chicago, Illinois, North Dakota, Sacramento, California, and in Amsterdam. This artist has no relationship to the Robert Brady Museum (Museo Robert Brady) in
Cuernavaca, Mexico Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The n ...
founded by a different Robert Brady (1928–1986).


Recognition

Brady has received multiple fellowships from the
National Endowment of 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 ...
in 1981, 1988, 1989, and 2008. He was also elected Fellow of the
American Craft Council The American Craft Council (ACC) is a national non-profit organization that champions craft based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the council hosts national craft shows and conferences, publishes a quarterly mag ...
in 2007, and has been awarded the title
Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
for Sacramento State University where he taught for 33 years.


Further reading

Riegger, Hal. ''Raku, Art, and Technique'', 1979. London


References

* Driesbach, Janice and T. H. Garver, ''Robert Brady, A Survey Exhibition'', 1989. Sacramento, Ca: Crocker Art Museum. * http://www.artnet.com/artists/robert-david-brady/biography-links Robert David Brady on ArtNet * Amsterdam (Netherlands). Stedelijk Museum and Slivka, Rose ''West Coast ceramics : Keramisch Beeldhouwerk uit de Verenigde Staten : xhibition Catalog'. Stedelijk Museum, [Amsterdam, 1979. * Garver, Thomas H. and John Fitz Gibbon (essayists), et al. “Robert Brady: A Survey Exhibition by Essayists, Thomas H. Garver, John Fitz Gibbon on Mullen Books.” ''Mullen Books'', Crocker Art Museum, www.mullenbooks.com/pages/books/126318/essayists-thomas-h-garver-john-fitz-gibbon/robert-brady-a-survey-exhibition. * “Interviews and Articles.” ''Conversations.org: Interview: Robert Brady, by Richard Whittaker'', www.conversations.org/story.php?sid=96. * Koplos, Janet, and Bruce Metcalf. ''Makers: a History of American Studio Craft''. University of North Carolina Press, 2010. * “Robert Brady.” ''Stremmel Gallery'', stremmelgallery.com/artists/robert-brady/. * “Robert Brady.” ''American Craft Council'', craftcouncil.org/recognition/robert-brady. * “Robert D. Brady, Robert Brady.” ''Brady , The Marks Project'', www.themarksproject.org/marks/brady. * ''Squarecylinder.com'', www.squarecylinder.com/2010/12/artist-profile-robert-brady. * Wechsler, Susan. ''The Raw Edge: Ceramics of the '80s''. Hillwood Art Gallery, Long Island University, 1983. * Writer, Jesse Hamlin Chronicle Staff. “Robert Brady's Art of Nuance and Gesture / Sculptor's Works Have a Primitive Quality.” ''SFGate'', 15 Nov. 2002, www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Robert-Brady-s-art-of-nuance-and-gesture-2770717.php.


Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brady, Robert David 1946 births Living people University of California, Davis alumni Artists from Sacramento, California Modern sculptors 20th-century American ceramists 21st-century American ceramists 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors Sculptors from California