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John Parker Glick

Biography to Display: 

1938Born Detroit, Michigan

2017 Died

EDUCATION

1960BFA  Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan

1962MFA  Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1964Founded, Plum Tree Pottery, Detroit, Michigan

BIOGRAPHY

John Glick is known for functional, thrown, stoneware vessels with painterly surfaces. His early work reflected his Cranbrook teacher, Maija Grotell, and is characterized by simple, undecorated stoneware dinner services and functional vessels.Glick founded Plum Tree Pottery in 1964. There he produced a range of functional vessels with sophisticated painterly decoration. The surface is drawn on and painted with slips and glazes, frequently with flower and vine motifs, sometimes built up to form relief or textured underglaze surfaces, always creating the illusion of depth.

Toward the end of the 1960s, his work began to reflect his interest in 18th and 19th-century Japanese art and contemporary Abstract Expressionism. Beginning in the 1990s, in an effort to get larger surfaces, he made landscape-inspired wall panels.

Glick is considered one of the most important functional potters of his time, not only for his body of work but also as an influential teacher and mentor. Glick introduced, to American studio potters, innovative studio practices that have been widely adopted. He worked with studio assistants, initially having them throw the desired forms or assemble the slabs of hand-built forms to his specifications. Glick concentrated on all aspects of the decoration and finishing.

Initially, Glick used a simple bleed through of iron spots, he later developed a catalog of motifs using combinations of wax resist patterns, incised lines, stamped textures, stain, oxides, and glazes, brushed on, dipped, and dripped to create abstract expressionist surface designs. He created tools to do specific jobs, for example extending the sides of wheel-thrown pots with wooden rib supports. Glick gave new life to forgotten tools such as the extruder, first used in the 18th century to produce straps in various profiles for jug, can, and teapot handles. Glick repurposed the extruder to make sections of his slab built forms. Ultimately, Glick repurposed not only traditional potter’s tools but also their functional forms, to make a unique, unpretentious artistic statement.

Public Collections

Public Collections to Display: 

American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California

Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio

Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California

Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California

Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware

Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan

Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada

Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee

The International Museum of Dinnerwar Design  , Ann Arbor, Michigan

Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri

Krannert Museum of Art, Urbana, Illinois

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California

Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina

Museum of Art, Yixing, P.R. China

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey

Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin

rosenfieldcollection.com

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Bibliography

Bibliography to Display: 

Birks, Tony. The Complete Potter’s Companion. London, England: Conran Octopus, 1993.

Clark, Garth. American Potters: The Work of Twenty Modern Masters. New York, NY: Watson-Guptil Co., 1979.

Clowes, Jody. "John Glick." American Craft Magazine, June/July, 1991.

Dormer, Peter. The New Ceramics: Trends and Traditions. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 1986.

Fina, Angela and Jonathan Fairbanks. The Best of Pottery. Rockport, MA: Quarry Books, 1996.

Gibson, John. Pottery Decoration: Contemporary Approaches. London, England: A&C Black, 1987.  

Glick, John. “Surface Decoration and Direction." Ceramic Review Magazine, May/June, 1988.

_________. “The Evolution of Mentorship.” The Studio Potter 36, Winter 2007/2008.

_________. “Studio Management Revisited: Reflections on Working in My Studio the Last Twenty Years.” The Studio Potter 20, June 1992.

Greenland, Tim. "John Glick - A Kind of Magic." Ceramic Review Magazine, July/August 1985.

Hall, Julie. Tradition and Change, The New American Craftsman. New York, NY:  E.P. Dutton, 1979.

Hamer, Frank and Janet. The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques. London, England: A&C Black, 1997.

Hopper, Robin. The Ceramic Spectrum. Radnor, PA: Chilton Book Co., 1983.

Koplos, Janet and Bruce Metcalf. Makers: A History of American Studio Craft. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010.

Krukowski, Samantha. "John Glick's Journeys and Evolutions." Interview. Ceramics: Art and Perception 9, 1992.

Lane, Peter. Ceramic Form: Design and Decoration. Rizzoli, Inc., New York, NY, 1988.

Nordness, Lee. Objects U.S.A. New York, NY: Viking Press, 1970.

Pearson, Katherine.  American Crafts: A Source Book for the American Home. New York, NY: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1983.

Perry, Barbara, ed. American Ceramics: The Collection of the Everson Museum of Art. Syracuse, NY: Everson Museum of Art, 1989.

Rau, David D.J. “John Parker Glick: The Mantel Series.” Ceramics: Art and Perception, no. 32, 1998.

Zakin, Richard. Ceramics, Mastering the Craft. Radnor, PA: Chilton & Co,1990.

 

CV or Resume: Click Here to Download
Source: plumtreepottery.com

Website(s):

www.plumtreepottery.com

Artist's Studio: Plum Tree Pottery

 

 

Center for CraftCenter For Craft

 

 

AMOCA American Museum of Ceramic ArtAMOCA American Museum of Ceramic Art

 

Typical Marks

John Glick typically marks his work with both an inscribed signature and a PLUM TREE POTTERY stamp.

ca 1974
ca 1975
ca 1975
ca 1976
ca 1981
ca 2000-2015
2012
Tea Bowl (Chawan)
Date: ca 1970
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze, Incised
E. John Bullard Collection
E. John Bullard Collection
Eccentric Tray
Date: ca 1975
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze, Incised
E. John Bullard Collection
E. John Bullard Collection
Decanters
Date: ca 1974-1976
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives, University of Southern California
Photo: R. Vigiletti
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives, University of Southern California
Six-sided Wine Decanter with Stopper
Date: ca 1974
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered, Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
E John Bullard Collection
E John Bullard Collection
Plate
Date: ca 1975
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze, Stamped
E. John Bullard Collection
E. John Bullard Collection
Hexagonal Box
Date: ca 1975
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
E John Bullard Collection
E John Bullard Collection
Covered Box
Date: ca 1975
Materials: Stoneware
Surface Technique: Glaze
E. John  Bullard Collection
E. John Bullard Collection
Plate
Date: 1976
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 3 X 19.1
Surface Technique: Glaze
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, gift of Susumu Hada in memory of his wife Martha Hada, 2004.2.1.ab
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, gift of Susumu Hada in memory of his wife Martha Hada, 2004.2.1.ab
Flat Box
Date: ca 1976
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
E John Bullard Collection
E John Bullard Collection
Teapot
Date: 1991
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Dimensions: 5.4 X 15.3 X 5.8 inches
Surface Technique: Glaze, Slip
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, gift of Diane and Sandy Besser, 2004.2.1.ab
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, gift of Diane and Sandy Besser, 2004.2.1.ab
Small Teapot
Date: 1994
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Dimensions: 4.6 X 6.8 X 4 inches
Surface Technique: Glaze, Slip
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, gift of Diane and Sandy Besser, 2001.71.10a-b
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, gift of Diane and Sandy Besser, 2001.71.10a-b
Zig Zag Box
Date: 1996
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built, Extruded
Surface Technique: Glaze
E John Bullard Collection
E John Bullard Collection
Covered Jar
Date: 2012
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Brushwork, Glaze
Photo: Artist
Photo: Artist
Photo: Artist
Yunomi
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Photo: Loren Maron
Photo: Loren Maron
Tray
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Image courtesy Elaine Levin Archives, University of Southern California
Photo: R. Vigiletti
Image courtesy Elaine Levin Archives, University of Southern California
Oval Tray
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze, Polychrome
Photo: Loren Maron
Photo: Loren Maron
Photo: Loren Maron
Cup
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
rosenfieldcollection.com
rosenfieldcollection.com
Soy Bottle
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown, Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
E. John Bullard Collection, ex.Rebecca Sive Collection
E. John Bullard Collection, ex.Rebecca Sive Collection
Double Bud Vase
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze, Slip Trailing, Stamped
E. John Bullard Collection
E. John Bullard Collection
Vessel
Form: Vessel
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze
Photo: Courtesy Toomey & Company
Teapot
Date: ca. 1969-1974
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 10 x 5.1 x 16.4 inches
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.25
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.25
ca. 1969-1975
Vase
Date: 1965
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Dimensions: 14 x 4.5 x 4.5 inches
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.374
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.374
Vase
Date: 1965
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Dimensions: 14 x 4.5 x 4.5 inches
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.372
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.372
Vase
Date: 1965
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Dimensions: 14 x 4.5 x 4.5 inches
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.373
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.373
Platter
Date: 2004
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 1.5 x 14.5 x 14.5 inches
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.148
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of The American Ceramic Society, 2004.2.148
2004
2004
Teapot with Tea Bowls
Date: 1973
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 8.5" x 7" x 5"
Surface Technique: Glaze
Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames Iowa, gift of Gary and Marlene Olson
Photo: ISU
Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames Iowa, gift of Gary and Marlene Olson
Photo: ISU

Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified January 15, 2024. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/glick