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1946Born Reno, Nevada
EDUCATION
1964-1968BFA California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
1973-1975MFA University of California, Davis, California
PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE
1975-2008Professor of Art, California State University, Sacramento, California
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Brady’s early abstract coil and pinch built figurative sculptures reference iconic spiritual and mythological imagery. These early porcelain or stoneware figures established his reputation as one of the moving forces in California’s San Francisco Bay area figurative ceramic sculpture movement. The near life-size elongated forms recall the work of sculptor Alberto Giacometti. As a result of raku firing, the figures have a patina that suggests age.
In the late 1970s, Brady produced a series of distorted masks based on Mexican folk sculptures. In the 1980s his influence shifted to the Septic River figures from New Guinea and masks of the Northwest Coast.
In the 1970s Brady earned his MFA at UC Davis with Robert Arneson.
In 1989 Brady shifted media and began building his figures in wood. After a number of years working with wood, he returned to clay, at first working with terra cotta. At that time he also made a number of functional, wheel thrown vessels decorated with angular line drawings. Brady continues these vessel forms today (2017). On occasion, Brady makes both the clay and wire sculpture pendants with a unique lanyard. Brady continues to create bronze figurative work as well as both abstract ceramic and wood free standing and wall hung sculptures. Brady is comfortable working with all mediums, wood, clay, and bronze.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Arkansas Museum of Art, Little Rock, Arkansas
Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California
Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina
North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
Palm Beach Community College, West Palm Beach, Florida
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, San Francisco, California
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Clark, Garth. American Ceramics 1976 to the Present. New York, New York: Abbeville Press, 1979.
Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire Defining Monuments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000. Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles County Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2000.
Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics from Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms. New York, New York: Henry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1988.
Manhart, Marcia and Tom Manhart, eds. The Eloquent Object, the Evolution of American Art in Craft Media Since 1945.Tulsa, Oklahoma: The Philbrook Museum of Art, 1987.
Peterson, Susan. The Craft and Art of Clay, third edition. Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, 2000.
CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: Braunstein/Quay Gallery, Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Artist's Studio: Robert Brady
Brady uses a stamp made from a carved stone square with a simple motif of his initials, a backwards "R" sharing the same center vertical with the letter "B". This "chop" is used only on pottery from the past 18 -20 years (ca 1996—). Otherwise, pieces exist with the simple inscribing of RB. All sculpture/two dimensional work shares this same marking R.B., date is sometimes used if it does not disfigure the work. (Information provided by the artist, 2014) Additional information provided by the artist in June 2015: "I want to say that very early potter was signed in script Brady and sometimes R. Brady. In addition, for more that two decades sculpture is simply signed RB followed by date. Sometimes it is inscribed in the leather hard clay and other times is applied with a brush/black stain. Once in a while no signature is used as it defaces the object and usually too large/ungainly to write on bottom."
Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified August 6, 2024. http://www.themarksproject.org:443/marks/brady