Viola Frey

1933Born Lodi, California

2004Died Oakland, California

EDUCATION

1952-1953Stockton Delta College, Stockton, California

1953-1956BFA California College of the Arts, Oakland, California

1956-1958Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1957-1958Worked with Katherine Choy at the Clay Art Center, Port Chester, New York

1970-1999Professor of Art, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California

BIOGRAPHY

 Viola Frey is known for her monumental, brightly colored, figural sculptures. She became a major player in California Funk, a movement among artists working with clay who challenged the confines of functional work.

In the 1970s she began to build her larger than life, multi-piece, figural sculptures. She would cut into these pieces in order to move and fire them. Her figures are textured and glazed with bright colors.

Frey also created large-scale ceramic plates and chargers. She was equally skilled as both a draftsman and painter. In addition, she was an avid collector of kitsch ceramics and often made molds from them, using the cast pieces in some of her work. 

Frey joined the faculty of California College of the Arts in 1960. She retired in 1999 as chair of the Ceramics program.

An interview with Viola Frey conducted Feb. 27, May 15 and June 19, 1995 by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, Women in the Arts in Southern California Oral History Project is available at:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-viola-frey-12554.