The Dictionary of American Ceramics, 1945 onward
Dictionary of American Ceramics, 1945 onward
Printer-friendly version 
Printer version
David Furman
1945Born Seattle, Washington
EDUCATION
1969BA University of Oregon, Portland, Oregon
1972MFA University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE
1973-2007Professor of Art, Pitzer College, Claremont, California
1975Visiting Professor of Art, Otis Parsons School of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California
1976Visiting Professor of Art, California State University, Los Angeles, California
1976,78-80Visiting Professor, Colorado Mountain College, Vail, Colorado
1979Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, Lima, Peru
1990Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica
1990Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica
2000Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, Lima, Peru
2007Visiting Artist Professor, Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
BIOGRAPHY
David Furman is best known for porcelain hand formed Trompe-l'œil still lives. He often worked in series based on common objects exploring the possibilities of a theme, for instance, a drafting pad with pencil marks, pink circular eraser and yellow led pencil or plates of crackers and cheese.
Furman has also created a series of figurative sculptures based on wooden figure drawing models. In addition, he made a series of miniature environments based on rooms in his home during 1973-1974. The Contemporary Archaeology series produced in 1985 is focused on miniature collapsed brick structures.
In 1987 he created an installation with A F Caldiero, a poet and sound alchemist. The piece was called Lost and Found: An Archeological Composition and was shown at the Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, Utah.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
American Museum of Ceramic Art, (AMOCA), Pomona, California
Arizona State University Museum of Art, Tempe, Arizona
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Brand Library and Art Center, Los Angeles, California
Icheon World Ceramic Center, Icheon, South Korea
Jingdezhen Ceramic Art Museum, Jingdezhen, China
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
Marietta College Art Museum, Marietta, Ohio
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, Utah State University, Logan, UT
Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, California
Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington
Palomar College, El Cajon, California
Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
San Angelo Museum of Art, San Angelo, Texas
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
United States Embassy, Lima, Peru
United States Embassy, San Jose, Costa Rica
University of Washington Museum of Art, Seattle, Washington
World Ceramic Art Museum, Jingdezhen, China
Yixing Int’l Ceramics Museum, Yixing, China
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brody, Harvey. The Book of Low Fire Ceramics. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1979.
“Ceramic Sculptures of David Furman.” Craft Horizons 36, no. 6 (December 1976).
Clark, Garth. The Book of Cups. Mountain View, CA: World Publications, 1999.
“Collaborative Sculptures of David Furman and Ed Forde.” Craft Horizons 25, no. 5 (August 1977).
“David Furman: Biographical Narrative Sculptures”, catalogue. Los Angeles, CA: David Stuart Gallery, 1974.
Donhauser, Paul. The History of American Ceramics. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt, 1978.
Ferrin, Leslie. Teapots Transformed Exploration of a Form. Madison, WI: Guild Publishing, 2000.
Harrington, Lamar. History of Northwest Ceramics. University of Washington Press, 1979.
Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2000.
Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics: From Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms 1607 to the Present. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1988.
Mathieu, Paul. Sex Pots: Eroticism in Ceramics. London, England: A & C Black, 2003.
Nelson, Glen C. Ceramics, A Potters Handbook. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1978.
Peterson, Susan. The Craft and Art of Clay. London, England: Calmann & King LTD, 2000.
Sweet, Marvin. The Yixing Effect: Echoes of the Chinese Scholar. Beijing, China: Foreign Language Press, 2006.
The Galleries, “David Furman at the Anhalt Gallery.” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1980.
“The Miniature Environments of David Furman.” Ceramics Monthly 22, no. 1 (1974).
Zakin, Richard. Electric Kiln Ceramics A Guide to Clays and Glazes. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2015.
CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
WEBSITE(S):
Ceramic sculpture ca. 1973 signed Furman, ceramic pottery signed with DF monogram ca. 1973.
Method: Cast (Ceramic, underglaze, glaze, luster, enamel.)
Surface Technique: Luster, Underglaze
Citation: Clark, Donald. "The Marks Project." Last modified June 10, 2023. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/furman
