Michael Simon

1947Born Springfield, Minnesota

2021 Died Athens, Georgia

EDUCATION

1970BA Studio Art, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

1980MFA Ceramics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Simon is known for functional stoneware decorated with simple nature based geometric motifs. Fish, birds, trees and linear abstract designs decorate the surfaces of his work creating a visual iconography that make many of his works instantly recognizable.

Simon is a master of wax resist and uses it to create the integration of pattern and image seen on his work. He was also a master ot manipulating the figure and ground on a piece. Many of his pieces have flat side sllowing for more painting. Simon used a salt kiln to fire his work.

An interview with Michael Simon conducted September 27 and 28, 2005 by Mark Shapiro for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America is available at:

www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-michael-simon-11797. 

Public Collections

Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University, Alfred, New York

American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California

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

Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Mashiko, Japan

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Nerman Museum, Overland Park, Kansas

Weisman Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bibliography

Roberts, Susan Stokes, ed. Michael Simon: Evolution. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

Southern Highland Craft Guild