Viola+Frey


 * Viola Frey** (1933-2004) was an artist known for her large ceramic sculptures. Her use of found objects in some of her works points out her environmental interests, and some of her portrayals of male and female subjects points out her interest in how society perceives gender roles. The large-scale ceramic works are made in multiple parts. For example, //Grandmother Series: July Cone Hat// (1982, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City), is greater than seven feet tall, and made in four parts. Each section is hand built, then glazed in many different colors. Kelly Mitchell has noted that Frey used the term “bricolage” to describe her work, from the term meaning “handyman” who collects and assembles found objects. Frey liked to explore trash as a child, and also likes inexpensive figurines. Some of the surface effects and the simplified forms are suggestive of cheap ceramic figures or odd bits of things collected. Viewing the large works, such as [|//Stubborn Woman, Orange Hands// (2003)], makes the viewer feel like a child among adults. In the same work, the emphasis of color on the hands, the area between the breasts, and on the lips might be a way to draw attention to how women are perceived in late 20th and early 21st century American society. A critic said of her large-scale work, “it treats the modern corporate Everyman on a par with the Pharoahs of Egypt….” The large work [|//Determined Man// (2004)] could be seen in this way. Frey’s large scale works offer new ways to think about how we perceive people in society, and how we think about the medium of ceramics.

Bibliography (Viola Frey) Brubaker, Ann, and Cammie Downing, Diana Swezy and Richard Bay. “Instructional Resources: Comparing Four Figures at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.” //Art Education// 49, No. 4 (July 1996): 28-31. Clark, Garth. //American Ceramics: 1876 to the Present//. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. Johnson, Ken. “Viola Frey, 70, Bold Sculptor Of Larger-Than-Life Figures.” //The New York Times//, 30 July 2004, A16. Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York. Every Man, Every Woman: The Figures of Viola Frey, January 7 – February 20, 2010. []. 5 April 2011. Sewell, Darrel, and Ivy L. Barsky and Kelly Leigh Mitchell. “Contemporary American Crafts.” //Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin// 87, No. 371/372 (Autumn, 1991): 1, 4-56.