# Gemstones

Deep reds and blacks form the ground, with rounded areas of green, cream, and earth tones sitting across the surface like polished stones set into the clay. Gustavson's reduction firing gives the colour a quality that seems to come from within the surface rather than sitting on top of it, a result of the pine needle reduction method he has developed and refined over decades inside his California studio.

The name earns itself. This is his process at its most tactile and jewel-like, a surface that feels unlike anything produced through standard ceramic firing. Functional in form, but the surface draws you in to look rather than simply use it.

[Browse all works by Michael Gustavson](/collections/michael-gustavson)

## Details

- **Price:** 9800.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Art Scout
- **Type:** Ceramic Sculpture
- **Tags:** buy original art online, California artist, ceramic sculpture, collector art, Michael Gustavson, original sculpture, raku, wall relief

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 9800.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Gemstones – studio raku ceramic by Gustavson with deep red and black ground and rounded areas of green, cream, and earth tones set like polished stones using pine needle reduction firing
- Gemstones by Gustavson – detail of jewel-like green and cream rounded forms against deep red and black reduction-fired ceramic ground
- Gemstones by Gustavson – full view of tactile jewel-like ceramic surface with colour emerging from within the clay

## Additional Information

- **Dimensions:** 50"×47"×24"
- **Artist Material:** Glazed ceramic
- **Artist Name:** Michael Gustavson
- **About The Artist Link:** https://www.artscout.pro/collections/michael-gustavson

### About The Artist Content

Michael Gustavson is a California-based ceramic artist who builds upon the traditional Japanese process of raku, reimagining it through a distinctly contemporary and highly personal methodology. His work bridges free-form organic sculpture and painterly abstraction, distinguished by unusually vivid, luminous color rarely achieved in ceramic sculpture.

Central to Gustavson’s practice is a firing approach he has developed and refined over decades, evolving from but ultimately departing from traditional raku. Rather than removing works from the kiln, he introduces pine needles at lower temperatures to create the reduction atmosphere while the pieces remain inside. This highly individual, studio-developed method allows him to work at significant scale and achieve exceptional chromatic depth and painterly nuance in glazed ceramic. Few ceramic artists pursue color with this level of painterly ambition.

Over a four-decade career, Gustavson has pushed the expressive potential of clay, developing a controlled yet highly responsive surface language. Describing himself as a painter-sculptor, he treats each form as a three-dimensional canvas built through layered glazes, textures, and color interactions. His vessels often suggest the human figure in motion, while his wall reliefs activate negative space as an integral compositional force. Large-scale outdoor sculptures and benches extend this painterly vision into powerful tectonic forms.

Inspired by Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Jackson Pollock, Gustavson’s surfaces often feature controlled dripping and expressive movement, translating the energy of abstract painting into fired clay.

Gustavson earned his MFA from San José State University in 1980. His work is held in major public and private collections worldwide, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Seagate, Cranbrook Museum, and Eastman Kodak.

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> Source: [Art Scout](https://www.artscout.pro/products/gemstones)
> Updated: 2026-05-20