# Spring Bloom - 5 Part

Five irregularly shaped ceramic slabs arranged together as a single wall piece, each one carrying a burst of vivid colour, reds, yellows, blues, and whites applied with an energy that feels almost botanical. The space between the slabs is as much a part of the composition as the ceramic itself, a quality Gustavson has developed deliberately across his wall relief work over many years.

Because each slab is fired separately through his kiln process, no two surfaces come out exactly the same. The reduction atmosphere resolves a little differently across each one, giving the grouping a life and movement that a single painted canvas never could. The arrangement can be adjusted to suit the wall and the room around it.

As an installation it is generous and lively. One of the more celebratory works in the collection.

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

## Details

- **Price:** 14800.0 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 | 14800.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Spring Bloom 5 Part – five-slab ceramic wall installation by Gustavson with vivid reds, yellows, blues, and whites in botanical burst arrangement with deliberate negative space between slabs
- Spring Bloom 5 Part by Gustavson – detail of vivid colour burst on individually reduction-fired ceramic slab
- Spring Bloom 5 Part by Gustavson – full five-slab wall installation showing celebratory botanical composition with adjustable arrangement

## Additional Information

- **Dimensions:** 45"×86"×1 .5"
- **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/spring-bloom-5-part)
> Updated: 2026-05-19