Michael Gustavson
Raku-Fired Ceramic Sculptor
Lives and works in California
Michael Gustavson
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. While conventional raku typically requires removing the work from the kiln and placing it into combustible material, Gustavson instead leaves his large-scale pieces inside the kiln, introducing pine needles at lower temperatures to create the reduction atmosphere.
This highly individual, studio-developed adaptation not only allows him to work at a significantly larger scale, but more importantly enables him to achieve a level of chromatic depth and painterly nuance rarely encountered in ceramic sculpture. Few ceramic artists pursue color with this level of painterly ambition at architectural scale. The resulting surfaces possess a richness and vitality that often surprise viewers unfamiliar with how technically demanding such color is to achieve in fired clay. Over his four-decade career, Gustavson has continually pushed the expressive potential of ceramic, developing a controlled yet highly responsive surface language that explores the harmony of form, texture, and color. Describing himself as a painter-sculptor, he approaches each work as a three-dimensional canvas, building complex surfaces through layered glazes, textures, and color interactions. His vessels, wheel-thrown and hand-stretched, often suggest the human figure in motion, while his wall reliefs - composed of fragmented slabs in diptychs, triptychs, or larger groupings - activate negative space as an integral compositional force. In recent years, his large-scale outdoor sculptures and benches have expanded this painterly vision into powerful tectonic forms. Drawing inspiration from modern masters including Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Jackson Pollock, Gustavson’s surfaces frequently carry passages of controlled dripping and expressive movement. The result is ceramic that conveys the immediacy and energy of abstract painting while remaining fully grounded in sculptural form. Gustavson earned his MFA from San José State University in 1980. His work is held in private and public collections worldwide, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Seagate, Cranbrook Museum, and Eastman Kodak.
Selected Collections:
Corporate: IBM, Apple Computer, Seagate, TRW, Hughes Aircraft, Visa USA, Metropolitan Life, Coldwell Banker, Sitmar Cruise Lines, Mitsu Bank, and others.
Hotels: Cable Beach Hotel (Bahamas), ANA Hotel (Tokyo, Japan), Maxims (Palm Springs), The Bel-Air Hotel, and Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott, and Hyatt properties worldwide.
Private: Goldie Hawn, David Cone, Jerry Weintraub, Dr. Linus Pauling, and collectors across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.
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Michael Gustavson
26"×23"×21"Regular price $6,000Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
31"×14"×19.5"Regular price $8,500Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
81"×26"×11"Regular price $21,000Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
12"×23"×16"Regular price $4,200Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
27"×21"×10"Regular price $4,200Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
30"×26"×19"Regular price $7,800Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
74"×15"×16"Regular price $19,800Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
58"×50"×1.5"Regular price $7,400Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
14"×23"×16"Regular price $4,600Regular price -
Michael Gustavson
20"×13"×9"Regular price $2,200Regular price
“ As you look at my works, you will see the many techniques I use to shape clay and express my vision. For almost 50 years I have treated the forms I create as a painter treats canvas, with glaze as my paint. Through these works I continue to explore the language of clay. The true statement lies not in words, but in the work itself. ”
“ As you look at my works, you will see the many techniques I use to shape clay and express my vision. For 40 years I have treated the forms I create as a painter treats canvas, with glaze as my paint. Through these works I continue to explore the language of clay. The true statement lies not in words, but in the work itself. ”
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Javiera da Fonseca Ilić
Kate Vorona
Cedric VU
Christiane Corcelle
Luz Marina Ruiz
Rinat Goren
Meifen Zhong
Michael Gustavson
Miriam Sweeney
Marc Zimmerman
Rebecca Koury
Flavia Cuddemi
Terese Garcia
Meet Our Artist
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Rita Matos
Javiera da Fonseca Ilić
Kate Vorona
Cedric VU
Christiane Corcelle
Luz Marina Ruiz
Rinat Goren
Meifen Zhong
Michael Gustavson
Miriam Sweeney
Marc Zimmerman
Rebecca Koury
Flavia Cuddemi
