Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
1 6

Michael Gustavson

Winter Wind - Vessel
$4,200
$4,200
Sale Sold out

Michael Gustavson

$4,200
$4,200
Sale Sold out
Raku-fired glazed ceramic
15"×24"×14"

Raku-fired glazed ceramic

15"×24"×14"

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Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
Winter Wind - Vessel
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About

The Piece

Wide and low, the form settles into itself rather than reaching upward. Deep blacks form the ground across much of the surface, with bold sections of green, teal, cream, and red sitting against it in clean, confident planes. A fine web of crackle runs through several of the lighter areas, a direct record of the heat moving through the clay.

Gustavson builds this kind of surface through his own studio-developed raku process, introducing pine needles into the kiln at lower temperatures to create a reduction atmosphere while the work remains inside. It is a method he has refined over four decades, and the colour depth it produces is difficult to achieve any other way.

The two sides read quite differently from each other, which is part of what makes the piece interesting to live with. A vessel that changes depending on where you stand.

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About

The Artist

The Artist
About

The Artist

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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