Ronald Fondaw
Making Art for me is the way I learn about the world and my place in it. Ceramics is the best mediums for this investigation because it uses elements, actions, processes and forces that are all part of the natural world, i.e. heating, melting, crystallizing, and cooling, with material taken from the Earth itself.
Drawing, because it is the process that most closely reflects the thinking process (consciousness). As I work with these fundamental elements, energies and forces I approach the unknown. I am searching for truth through Art making that are forever fleeting and fragile. I want my work to embody the search in a visually compelling manner.
The Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi has a strong influence on my esthetic, as well as Hegel’s idea that Art is the search for truth. For me art is the encounter of the mind with materials. My goal is to follow my highest excitement in any moment.
The artworks resulting from this encounter remain as subjects of contemplation and understanding .
Ron began his career painting, and produced his first one person show in his hometown of Paducah, KY when he was eleven. He received a BFA in ceramics from the Memphis College of Art and gained his MFA from the Univ. of Illinois in 1979. He then moved to take a teaching position in Miami, Florida in where he honed his sense of color and completed his first Public Art Commission. That number is now over forty. Ron works across the field of art using various media and approaches. Drawing plays an important part in Ron’s sculpture from the large scale ephemeral adobe works to the one of a kind cast metal drawings.
Currently a Professor of Art at Washington University, in St. Louis Mo., Ron has also taught at Chapel Hill, NC. The University of Miami, FL and Ohio Univ. Athens, OH. Ron has worked in Denmark, Japan and Italy. He will travel to China for a second time in May to work as an artist in residence, this time in the city of Nanjing, collaborating with two Chinese artist to create an exhibition at the Nanjing Museum of Art.
Ron Fondaw has received numerous distinctions including a Guggenheim award for sculpture, a Nation Endowment for the Arts and a Pollack/Kransner award. His works can be seen in several major collections around the world.
EDUCATION:
1978 MFA, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
1976 BFA, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, Tennessee
PROFESSIONAL AND TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
2018 Part of Design team with h3 Studio, to develop the streetscape for the Bevo Mill, St. Louis, MO
1998 Part of Design team with Austin Tao Landscape Archt. For Metro Station at Forest Park, St Louis, MO
1995-date Professor of Art, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
1994 Visiting Professor of Art, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1979-94 Professor of Art, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
1978 Visiting Instructor of Art, Ohio University, Athens, OH
DISTINCTIONS:
2017 Artist in Residence at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Texas
2015 Artist in Residence, Nanjing China, May and June
2013 Artist in Residence, Fuping China, The Ceramic Art Village
2008 “Gephardt Institute” Grant for service based teaching
1998 “Kransberg Award” - St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
1996/97 Pollock - Krasner Award
1992 Florida Arts Council Fellowship
1990 New Art Forms, Florida
1989 Awards in the Visual Arts 8
1989 Fulbright Fellowship (India), declined
1988 National Endowment for the Arts
1985 Guggenheim Fellowship, Sculpture
1981 Florida Arts Council Fellowship
1977 Ford Foundation Fellowship
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2018 “ Ron Fondaw” Solo exhibition at the Hilliard Gallery, Kansas City, Mo. Scheduled for Oct.
2018 “Ron Fondaw & Benjie Hue” New works at the South Texas College, McAllen, TX
2017 “Weather Biennially” group exhibition at The Nation Weather Center, Norman, OK
2016 “The Many Faces of Abstraction” The Shapolski Foundation, Throp ,PA
2015 “Unseen Forces” Solo exhibition at the Hilliard Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2015 “River to River” at the Finder Art Gallery, the 1865 Creative Park, Nanjing, China, June
2015 Ron Fondaw, solo exhibition, Southeast Mo. State College, River Campus Gallery, Cape Girardeau, Mo
2015 “Symbiosis” A one person exhibition at the Kansas City Artist Coalition, KC
2015 “Drawing Discourse” The Annual Juried drawing National, The Gallery at Univ. of North Carolina, Asheville
2014 “Arts/Industry” Collaboration & Revelation, The John Michael Kohler Arts center, WI
2014 “Reflexive” A one person exhibition at The Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY
2014 “Collide of Particles” a one person show of paintings, The Durham Arts Council, NC
2013 “Back to The Real” 5 American Artist at The DAO Gallery, Xian China
2013 “Shifting Ground” a two person exhibition @ The Regional Art Commission Gallery, St. Louis
2012 “Drawing In Between” solo exhibition @ The good Citizen Gallery, St. Louis, Mo
2011 “Death & Rebirth” Invitation, Maryville University, St. Louis, Mo
2010 “Material Use” an invitational exhibition at The Univ. of North Carolina, Asheville, NC
2009 “Drawing on The In-between” Solo exhibition, Perkinson Gallery, Millikin Univ. Decatur, IL
2007 “Earth & Fire” Group exhibition , Boileau Gallery, St.Louis Univ. St. Louis, MO
2006 “Translucent” contemporary glass sculpture,Curated by Ron Fondaw as part of Annual GAS Conference
“A Mater of Scale”Outdoor sculpture,School of medicine, Washington Univ.St. Louis. Curated by Int. Art/Artist
2005 “ Poetic Process” Invitational,The regional arts commission Gallery,St.Louis,Mo
2005 “Drawings and Models for Public Works” One Person show at The Schmidt Art Center, Bellville, IL
2005 “Material Attraction” Invitational ,The Jacoby art Center, Alton, IL
2004 “Ron Fondaw ”, Two large scale adobe installations, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN
2003 “Artist in Permanent Collection”, 30th Anniversary, Mitchell Museum of Art, Mt. Vernon, IL
2002 “The Future Is Right Now” Invitational, Six Artist, Ispace gallery, Chicago, IL
“Ron Fondaw”, Solo Exhibition, Kansas city Artist Coalition, Kansas City, MO
Sculptural Clay, Invitational, Daum Museum, Sadailia, MO
2001 “Archeology”, Solo Exhibition, Gallery 210, St. Louis, MO
2000 “U.G.A. Cortona Faculty”, Palazzo Vagnotti, Cortona Italy
1999 “Ron Fondaw” Elliot Smith Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO
1998 “Ceramics in Public Spaces”, The Ceramic Museum of Taipei Cultural Center, Taiwan
“St. Louis”, The City Series, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
1998 “Ron Fondaw” One Person Show, The Goddard Gallery, Sedalia, MO
1997 "Ron Fondaw/Mappings in Clay and Metal", One Person Show, Eliott Smith Gallery, St. Louis, MO
1996 "Ron Fondaw" One Person Show, Florida Community College, Jacksonville, FL.
1995 "Fusion", Solo Exhibition of Large Scale Ceramic and Iron Sculpture, The ClaytStudio,Philadelphia
1994 "A Mix of Media", Four Artist Show, City Hall Gallery, Orlando, FL
1993 "Florida Fellows", Traveling Exhibition beginning at Center of Contemporary Art in Miami, FL
1992 "In the Tradition", Group Show, Anita Shapolski Gallery, New York, NY
1991 "Five by Invitation", The Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
"Clay Today", Museum Mensinghe, Roden, Holland
"Florida Selects", Group Show, George Bolge Curator, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdal
1990 Ron Fondaw,Solo Show, Drawing The National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C
1989 Ron Fondaw: Jane Sablow, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY
Awards in the Visual Arts 8 (AVA), Traveling Exhibition beginning at The High Museum, GA.
1989 "Art as Architecture", Group Show, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY - traveled to Kingsborough College, Long Island, NY
1986 Material as Metaphor: Group Show of Clay Sculpture, Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
1985 Ceramics International, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, Republic of China
1985 Contemporary American Ceramics, Twenty Artists, Newport Harbor art Museum, California
1983 Clay for the Walls, Group Show, Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian, Washington, DC.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
“Open Portal” Miguel Roberts, The Brownsville Herald, Brownsville, TX 2017
“River to River” The Nanjinger Magazine. June 2015
“River to River” exhibition Catalog, Finder Gallery, Nanjing, China June 2015
“Fondaw Sounds Wake-Up Call” Hallie Smith, The Kansas City Star, Jan. 7, 2015
“Think Global” Liz Cook, The Kansas City Pitch Jan. 8, 2015
“Arts/Industry” Collaboration & Revelation” DAP distributed art publishers 2014
“Sculpture on the Edge” Paula Harper, Art in America, Dec.2006
Studio Potter, Dec 2005 “Large Scale clay of Ron Fondaw
“Working With Clay” Susan Peterson, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 2002
“Contemporary Ceramics”, Susan Peterson, Watson Guptill, 2001
“Weathering Change”, Julie Stevenson, Sculpture Magazine, September 2000, Vol. 19 no.7
“Art and Craft of Clay”, Susan Peterson, 3rd Edition. Printice Hall, 2000
“Ron Fondaw”, Robin Rice, Ceramic Monthly, March ‘97
"Urban Art of 50 Cities in USA", Shoichiro Higuch, Tokyo Press, 1990
"AVA 8", Jane Adams Allen, Exhibition Catalog, April 1989
"Sculpture Tests Its Muscles", New York Times, Michael Brenson, September 6, 1987
"Bayou Show, Pamela Lewis, The Houston Post, March 23, 1985
"Staring and Shivering", Helen Kohen, Art in America, Summer 1983
INSTALLATIONS:
2018 “ A little Child Shall Lead Them” Video projection on the Border wall (Collaboration)
2017 “The Portal of Hope” stabilized earth, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, TX
2016 Affina Health Clinic “Stone Quilt” St. Louis, MO
2016 Early childhood Center, “Kid’s Story” St. Louis, MO
2014 “Trip-Trap” The Univ. of North Carolina, Asheville, NC
2014 The Pear Tree” at the Yeiser Art Center, Paducah ,KY (Temporary)
2012 “Teeterik” stabilized earth, at the Forsyth School, Clayton, Mo
2011 “Wheel Within a Wheel” Kirkland Art Center, Decatur, IL (temporary)
2010 “Given, A Device for Seeing” Sculpture Key West, Curated by, Lilly Wei (temporary)
2009 “Moving Ahead” Greensboro,NC , Permanent
2006 “ Impressions in Light and Dark” Bradley Univ. Peoria, IL
“Perspective is Everything” Sculpture Key West, Fl
2006 “The Bison Gates” Site specific adobe gates, South west IL College,Bellvell, IL
2005 “ Ion” Outdoor sculpture, earth cast concrete,Union Univ. Jackson,TN (temporary)
2003 “The Vertical Loop”, The Pageant Theater, Arts in Transit, St. Louis, MO (permanent)
2003 “The Langlois Bridge Full Circle”’ Henry Lay Sculpture Park, Louisiana, MO
2000 “Myth of Permanence”, commissioned by NCECA, Denver, CO (temporary)
1999 “Who We Are”, at the Forest Park Metro-Rail Station, St. Louis, MO
1999 “Rolling Along”. Ceramic Mural, commissioned by the City of Columbia, MO
1998 “Whispering Walls”, Site Specific Adobe, The Cedarhurst Sculpture Park, Mt. Vernon, IL
1998 “The Giving Tree”, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
1995 “Nyflot”, Adobe Installation, Steinberg Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
1994 "Cyclones Edge", Ceramic Mural for the City of Orlando, FL
1994 "Tapiola", site specific adobe installation, Watershed Center, Edgecomb, ME
1994 "3 Miles High", commission by Broward County, FL, ceramic tile
1993 Art in Public Places, State of Florida, Plaza, Department of Natural Resources, Marathon, FL
1992 "Ferros Dream", State of Florida, 2 murals at the main entrance of Florida International University, South Campus, Miami, FL
1991 "Round and Round Again", Center of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
1989 "Now and Never", Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY
1988 "Earth Structures", Outdoor Sculpture, East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art, East
Hampton, New York
1987 "Taukka", Artpark, Project Artist, Lewiston, NY
“Sea of Divide”/10 paintings for the Medical Library, Miami, FL
1985 "Tymon", Bayou Show Outdoor Sculpture, Houston Festival, Houston, TX
1981 Set Design: Oedipus Rex, Players State Theater, Coconut Grove, FL
COLLECTIONS:
Renwick Gallery, National Collection of Fine Art, The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Fule International Ceramic Art Museum of North American ceramics, Fuping , China
The Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Brownsville, TX
The City of, North Miami, Florida at City Hall
Little Rock Arts Center, Arkansas
The International Museum of Art & Science, McAllen, TX.
The Finder Arts District, Nanjing, China
Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, Tennessee
The Mitchell Museum of Art, Mt. Vernon, Illinois
Mr. Mingyi Cai, Private collection, Nanjing China
American Express, Jacksonville, Florida
IBM Corporation, Communications Center, Raleigh, North Carolina
Columbus Museum of Fine art, Columbus, Ohio
Martin Z. Margulies, Grove Isle, Florida
Sun Bank, Orlando, Florida
TIAA-CREF Corporate Headquarters, St. Louis, MO
The Center for Contemporary art, Vero Beach, FL
The Center for Infectious Disease, Washington School of Medicine
Lectures & workshops:
2018 “The South Texas ShootOut” a hands on 2 day workshop.
2018 “The Art & Craft of Making” South TX. Collage, McAllen, TX.
2017 “The Myth of Permanence” Brownsville Museum of Art, Brownsville, TX.
2015 “Between the Body & the Land” , Southeast Mo. State College, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
2014 “Drawing InBetween” at The University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC
2014 “Drawing In Between” University of Iowa