Sylvia Hyman (September 9, 1917 – December 23, 2012) was an American

ceramic artist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

art teacher Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and visual artist. She was known for her lifelike

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelai ...

pieces and sculptures which are included in the collections of museums worldwide. Her trademark pieces, which were fashioned from

stoneware Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non- refractory fire clay. Whether ...

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

, often used the artist technique of

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

(meaning "deceive the eye" or "fooling the eye" in French) to create the

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts * Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...

of art. Much of Hyman's work featured everyday objects, such as paper, books, or food, realistically crafted from ceramic. She was also the founder of the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (TACA).

Biography

Hyman was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, in 1917. She received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

art education Visual arts education is the area of learning that is based upon the kind of art that one can see, visual arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practi ...

in 1938 from the New York State Teachers College at Buffalo (now

Buffalo State College The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college in Buffalo, New York. It is part of the State University of New ...

). Hyman later obtained a master's degree in art education from

Peabody College for Teachers Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development (also known as Vanderbilt Peabody College, Peabody College, or simply Peabody) is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. ...

(now known as

Peabody College Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development (also known as Vanderbilt Peabody College, Peabody College, or simply Peabody) is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

), in 1963 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

. Professionally, Hyman worked as a public school

, as well as a faculty member of Peabody College. In 1957, after working as a public school teacher for approximately fifteen years, Hyman received some ceramic equipment, which launched her artistic career as a ceramist. Examples of her work are included in the collections of museums and

art collection A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, repla ...

s worldwide including the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, the

Saga Prefectural Museum opened in 1970 on the ''sannomaru'' site of Saga Castle in the city of Saga, Japan, in 1970. It is one of Japan's many museums which are supported by a prefecture. The museum displays materials relating to the natural history, archaeology, hist ...

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the Pl ...

, Japan, the

Tennessee State Museum The Tennessee State Museum is a large museum in Nashville depicting the history of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The current facility opened on October 4, 2018, at the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street at the foot of Capitol Hill ...

in Nashville, and the

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building th ...

in Washington D.C. Hyman received recognition for her work. Her awards included a

Lifetime Achievement Award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

in the Craft Arts from the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since ope ...

of Washington, D.C. in 1993 and the Tennessee Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, which she received in 1994. A book of her artwork, ''The Intriguing Vision of Sylvia Hyman: Trompe l’Oeil Ceramic Artist'', edited by

Janet Mansfield Janet Mansfield (19 August 1934 – 4 February 2013) was an Australian potter known for her salt glazed works. She was also a publisher and author. Early life and education Mansfield was born in 1934 in Sydney, Australia. She trained at th ...

, was published in 2012.

Death and legacy

Sylvia Hyman died in

, on December 23, 2012, at the age of 95. A public memorial service for Hyman was to be held at The Temple Congregation Ohabai Sholom in Nashville on January 27, 2013. Survivors included her second husband, Arthur Gunzberg, two children, Paul Maurice Hyman and writer Jackie Diamond Hyman and stepson Guy Gunzberg. Executive Director Susan Edwards of the

Frist Center for the Visual Arts The Frist Art Museum, formerly known as the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, is an art exhibition hall in Nashville, Tennessee, housed in the city's historic U.S. Post Office building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ...

, where Hyman held a major exhibition called "Sylvia Hyman: Fictional Clay" in 2007, praised Hyman's legacy in an interview with ''

The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, ...

'' following her death, telling the newspaper, "There are few

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

s anywhere more revered than Nashville's own, Sylvia Hyman...In her long and productive career, encompassing

abstraction Abstraction in its main sense is a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal ("real" or " concrete") signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An a ...

and realism, Sylvia showed us the remarkable power of touch and the potential of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

. Her

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

at the Frist (in 2007) remains one of our most well-received locally." The 2007 exhibition had marked her 90th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyman, Sylvia 1917 births 2012 deaths American ceramists Artists from Tennessee Jewish American artists Buffalo State College alumni Peabody College alumni People from Nashville, Tennessee Artists from Buffalo, New York