Bernard Kester (1928–2018) was an American designer, artist, curator, and writer, known for his

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

and

textile design Textile design, also known as textile geometry, is the creative and technical process by which thread or yarn fibers are interlaced to form a piece of Textile, cloth or Textile, fabric, which is subsequently printed upon or otherwise adorned. Texti ...

. He was instrumental in the studio craft movement in the United States through his work as a curator and exhibit designer at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

, and he worked to elevated craft and fiber works to contemporary art found in museums. Kester founded the

fiber art Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a #Natural fibers, natural or Fiber#Artificial fibers, artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The st ...

program at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA). He was named an honorary fellow by the American Craft Council (ACC) in 1980.

Biography

Bernard Kester was born on March 25, 1928, in Salt Lake City, Utah. When he was a young child, the family temporarily moved to

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

, followed by a move to

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. He started making art in kindergarten. Kester attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and graduated with a BFA degree and MFA degree. From 1956 to 1991, he taught at UCLA, starting with ceramics and eventually switched to teaching weaving. Kester founded the

program at the

(UCLA). Some of Kester’s notable students included Gerhardt Knodel, Maren Hassinger, and Neda Al-Hilali. Kester worked as a curator and exhibition designer at the

. He worked to elevated craft and fiber art to contemporary art found in museums. His exhibition design work was included in the show, ''The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in West Asia, 1256–1353'' (2003).

References

External links

* Podcast
Interview of Bernard Kester
with Joan Benedetti (2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kester, Bernard 1928 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American artists American curators American potters American textile designers Exhibition designers University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty Artists from Salt Lake City