Michael Frimkess
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Michael Frimkess (January 8, 1937 – February 28, 2025) was an American
ceramic art Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take varied forms, including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is a visual art. While ...
ist who lived in
Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...
. In the 1950s and 60s, he was a pupil of
Peter Voulkos Peter Voulkos (born Panagiotis Harry Voulkos; 29 January 1924 – 16 February 2002) was an American artist of Greek descent. He is known for his abstract expressionist ceramic sculptures, which crossed the traditional divide between ceramic c ...
, a prominent figure in the
California Clay Movement The California Clay Movement (or American Clay Revolution) was a school of ceramic art that emerged in California in the 1950s. The movement was part of the larger transition in crafts from "designer-craftsman" to "artist-craftsman". The editor o ...
. Frimkess'
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 ...
is noted for its classical style, employing forms from
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
,
Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
, and Indigenous American antiquity. His wife and collaborator, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, decorated some of his ceramic pieces, often using anachronistic, contemporary images like
Minnie Mouse Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. The longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue (or pink or red) polka-dotted dress, w ...
or Condorito. He is also well-known for his innovative wheel-throwing and firing techniques.


Early life and education

Frimkess was born on January 8, 1937 in
East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
Los Angeles, California. He grew up largely in the neighborhood of
Boyle Heights Boyle may refer to: Places United States * Boyle, Kansas, an unincorporated community * Boyle, Mississippi, a town *Boyle County, Kentucky *Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, a neighborhood Elsewhere * Boyle (crater), a lunar crater * 11967 Boyle, ...
and claimed (inaccurately) to have been among the last Jewish families in the area. His father, Lou Frimkess, was an artist and graphic designer. He was exposed to fine art early in his childhood, receiving drawing and sculpting lessons, and being taken to numerous museum exhibitions. Frimkess learned how to play the saxophone and piano in his youth and aspired to become a jazz musician like his idol, Charlie “Bird” Parker. At age 15, his family moved to
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...
and he would graduate from
Hollywood High School Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. His ...
two years later in 1955. In high school, he took up sculpture, which led him to seek out art schools after graduation. At the age of 17 he became the youngest person to receive a scholarship from the
Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aero ...
(then known as the Los Angeles County Art Institute). After a year at the college, Frimkess switched his focus to ceramics, a move that he attributes to a
peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to glisten". p. ...
-induced vision of himself throwing a perfectly-shaped vessel. In the ceramics department, he studied under Peter Voulkos, perhaps the most notable figure in the California Clay Movement. He also worked alongside sculptors and ceramists like
Billy Al Bengston Billy Al Bengston (June 7, 1934 – October 8, 2022) was an American visual artist and sculptor who lived and worked in Venice, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii. Bengston was probably best known for work he created that reflected California's " ...
, John Mason,
Kenneth Price Kenneth Price (February 16, 1935 – February 24, 2012) was an American artist who predominantly created ceramic sculpture. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute and Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design) in Los Angeles, befo ...
,
Paul Soldner Paul Edmund Soldner (April 24, 1921 – January 3, 2011) was an American ceramic artist and educator, noted for his experimentation with the 16th-century Japanese technique called raku, introducing new methods of firing and post firing, which bec ...
, and others. In 1956, he was one of 10 young artists to open and display work at a gallery on
Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisad ...
. In 1957, Frimkess worked in a small ceramics factory while on a trip with his family in Italy, where he received additional training in throwing a very hard type of clay.


Career

In the early 1960s, Frimkess went to
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
where
Peter Voulkos Peter Voulkos (born Panagiotis Harry Voulkos; 29 January 1924 – 16 February 2002) was an American artist of Greek descent. He is known for his abstract expressionist ceramic sculptures, which crossed the traditional divide between ceramic c ...
was then teaching at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
. While there, he studied bronze and aluminum casting with Voulkos. In 1963, his piece "Hooker No. 1" (a bronze sculpture of a television) was displayed at the
San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...
's Annual exhibition at the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...
. Also that year at the behest of Voulkos, Frimkess took an internship at the Clay Art Center in
Port Chester Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populati ...
, New York. It was there that he met his future wife and frequent collaborator, Magdalena Suarez, who had come to the Art Center from Venezuela as part of a fellowship program. While on the east coast, Frimkess was instructed to visit museums in New York City and
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
to study Greek and Chinese forms of pottery. He also began learning the technique of "dry throwing" clay rather than using water. Much of his work after 1965 replicated classical forms like Greek volute
kraters A krater or crater (, ; , ) was a large two-handled type of vase in Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water. Form and function At a Greek symposium, kraters were placed in the center of the room. Th ...
, Zuni pots, and Chinese ginger jars. In 1966, his work was featured in the ''Abstract Expressionist Ceramics'' exhibition, which was displayed at several locations including in the art gallery of the
University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
and, later, the San Francisco Museum of Art. In 1970, his work was featured alongside
Robert Arneson Robert Carston Arneson (September 4, 1930 – November 2, 1992) was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at University of California, Davis for nearly three decades. Early life and education Robert Carston Arnes ...
,
Ron Nagle Ron Nagle (born February 21, 1939) is an American sculptor, musician and songwriter. He is known for small-scale, refined sculptures of great detail and compelling color. Nagle lives and works in San Francisco, California. Life Born in S ...
, and
David Gilhooly David Gilhooly (also known as David James Gilhooly III; April 15, 1943 – August 21, 2013) was an American ceramicist, sculptor, painter, printmaker, and professor. He is best known for pioneering the Funk art movement. He made a series of ...
's in an exhibit at the
Moore College of Art Moore College of Art & Design is a Private college, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1848 by Sarah Peter, Sarah Worthington Peter as the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, and was renamed the Moore Colleg ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Pennsylvania. In 1971, Frimkess was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...
. His subsequent focus on rehab and physical therapy took time away from his ceramic work and limited his output. He continued to throw the pots, and his wife Magdalena Suarez Frimkess would glaze and decorate them. In 1976, Frimkess' work was featured at the ''Clay: The Medium and the Method'' exhibition held at the art gallery of the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
. A year later, his work was displayed at the
Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art The Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art (LAICA) was an exhibition venue for visual arts that ran between 1974 and 1987 (approximately) in Los Angeles, California. It played an important role in showing experimental work of the era as well a ...
for their exhibition entitled ''Foundations in Clay''. The latter exhibition was considered an update of the ''Abstract Expressionist Ceramics'' exhibition from 1966 with five of the six artists returning, including Peter Voulkos, Ron Nagle, Kenneth Price, and John Mason. That year, the James Willis Gallery in San Francisco also displayed a 17-year retrospective of Frimkess' work. Another retrospective of his solo and collaborative work was held in 1982 at the
Garth Clark Garth Clark is an art critic, art historian, curator, gallerist, and art dealer from Pretoria, South Africa. Clark is a writer and commentator on modern and contemporary ceramic art and a critic of the craft movement. For twenty-seven years, Clar ...
Gallery in Los Angeles. By 1988, Frimkess' work could be found in the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
,
American Craft Museum The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the ...
, and the National Museum of Modern Art in
Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
, Japan. That year, his work was also featured as part of an exhibition at the
Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college under the State University of New York, in New York City. It focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in ...
called ''Extended Visions'' which displayed work from artists with multiple sclerosis. In 2000, Frimkess and his wife held an exhibition of their work at
Louis Stern Fine Arts Louis Stern Fine Arts is an art gallery located at 9002 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, California, in the heart of the city’s Avenue of Art and Design. History and development Louis Stern Fine Arts was founded in 1988 by Louis Stern, a s ...
entitled, ''Vessels of Satire: The Art of Magdalena and Michael Frimkess''. In 2001, the two provided an official oral history of their lives and work to the Smithsonian Institution's
Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...
. In 2003, they displayed some of their work at Little Tokyo Clayworks in Los Angeles. Beginning in 2012, their work started being displayed at South Willard, a menswear shop also in Los Angeles. In 2013, some of Frimkess' early work was displayed at an exhibition called ''Grapevine'' at the
David Kordansky Gallery David Kordansky Gallery is an art gallery established in Los Angeles's Chinatown neighborhood in 2003. History The gallery was founded by David Kordansky, a former conceptual and performance artist, in a space on Bernard Street in L.A.’s Chi ...
in
Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...
. In March 2014, the Frimkesses' collaborative work was on display at
White Columns White Columns is New York City's oldest alternative non-profit art space. White Columns is known as a showcase for up-and-coming artists, and is primarily devoted to emerging artists who are not affiliated with galleries. All work submitted i ...
in New York. Their work was again featured at the
Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...
's biennial exhibition, ''Made in L.A.'' in August 2014. The couple was also honored with the ''Made in L.A.'' Mohn Career Achievement Award. In 2016, their work was featured at an exhibition called ''Routine Pleasures'' at the MAK Center in
West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writings about West Hollywood be ...
, California. In addition to exhibitions, Frimkess' work has appeared in numerous publications, including ''
Ceramics Monthly The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) is a nonprofit organization of professionals for the ceramics community, with a focus on scientific research, emerging technologies, and applications in which ceramic materials are an element. ACerS is located ...
'', ''
American Ceramics American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
'', and ''
Craft Horizons ''Craft Horizons'' is a periodical magazine that documents and exhibits crafts, craft artists, and other facets of the field of American craft. The magazine was founded by Aileen Osborn Webb and published from 1941 to 1979. It included editoria ...
'' magazines. In 1966 Frimkess wrote an article for ''Craft Horizons'' entitled, "The Importance of Being Classical," and he was later featured in its December 1973 issue ("Michael Frimkess and the Cultured Pot"). More recently, Michael and Magdalena have been profiled in both the ''Los Angeles Times'' and the ''New York Times''.


Artistic style

Frimkess' early work included a variety of both ceramics and bronze or aluminum sculptures. These early pieces were often more free-form and less utilitarian, taking a cue from his mentor and teacher, Peter Voulkos. His interest and skill in making classical pottery forms began to increase in the mid-1960s. Examples of his work include Greek volute kraters, Zuni pots, and Chinese ginger jars. He also learned the technique of dry throwing hard clay with no water to make his vessels, resulting in walls that are remarkably light and thin. In addition, through his expertise and efforts in kiln design and construction, he developed a method of firing stoneware in as little as 55 minutes. Prior to his multiple sclerosis diagnosis, Frimkess would glaze and paint all of his ceramics, decorating them with contemporary scenes and pop art. The images were often "vernacular or historical" and employed the use of cartoon sequences or word balloons that often satirized problems related to corruption, segregation, and hypocrisy. His work frequently dealt with racial strife, and he often drew on his childhood growing up in a predominately
Chicano Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...
, Japanese, and
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
neighborhood. His pots were meant to symbolize an ideal "melting pot." Since his multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 1971, most of the art painted on his pots has been done by his wife, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess. While her art has similar themes, it evokes a different cultural experience. Her glazes and paintings feature pop art icons like
Minnie Mouse Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. The longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue (or pink or red) polka-dotted dress, w ...
and Condorito, but they also employ
folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...
combined with a variety of historical references. In general, neither of the two had any input on the other's work. Frimkess died on February 28, 2025, at the age of 88.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frimkess, Michael 1937 births American ceramists Artists from Los Angeles Otis College of Art and Design alumni 2025 deaths