Firestone by Peter Voulkos (United States, b. 1924)

Peter Voulkos (1924-2002)
Firestone, 1965
Cast bronze and aluminum sculpture
Modern and Contemporary Art Council Fund
On long-term loan from Los Angeles County of Museum of Art
Leadership support for the South Coast Botanic Garden Sculpture Collection was provided by Marilyn Long and Long Family Foundation

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Peter Voulkos was born in Bozeman, Mont., in 1924, the son of Greek immigrants. He worked as a molder’s apprentice making molds for engine parts for ships and later received his M.F.A. from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He helped lead the clay ceramics movement in Los Angeles and was regarded as a leader in the field who helped redefine ceramics. In 1954, Voulkos became chairman of the new ceramics department at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and later became a professor of design and sculpture at the University of California, Berkeley. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and here at SCBG.

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