Michael Gustavson "Tower 15" Raku Ceramic, Abstract Crackle Glaze Totem in Red and Yellow, Carmel California Art, Original 7 X 19 Inches, 2025

Details

Description

In this raku-fired ceramic sculpture by California artist Michael Gustavson, two bright red edges frame a tall four-sided form topped … Read more In this raku-fired ceramic sculpture by California artist Michael Gustavson, two bright red edges frame a tall four-sided form topped with a yellow cap, where a small gold circle shines like a medallion. Below it a broad panel of white crackle runs down the front, interrupted near the base by a charcoal section laced with fine black cracks. The piece stands on a dark gray square base, and its reverse turns to deep blue. Gustavson works glaze like paint, laying flat color, then textured and crackled passages, then thin drawn lines that mark off each shape. The yellow and red give the form a quick graphic energy, yet the white field keeps it composed, almost like a flag raised in miniature.

A strong choice for a narrow ledge, a hallway console or a pair of shelves where it can stand apart from other objects. Red and yellow pick up leather, rust textiles and warm oak, and the white face works well against deep green or charcoal walls. Group it with a low bowl and a stack of books to give a mantel some height.

Raku-fired glazed ceramic, 7 x 19 x 6.5 in (17.8 x 48.3 x 16.5 cm).

Gustavson fires his work in raku, the traditional Japanese process, which he has adapted over decades into his own method. For his large pieces he does not lift them from the kiln into combustible material; instead they stay in the kiln while pine needles are introduced at lower temperatures to create the reduction atmosphere. Layered glazes, crackle, drips and fine drawn lines build luminous color, and he treats every form as a three-dimensional canvas.

Michael Gustavson is a ceramic artist based in Murphys, California, who has worked in clay for more than four decades. He earned his MFA from San Jose State University in 1980 and describes himself as a painter-sculptor, treating each form as a three-dimensional canvas and glaze as his paint. His work is held in private and public collections worldwide, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Seagate, Cranbrook Museum and Eastman Kodak.

Building on the traditional Japanese process of raku, he developed his own firing approach, leaving large pieces in the kiln and introducing pine needles at lower temperatures to create reduction. The method allows larger scale and unusually vivid color. His wheel-thrown, hand-stretched vessels suggest the figure in motion, his wall reliefs use fragmented slabs and negative space, and recent outdoor sculptures and benches carry his surfaces into tectonic forms, with nods to Miró, Kandinsky, Mondrian and Pollock. See less