“Voulkos and Company” (Susan Fanshel, 1972, 33 min, Digital Video)
“Working in Clay” (Ann Voulkos, 1992, 26 min, Digital Video)
“Voulkos at Archie Bray” (Maxine Blackmer, 1955, 9 min, Digital Video)

Peter Voulkos was the foremost creative force behind the American Clay Revolution, which began in 1950s Los Angeles. Peter Voulkos Working offers a window into three distinct chapters of his unprecedented career. “Voulkos and Company” is a portrait of the artist at work on the final stages of a monumental cast bronze sculpture commissioned for the San Francisco Hall of Justice. This impressionistic film brings to life the special atmosphere of his warehouse studio during the early 1970s. “Working in Clay” observes the artist’s intuitive process in his Oakland studio as he creates plates, tea bowls, and a large ceramics stack. Voulkos composes as he works, improvising like a jazz musician who has deep trust in both his instincts and his technical control. “Voulkos at Archie Bray” takes place in the summer of 1955 while the artist visits Montana from Los Angeles and depicts his early experiments with assembled forms.

Peter Voulkos Working courtesy of Susan Fanshel and Ann Voulkos.