A Standout Conversation with Tony Natsoulas
PhotoCredit: Bruce Temuchin Brown
Tony Natsoulas is an American visual artist based in California. He is a Rat Fink Licensed Artist and former professor at various institutions including, Sierra College, Sacramento State, and California State University Sacramento. His education credits include independent studies and both undergrad and grade degrees from Studio Arts College International, Florence, Italy, the University of California at Davis, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, California State University, Sacramento, CA. Natsoulas was fortunate to have studied with world-renowned funk art professor Robert Arneson.
Tony has been exhibited widely internationally at artistic spaces, galleries, and museums such as the Avenue 50 Gallery, North Los Angeles, CA; Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA; Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA; Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, Oakland Museum Downtown Sculpture Court, Oakland, CA, B. Sakata Garo, Sacramento, CA, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, Napa, CA, Michael Himovitz Gallery, Sacramento, CA, Beuhler Alumni Center, UC Davis, CA, The Landis Gallery, Berkeley, CA, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Gorman Museum, the University of CA at Davis, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA, American River College, Sacramento, CA and elsewhere.
He is in private collections across the United States and publically in various institutions, both corporate and in museums and elsewhere, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA, Ed Roth Museum, Manti, Utah, Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA, The Di Rosa Foundation, Napa, CA, MIAAO, Museo Internazionale Delle Arti Applicate Oggi, Turin, Italy, The Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan San Jose Art Museum, San Jose, CA, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, The University of Iowa. Museum of Art, Triton Museum of Art, CA, The American Ceramic Society, Westerville, OH, The University of CA at Davis Library Collection, Mering and Associates, Sacramento, CA, Stuart Weitzman, NYC, Hansen, Boyd, Culhane and Watson, LLP, and the McDonough Holland & Allen PC | Attorney Advertising.
Tony was commissioned by the City of Stockton Stribley Community Center Water Park to sculpt three bronzes. Also, he was commissioned by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission to sculpt three bronze busts for Granite Park along with sculpting four bronze busts for the Tahoe Talic Little League Park. He created a work of art using life-size polyurethane lions for the Pride of Sacramento, Lions on Safari. He has been Corporate commissioned granted by the Hahn Corp. six over life-size figures in fiberglass at the Downtown Plaza Mall, Sacramento, and granted by the Hahn Corporation of a life-sized bronze figure in the renovated Downtown Plaza K Street and Public commissioned granted by the City of Sacramento painted bronze sculpture of a golfer in a water trap installed at the Bing Maloney Golf Course, Sacramento. He was publicly commissioned granted by the City of Davis, California, to sculpt two life-sized bronze figures called “The Joggers.” The female and male joggers are installed in front of the Davis Police Department.
In 2004 Tony was named by the Smithsonian as one of the top 100 craft artists in the United States.
Tony has an upcoming solo exhibit in 2024 at the Fresno Art Museum, and his book, Larger than Life, The Art of Tony Natsoulas by Jo Lauria, Forward by Ted Natsoulas, Introduction by Phil Linhares, and other writing by Scott Shields will be available after December 3rd of this year.
I had the pleasure of asking Tony about which of the four main classes of ceramic he prefers, what has been the most pioneering aspect of his career, what he has learned from his decades-long career that you can't teach about art, and so much more.
UZOMAH: How did your new book come about?
TONY: I have been doing large-scale ceramic sculptures since college, over 40 years. I wanted a record of what I had done and to show people what I had been up to all these years.
U: What was the most challenging process behind compelling your long career into one book?
T: Trying to get enough good pictures before phone cameras. It was a rare occasion that someone snapped a picture of any of us doing our work or hanging out with our teachers or friends. Later in the book, I have so many pictures that I have to really control myself about putting too many pictures in.
Calder_Natsoulas_Tony: “Calder” (Portrait of Alexander Calder) 68″ x 36″ x 28
Ceramic and Metal. (Mobile made by Joe Scarpa) 2021
gold large: How to put whipped cream on a pie (Portrait of Rube Goldberg)
Ceramic, wood, found metal table and found pipe 83 x 53 x 48″
2021
U: Which of the four main classes of ceramic materials do you prefer?
T: Earthenware and low-fire commercial glaze.
carlos large:
“Just in Time to See the Sun” (Portrait of Carlos Santana) Ceramic, found guitar strings and strap. 68 x 63 x 64″ 2021
U: What is your pre-creative process? How do you prepare before creating?
T: I read as much as I can about my subject, biographies, the internet, and YouTube.
I make notes on the symbols I will use for the subject’s life that will be on the sculpture or in some way be used to tell their story. I gather as many pictures as I can of the subject, trying to get all angles of their faces.
Sometimes, I make a maquette if I cannot imagine how the sculpture will be posed.
Also, I used to do drawings of the subjects.
U: What has been the most pioneering part of your career when you reflect on it?
T: Making large sculptures that had life and gesture to them. Also, making large sculptures in pieces so that the viewer could not see where they separated.
Sister-Rosetta-Tharpebf: “Up Above My Head, I Hear Music In The Air”
(Portrait of Sister Rosetta Tharpe) 72 x 36″ x 36″ Ceramic, Steel, and Wood
2021
U: What advice would you give to someone who wants to learn ceramics?
T: Make what you are passionate about. Draw as much as you can. Make as much as you can in clay. Have a very critical eye, and throw away all the work you think is not up to par. Nothing you make is precious in the beginning. Learn and use mistakes. Experiment, experiment, experiment!
annie1: “A Thousand Beautiful Things” (Portrait of Annie Lennox) 73″ x 53″ x 23″ Ceramic, wood, found metal legs and neon by Tesla neon 2021
U: What made you want to become an artist?
T: Couldn’t think of anything else I would like to do more.
U: In a career that spans decades, what is one thing you have learned to show you cannot teach about art?
T: Being humble. Nobody wants to work with an ego.
For more information about Tony’s artwork and his new book please visit his site. Also, give him a follow on Instagram.
