EDUCATION:
MFA, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
BFA, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, Tennessee
PROFESSIONAL AND TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
1995 to June 2020 Professor of Art, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
1994 Visiting Professor of Art, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1979-94 Professor of Art, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
1978 Visiting Instructor of Art, Ohio University, Athens, OH
DISTINCTIONS:
2018 “City Studios Grant” Sam Fox School of Architecture/Community Engagement
2017 Artist in Residence at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Texas
2015 Artist in Residence, Nanjing China, May and June
2013 Artist in Residence, Fuping China, The Ceramic Art Village
2008 “Gephardt Institute” Grant for service based teaching
1998 “Kransberg Award” - St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
1996/97 Pollock - Krasner Award
1992 Florida Arts Council Fellowship
1990 New Art Forms, Florida
1989 Awards in the Visual Arts 8
1989 Fulbright Fellowship (India), declined
1988 National Endowment for the Arts
1985 Guggenheim Fellowship, Sculpture
1981 Florida Arts Council Fellowship
1977 Ford Foundation Fellowship
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2023 “Drawing Outside the Lines” a solo exhibition at the Nancy Fischman Gallery, Johnson city ,TN
2022 “Drawing In-Between” a solo exhibition of drawing in various materials, Gallery at Pyramid Hill Sculpture park, Hamilton ,OH
2021 “New River Bienne” Radford University Art Museum, Radford, VA ( Merit Award)
2018 “ Ron Fondaw” Solo exhibition at the Hilliard Gallery, Kansas City, Mo.
2018 “Ron Fondaw & Benjie Hue” New works at the South Texas College, McAllen, TX
2017 “Weather Biennially” group exhibition at The Nation Weather Center, Norman, OK
2017 “Drawing on the Infinite” Solo exhibition at the Brownsville Museum of Art, Brownsville, TX
2016 “The Many Faces of Abstraction” The Shapolski Foundation, Throp ,PA
2015 “Unseen Forces” Solo exhibition at the Hilliard Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2015 “River to River” at the Finder Art Gallery, the 1865 Creative Park, Nanjing, China, June
2015 Ron Fondaw, solo exhibition, Southeast Mo. State College, River Campus Gallery, Cape Girardeau, Mo
2015 “Symbiosis” A one-person exhibition at the Kansas City Artist Coalition, KC
2015 “Drawing Discourse” The Annual Juried Drawing National, The Gallery at Univ. of North Carolina, Asheville
2014 “Arts/Industry” Collaboration & Revelation, The John Michael Kohler Arts center, WI
2014 “Reflexive” A one-person exhibition at The Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY
2014 “Collide of Particles” a one person show of paintings, The Durham Arts Council, NC
2013 “Back to The Real” 5 American Artist at The DAO Gallery, Xian China
2013 “Shifting Ground” a two-person exhibition @ The Regional Art Commission Gallery, St. Louis
2012 “Drawing In Between” solo exhibition @ The good Citizen Gallery, St. Louis, Mo
2011 “Death & Rebirth” Invitation, Maryville University, St. Louis, Mo
2010 “Material Use” an invitational exhibition at The Univ. of North Carolina, Asheville, NC
2009 “Drawing on The In-between” Solo exhibition, Perkinson Gallery, Millikin Univ. Decatur, IL
2007 “Earth & Fire” Group exhibition , Boileau Gallery, St.Louis Univ. St. Louis, MO
2006 “Translucent” contemporary glass sculpture,Curated by Ron Fondaw as part of Annual GAS Conference
“A Matter of Scale”Outdoor sculpture,School of medicine, Washington Univ.St. Louis. Curated by Int. Art/Artist
2005 “Poetic Process” Invitational, The regional arts commission Gallery, St.Louis,MO
2005 “Drawings and Models for Public Works” One Person show at The Schmidt Art Center, Bellville, IL
2005 “Material Attraction” Invitational ,The Jacoby art Center, Alton, IL
2004 “Ron Fondaw ”, Two large scale adobe installations, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN
2003 “Artist in Permanent Collection”, 30th Anniversary, Mitchell Museum of Art, Mt. Vernon, IL
2002 “The Future Is Right Now” Invitational, Six Artist, Ispace gallery, Chicago, IL
“Ron Fondaw”, Solo Exhibition, Kansas City Artist Coalition, Kansas City, MO
Sculptural Clay, Invitational, Daum Museum, Sedalia, MO
2001 “Archeology”, Solo Exhibition, Gallery 210, St. Louis, MO
2000 “U.G.A. Cortona Faculty” Palazzo Vagnotti, Cortona Italy
1999 “Ron Fondaw” Elliot Smith Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO
1998 “Ceramics in Public Spaces”, The Ceramic Museum of Taipei Cultural Center, Taiwan
“St. Louis”, The City Series, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
1998 “Ron Fondaw” One Person Show, The Goddard Gallery, Sedalia, MO
1997 "Ron Fondaw/Mappings in Clay and Metal", One Person Show, Eliott Smith Gallery, St. Louis, MO
1996 "Ron Fondaw" One Person Show, Florida Community College, Jacksonville, FL.
1995 "Fusion", Solo Exhibition of Large Scale Ceramic and Iron Sculpture, The ClaytStudio,Philadelphia
1994 "A Mix of Media", Four Artist Show, City Hall Gallery, Orlando, FL
1993 "Florida Fellows", Traveling Exhibition beginning at Center of Contemporary Art in Miami, FL
1992 "In the Tradition", Group Show, Anita Shapolski Gallery, New York, NY
1991 "Five by Invitation", The Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
"Clay Today", Museum Mensinghe, Roden, Holland
"Florida Selects", Group Show, George Bolge Curator, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale
1990 Ron Fondaw, Solo Show, Drawing The National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C
1989 Ron Fondaw: Jane Sablow, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY
Awards in the Visual Arts 8 (AVA), Traveling Exhibition beginning at The High Museum, GA.
1989 "Art as Architecture", Group Show, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY - traveled to Kingsborough College, Long Island, NY
1986 Material as Metaphor: Group Show of Clay Sculpture, Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
1985 Ceramics International, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, Republic of China
1985 Contemporary American Ceramics, Twenty Artists, Newport Harbor art Museum, California
1983 Clay for the Walls, Group Show, Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian, Washington, DC.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
“Common Ground” David Freeman, Art & Perception” magazine, Jan. 2018 Pg.22-23
“Open Portal” Miguel Roberts, The Brownsville Herald, Brownsville, TX 2017
“River to River” The Nanjinger Magazine. June 2015
“River to River” exhibition Catalog, Finder Gallery, Nanjing, China June 2015
“Fondaw Sounds Wake-Up Call” Hallie Smith, The Kansas City Star, Jan. 7, 2015
“Think Global” Liz Cook, The Kansas City Pitch Jan. 8, 2015
“Arts/Industry” Collaboration & Revelation” DAP distributed art publishers 2014
“Sculpture on the Edge” Paula Harper, Art in America, Dec.2006
Studio Potter, Dec 2005 “Large Scale clay of Ron Fondaw
“Working With Clay” Susan Peterson, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 2002
“Contemporary Ceramics”, Susan Peterson, Watson Guptill, 2001
“Weathering Change”, Julie Stevenson, Sculpture Magazine, September 2000, Vol. 19 no.7
“Art and Craft of Clay”, Susan Peterson, 3rd Edition. Printice Hall, 2000
“Ron Fondaw”, Robin Rice, Ceramic Monthly, March ‘97
"Urban Art of 50 Cities in USA", Shoichiro Higuch, Tokyo Press, 1990
"AVA 8", Jane Adams Allen, Exhibition Catalog, April 1989
“Sculpture Tests Its Muscles", New York Times, Michael Brenson, September 6, 1987
"Bayou Show, Pamela Lewis, The Houston Post, March 23, 1985
"Staring and Shivering", Helen Kohen, Art in America, Summer 1983
INSTALLATIONS:
2022 “Connections” a site specific ephemeral sculpture of stabilized earth, 12ft x 28ft x 14ft Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park, Hamilton,OH.
2019 “Looking Closer” Ceramic/glass Drawings at St. Louis Living, a home for adults with autism
2019 “In The Flow” Mixed Media, at the Center for Infectious Disease, Research labs. BJ. Hospital St. Louis
2019 “As above so below,” Carbon paper and plastic at PARAQUAD facility, St. Louis, MO.
2018 “A little Child Shall Lead Them” Video projection on the Border wall ( Temporary Collaboration)
2017 “The Portal of Hope” stabilized earth, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, TX (Temporary)
2016 Affina Health Clinic “Stone Quilt” St. Louis, MO
2016 Early childhood Center, “Kid’s Story” St. Louis, MO
2014 “Trip-Trap,” The University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC
2013 “A Better Stack” at the Ceramic Art Village, Fuping, China, temporary
2012 “Teeterik,” stabilized earth, at the Forsyth School, Clayton, MO (Temporary)
2011 “Wheel Within a Wheel” Kirkland Art Center, Decatur, IL (temporary)
2010 “Given, A Device for Seeing” Sculpture Key West, Curated by, Lilly Wei (temporary)
2009 “Moving Ahead” Greensboro, NC , Permanent
2006 “Impressions in Light and Dark,” Bradley Univ. Peoria, IL
“Perspective is Everything” Sculpture Key West, FL (Temporary)
2006 “The Bison Gates” Site specific adobe gates, Southwest IL College,Bellvell, IL
2005 “Ion” Outdoor sculpture, earth cast concrete, Union Univ. Jackson,TN (temporary)
2004 “The Vertical Loop”, The Pageant Theater, Arts in Transit, St. Louis, MO (permanent)
2003 “The Langlois Bridge Full Circle”’ Henry Lay Sculpture Park, Louisiana, MO
2000 “Myth of Permanence”, commissioned by NCECA, Denver, CO (temporary)
1999 “Who We Are”, at the Forest Park Metro-Rail Station, St. Louis, MO
1999 “Rolling Along”. Ceramic Mural, commissioned by the City of Columbia, MO
1998 “Whispering Walls”, Site Specific Adobe, The Cedarhurst Sculpture Park, Mt. Vernon, IL
1998 “The Giving Tree”, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
1995 “Nyflot”, Adobe Installation, Steinberg Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
1994 "Cyclones Edge", Ceramic Mural for the City of Orlando, FL
1994 "Tapiola", site specific adobe installation, Watershed Center, Edgecombe, ME
1994 "3 Miles High", commission by Broward County, FL, ceramic tile
1993 “Comes Ashore,” Art in Public Places, State of Florida, Plaza, Department of Natural Resources, Marathon, FL
1992 "Ferros Dream", State of Florida, 2 murals at the main entrance of Florida International University, South Campus, Miami, FL
1991 "Round and Round Again", Center of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
1989 "Now and Never," Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY
1988 "Earth Structures," Outdoor Sculpture, East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art, East Hampton, New York
1987 "Taukka", Artpark, Project Artist, Lewiston, NY
“Sea of Divide”/10 paintings for the Calder Medical Library, Miami, FL
1985 "Tymon", Bayou Show Outdoor Sculpture, Houston Festival, Houston, TX
1981 Set Design: Oedipus Rex, Players State Theater, Coconut Grove, FL
COLLECTIONS:
Renwick Gallery, National Collection of Fine Art, The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Fule International Ceramic Art Museum of North American ceramics, Fuping , China
The Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Brownsville, TX
The City of, North Miami, Florida at City Hall
The Reese Museum of Art, Johnson city, TN
Little Rock Arts Center, Arkansas
The Finder Arts District, Nanjing, China
Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, Tennessee
The Mitchell Museum of Art, Mt. Vernon, Illinois
Mr. Mingyi Cai, Private collection, Nanjing China
American Express, Jacksonville, Florida
IBM Corporation, Communications Center, Raleigh, North Carolina
Columbus Museum of Fine art, Columbus, Ohio
Martin Z. Margulies, Grove Isle, Florida
Sun Bank, Orlando, Florida
TIAA-CREF Corporate Headquarters, St. Louis, MO
The Center for Contemporary art, Vero Beach, FL
The Center for Infectious Disease, Washington School of Medicine
LECTURES & WORKSHOPS
2022 “Drawing In-Between” a powerpoint talk about the power of abstraction and drawing.
2018 “The South Texas Clay-Out” a hands on 2 day workshop.
2018 “The Art & Craft of Making” South TX. Collage, McAllen, TX.
2017 “The Myth of Permanence” Brownsville Museum of Art, Brownsville, TX.
2015 “Between the Body & the Land” , Southeast Mo. State College, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
2015 “Between the body & the Landscape” Nanjing Institute of Art, Nanjing, China
2015 Ceramics as Symbol of Spirit, at Normal University, Nanjing, China
2014 “Drawing In Between” at The University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC
2014 “Drawing In Between” University of Iowa
2013 “Clay as Metaphor” Fule , Ceramic Village, Fuping, China