Bruno Kark
Born in Denver to a commercial artist mother and a travel agent father, Kark’s early childhood was spent in San Francisco, Holland, and London England. When the family moved back to San Francisco in the early 1970s, he encountered pottery clay for the first time in kids’ arts classes at the Museum of Modern Art. His earliest passion was making plastic airplane models and melting colored beads in the oven at home.
Learning the wheel drew Kark into the enjoyment of clay even more as his desired to make voluminous jar-type containers, similar to what he’d had seen in history books. Little did he know that this love for clay would set the path for the rest of his life—including many great learning experiences with several teachers in the bay area as well as an apprenticeship in Japan. Continuing with clay through adult-hood has led Kark through the perils of turning his ‘craft’ into a business, as well as the joys of teaching and giving back to a community that taught him.
Bruno Kark works primarily on the potter’s wheel, but he also use the extruder and slab roller to create his vase and platter forms. Kark is known for his altering and facet carving of wheel thrown cylinders. His kilns are fired by natural gas to temperature High Cone 10 reduction as he uses classic glazes such as Shino, Tenmoku, Oribe and Celadon.
Most of his inspiration comes from Ikebana flower arranging, particularly the Sogetsu school and is also a proponent of the old historic potter vases of Japan, Korea, China, and the Pacific Rim.
| EDUCATION AND APPRENTICESHIPS | |
| 1984-86 | Apprenticeship with Isezaki Jun (national living treasure), Bizen, Japan |
| 1984 | “Parsons in Japan Tour for Potters”, lead by Jeff Shapiro. Parsons School of Design, NY |
| 1983-84 | Full-time apprentice potter to Eric Norstad, Richmond, CA |
| 1982-84 | Student of Bill Abright, College of Marin, Kentfield, CA |
| 1982 | Ceramics student of Rob MacConnell, Galileo High School, San Francisco, CA |
| 1982 | Participant at Pescadero Beach Raku, CA, lead by Bill Abright and David Kuroka |
| 1974-82 | Instruction by Jim Stevenson, Richard Fong, Tad Sekino M.H. de Young Museum Art School, San Francisco, CA |
| TEACHING | |
| 2000-present | Rossmoor Ceramics Group, Rossmoor, CA |
| 1994-present | Walnut Creek Civic Arts Program, Walnut Creek, CA |
| 1989-present | Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA |
| 1989-present | Various workshops multiple times per year |
| SELECTED EXHIBITIONS | |
| 2005 | Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA |
| 2004-present | King’s Mountain Art Festival, Woodside, CA |
| 2004 | American Craft Council, San Francisco, CA |
| 2002-06 | Gump’s Gallery, “mastercraft” Exhibition of Contemporary and Traditional Works by Leading International Craft Artists”, San Francisco, CA |
| 2001 | Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA |
| 2000-present | Bruno Kark Ceramics Studio, Emeryville, CA |
| 1999 | Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA |
| 1989-present | Association of Clay and Glass Artists (ACGA), Palo Alto, CA |
| 1995-03 | American Craft Enterprises (ACE), San Francisco, CA |
| 1990 | Arts and Crafts Cooperative, Inc. Gallery (ACCI), Berkeley, CA “Design and Craft – the New Decade” |
| 1989 | Warden Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
| 1988-00 | Earthworks Pottery Collective, Berkeley, CA |
| 1989 | Richmond Fine Arts and Craft Show, Richmond, Virginia |
| 1987-present | Ikebana International, Golden Gate Park Hall of Flowers, San Francisco, CA |
| 1987-89 | Tenmaya Gallery, Okayama, Japan. “Isezaki Jun Ichi Mon Ten Show of Apprentices” |
| 1985 | Okayama Prefecture, Okayama, Japan |
| 1984 | Nathan Hart Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
| 1983 | The Store Front Gallery of Linda Trunzo, San Francisco, CA |
| GALLERY REPRESENTATION | |
| 1995-present | Asian Art Museum (Museum Shop), San Francisco, CA |
| 1995-present | F. Dorian Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
| 1990-present | NOMA Gallery, Gualala, CA |
| 2006 | M.H. de Young Museum (Museum Shop), San Francisco, CA |
| 1997-99 | Fort Mason Folk Craft Museum (Museum Shop), San Francisco, CA |
| 1995-03 | Kay Crowley Pacific Designs, San Anselmo, CA |
| 1992-04 | Fumiki Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA |
| 1990-00 | Arts and Crafts Cooperative, Inc. Gallery (ACCI), Berkeley, CA |
| DESIGN AFFILIATIONS | |
| 2015-present | Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, CA |
| 2013-present | Desgnare Interior Design, San Francisco, CA |
| 2012-present | Noma Gallery, Gualala, CA |
| 2005 | Applegate Tran Interiors, Vernon Applegate, San Francisco, CA |
| 1997-present | Kay Hannah Associates, Kay Hannah, San Francisco, CA |
| 1995-present | Werner Design, Jeffrey Werner, Redwood City, CA |
| ASSOCIATIONS | |
| 1989-present | Association of Clay and Glass Artists (ACGA), Palo Alto, CA |
| 1987-present | Ikebana International, San Francisco, CA |