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| Tony Natsoulas |
 | Biography: Growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, our family would travel to New York City to visit relatives. One of the great accidental benefits of this for me was being exposed to the incredible art galleries and museums of the big apple. I can remember the impact it had on me while viewing the Pop art that was being shown at the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Guggenheim Museum. The art work of Claes Oldenburg's, and George Segal’s stand out in my mind as the most inspirational.
I grew up in Davis, California. In grade school I went on field trips to the local Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, where I would see David Gilhooly’s ceramic work for the first time. I never forgot the piece that struck a chord with me and whet my appetite for art and all of its endless possibilities. The sculpture was a ceramic casserole dish with a frog goddess of fertility on its lid. The frog was adorned with lots of breasts. After that, I wanted to learn more about art. I started dabbling in clay at the age of 11 in summer school and have not put it down since.
In 1977, I started making large ceramic sculptures at Davis Senior high school. My teacher, Donna Hands, was impressed with the work I was doing and recommended I take concurrent classes at the local college, which was the University of California at Davis. At that time, a man was teaching at UCD who would change my life and gave me the incentive to pursue art as a career. His name was Robert Arneson. After taking two classes with Arneson in high school and having my eyes opened to art, I graduated from Davis Senior High School and went to Sacramento State University where I took ceramic classes from Robert Brady. In 1979, I transferred back to University of California at Davis and got my Bachelor of Arts from there in 1982. I was very fortunate to have been able to study and take classes from the cream of the crop of fine artists, such as Roy de Forrest, Wayne Thiebaud, and Manuel Neri and other prestigious artists. They were not only very successful in their teaching professions, but were working and showing artists as well, which was a great role model for me.
In 1983 I was accepted to Maryland Institute, College of Art, for graduate school. I had wanted to go there for a different perspective on art. I met Eddie Bisese who was a graduate student in painting there who had a profound influence on me. After being there for a year I was ... to see complete biography, click on artists name Country: USA Birthyear: 1/16/59 Galleries: 2005 James Snidle Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2005 Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2004 James Snidle Fine Arts, Chico, CA
2003 Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
2002 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
2001 Oakland Museum Downtown Sculpture Court, Oakland, CA Awards: Recipient of the "New Works" Grant, 1998, Sponsored by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission
Recipient of the “Key to the City”, 2000, Lake Charles, Louisiana Media: sculpture, Glass block Style: realistic Subjects: people, portraits and characters |
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