Photograph: Micheline Gingras
Raymon Elozua studied political science, sculpture and theater at the University of Chicago. These diverse and varied interests still hold a place within his visual arts practice. His work encompasses glass, steel and ceramic sculptures, photography and overall interest in local history and ephemera.
He began his career creating large photorealist ceramic sculptures of American industrial architecture. In 1984, he began a multimedia project on the decline of the American steel industry. “Home Scrap,” a series of sculptures, paintings and photographs, accompanied by a catalog, was shown at Carlos LaMagna Gallery, in New York City and museums across the country, in 1988. Since, he has worked on many different series of welded steel and ceramic sculptures, referencing the vessel and the digital exploration of abstract expressionist paintings.
He has taught at New York University, Pratt School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, California College of Arts & Crafts and Louisiana State University. Elozua is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2015 Virginia Groot Foundation Grant, as well as three National Endowment for the Arts Grants in Sculpture, Ceramics, and Paintings. His sculpture is widely represented in private, corporate and museum collections throughout the USA
Exhibitions include “Constructing Elozua: A Retrospective (1973-2003)” at the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, documenting his sculptures, paintings, photography and digital works.
Recent group exhibitions include “New Glass Now” at the Corning Museum of Glass and “Recent American Ceramics” at the Daum Museum, Sedalia, MO among others.
Currently he is utilizing glass, steel and ceramic in his new sculptures. In 2021, several sculptures will be featured in a group show, “Shapes out of Nowhere,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY. The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY has scheduled for 2022, “Structure/Dissonance,” a major solo show of sculpture and photography.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Demons and Sirens, Habatat-Shaw Gallery, Detroit, MI
Home Scrap, Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, Birmingham, AL
Home Scrap, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
Reconstructed, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
Home Scrap, Carlo Lamagna Gallery, New York, NY
Solo Show, Dobrick Gallery, Chicago, IL
Solo Show, O.K. Harris West, Scottsdale, AZ
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Shapes from Out of Nowhere: Selections from Robert A. Ellison, Jr., Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY
New Glass Now, Corning Muesum of Glass, Corning, NY
Earth Piece, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
1072 Society Exhibition, Jule Colllins Smith Museum of Fine Art Auburn University, Auburn, AL
Impact & Legacy: 50 years of the CINTAS Foundation, MDC Museum Art + Design, Miami, FL
Re-Ojectification: art + object, Leslie Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
First Jingzhe International Ceramic Exhibition, Wison Art Center, Shanghai, China
Facets of Clays: Clay as a fine art material, Macalester College Art Gallery, Saint Paul, MN
Great Pots: Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
American Artists Working in the Realist Tradition, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts-2003
Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, AL-2003
George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada-2003
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA-2003
Mint Museum of Craft & Design, Charlotte NC-2004
Bellevue art Museum, Bellevue, WA-2005
Life Of The City, The Museum Of Modern Art, New York, NY
Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Tuscon Museum of Art, Tuscon, AZ
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, KS
Memorial Art Gallery of University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Confrontational Clay: The Artist as Social Critic,
American Craft Museum, New York, NY
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL
The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Ak
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
The Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, VT
Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, OH
Stedman Art Gallery, Camden, NJ
The Lamont Gallery, Exeter, NH
John & Maxine Belger Foundation, Kansas City, MI
Thirteenth San Angelo National Ceramic Competition, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX
Feats of Clay XIII, Lincoln Arts, Lincoln, CA
Forms and Transformations: Current Expressions in Ceramics, The Queens Borough Public Library Gallery, New York, NY
Recent Sculpture, Habatat-Shaw Gallery, Farmington Hills, MI
29th Ceramic National Exhibition, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY & Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
The Tea Party, American Craft Museum, NY,NY
Transcending Boundaries, Y.W.C.A. Galleries, New York, NY
The Ceramic Still Life, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
Industrial Romantic, City Gallery of Contemporary Art, Raleigh, NC
Deconstruction, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
Watershed: Fifth Anniversary Wheeler Seidel Gallery, New York, NY
American Art Today: The City, Florida International University Art Museum, Miami, FL
American Myths, Procter Art Center, Bard College, Rhinebeck, NY
Art and The Law: 14th Annual Exhibition, West Publishing Co., St. Paul MN
Meditative and Bold, Henry Feiwel Gallery, New York, NY
Chicago Fire II: Contemporary Ceramics, Lill Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
Forecasts: Visions of Technology in Contemporary Painting, Nerlino Gallery, New York, NY
Rethinking American Myths, Lawrence Miller Gallery, New York, NY
Billboards, Littlejohn-Smith Gallery, New York, NY
East Meets West: A National Ceramics Invitational, Hoffman Gallery, Oregon School of Arts & Crafts, Portland, OR
New Year, New Work, Gallery 99, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
Shelter, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, VA
Clay, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
A Passionate Vision: Contemporary Ceramics from the Daniel Jacobs Collection, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Clay 1984: A National Survey, Traver Sutton Gallery, Seattle, WA
Brooklyn 1984, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Anniversary Show, Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, KA
Clay Invitational, Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art, Providence, RI
Echoes: Historical References in Contemporary Ceramics, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Craft: An Expanding Definition, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygen, WI
Ceramics Directions: A Contemporary Overview, State University of New York, Stony Brook Gallery, Stony Brook, NY
Material Illusions/Unlikely Materials, Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Construction Group, San Francisco International Airport Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
Z.O.N.E. Gallery, Springfield, MA
Ben Shahn Gallery, William Patterson College, Plainfield, NJ
Architectural Ceramics: A Documentation, Women’s Interart Center, New York, NY
Clay Spaces; Places, Cooper Lynn Gallery, New York, NY
Sculpture Tricentennial, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
Meyers Gallery, State University College of New York, Plattsburgh, NY
James Madison University Art Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA
Sixth Anniversary Exhibition, Alternative Museum, New York, NY
New Visions, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Artists and Architecture, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, NY
Architectural Sculpture, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Art of the 70’s – Selections from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, Katonah Gallery, Katonah, NY
Two-man Exhibition, Suffolk Community College Art Gallery, Selden, NY
Message is the Medium: Art Forum and Artists, Project Studios One (P.S. 1), Long Island City, NY
Clay Manhattan: 6 Urban Ceramicists, Detroit Gallery of Contemporary Crafts, Detroit, MI
Clay Manhattan 1977, Works Craft Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
National Cup Invitational, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygen, WI
Ninth Invitational Show, Green Meadow School, spring Valley, NY
Art, Craft and Process, Spirit of the Earth Gallery, New Hope, PA
Clay Manhattan, The Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Ceramic Invitational Show, Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, NJ
Invitational ‘76, Craftsman Gallery, Scarsdale, NY
Invitational Art Show, Gallery One, Poughkeepsie, NY
Marietta College Crafts National, Marietta College Art Gallery, Marietta, OH
National Ceramic Sculpture Show, Stockton State College Art Gallery, Stockton, NY
Invitational Exhibit, Boston Society of Arts, Boston, MA
EDUCATION:
GRANTS AND AWARDS:
Institute of International Education, CINTAS Fellowship for the Arts
CURATORIAL:
PUBLISHED ARTICLES:
ART RELATED EXPERIENCE:
ACADEMIC POSITIONS:
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Faculty, Graduate Department, Ceramic Sculpture
New York University at New Paltz, NY, Artist in Residence
Sarasota School of Visual Arts, Sarasota, FL, Artist in Residence
WEBSITES:
MUSEUM & CORPORATE COLLECTIONS:
Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA
Alfred Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, NY
American Republic Insurance Company, Des Moines, IA
Arizona State Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Bank America, Charlotte, NC
Bank America, San Antonio, TX
Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO
Best Products Co., Ashland, VA
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Bruce & Barbara Feldaker Labor Arts Collection, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Cintas Fellows Collection, Miami, NY
Daum Museum, Sedalia, MO
Frost Art Museum at Florida International, Miami, FL
Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu, HA
Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO
De Saisset Museum, University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, CA
Eccles Harris Museum, Logan State University, Logan, UT
Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Frederick R. Weissman Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
Julie Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn, AL
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach,CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum Ludwig, Aachen, West Germany
Ohio Historical Society, Youngstown, OH
Museum of Arts + Design, New York, NY(former American Craft Museum)
Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Pfizer Corporation, New York, NY
Progressive Corporation, Pepper Pike, OH
Prudential Insurance Company of America, New York, NY
Racine Art Mueum, Racine, WI
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO
United Bank of Denver, Denver, CO
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
Washington State Arts Commission, Monroe, WA
World Ceramic Foundation, Korea
J. Manning Winikus Co., New York, NY
World Forestry Center Museum, Portland, OR
West Art Collection at the University of Minnesota, MN
Wison Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven, CT