ARTIST
DAVID MIDDLEBROOK
Over the last 20 years, David Middlebrook has evolved as an artist and has become a master of materials. He has established himself as a specialist in large-scale site-specific work. These projects have fostered collaborations with architects, design professionals, developers, and contractors. He has completed approximately 50 public and private works, many of which were nationally awarded competition commissions.
AVAILABLE WORK
BIOGRAPHY
David Middlebrook traces his roots back to ceramics and has evolved into a professional sculptor specializing in site-specific work, public and private commissions, and small sculptural elements. He was born and raised in Jackson, Michigan, and earned his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 1970. He burst into the art world and quickly became an inspiring pioneer in a ceramic art movement that gained momentum in the late 1970s. He accepted a teaching position at San Jose State University in 1974, relocated to California, and has maintained a studio in the hills of South Bays, Los Gatos ever since.
David has had several transforming experiences that have molded him into the artist he is today. In 1980, he gathered his family and moved to the northern tip of Australia where he held the position of visiting artist at the University of Darwin. In 1982, he took a similar position at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Both experiences were 1-year excursions that allowed David to explore these remarkable countries and put him in direct contact with the respective native cultures of each country and their unique artistic vision of life. This exposure proved to be quite influential as the primitive aesthetic continues to find its way into David's work to this day.
As a master of ceramics and all its applications, for years David had struggled with the instability of this material and found many of its characteristics limiting. He traveled to Northern Italy in 1983 and discovered stone— changing his approach to art forever. Since that trip, he has maintained a professional relationship with a studio in Pietrasanta, Italy. The availability of virtually every stone in the world, a thousand years of experience and tradition in stone, and specialized technology to fabricate make this Italian resource an invaluable asset. David currently maintains his status as Associate Director of Fine Arts at SJSU.
BORN
(b. 1944 Jackson, Michigan)
Now lives and works in Los Gatos, California
EDUCATION
B.A. Albion College, Albion, Michigan
M.A. University of Iowa
M.F.A University of Iowa
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Associate Director of Fine Arts, School of Art and Design
San Jose State University, San Jose, California
Visiting Artist/Resident Member, Bottega Versiliese, Pietra Santa, Italy. Permanent sculpture residency for the execution of large-scale, marble, and stonework
Visiting Resident Artist (selected): Notre Dame University, Indiana (summer session) Mills College, California (one semester), Ohio State University, Ohio (summer session), Australian Arts Council, Australia (one year), University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (one year)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Solo Exhibition, Bice Bugatti Foundation (Milan, Italy)
2018 Solo Exhibition, Museum of Art and Design, Freedom Tower, Miami Dade College
2017 Undercover, The McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco, California
2013 Solo Show Installation, Johannesburg, South Africa
2012 University Museum, Sacramento State University
2012 Think Things, The McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco, California
2010-11 Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, California
2010 TRITON Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California
2009 ARDEL Gallery of Modern Art, Bangkok, Thailand
2008 Mac Fine Art, Miami Basel International Art Fair, Miami, Florida
2007 Linda Durnell Gallery, Los Gatos, California
2006 New Works, Brenda Taylor Gallery, New York, New York
2005 “Nature Takes Its Course,” Warner Center, Los Angeles, California
2004 “Tip”: The Iceberg Project, Gordon Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2003 Bill Gould Architectural, One-year installment, San Jose, California
2001 Heritage Bank, San Jose, California
1998 Contemporary Art Center, Sacramento, CA
1995 Quantum Corporation, San Jose, California
1992 "Earth Abides", Contemporary Wing, San Jose Museum of Art, California
1990 Miami of Ohio University Sculpture-Site Art, Hiestand Museum, Oxford, Ohio
1988-89 American-Jewish Cultural Center, Jerusalem, Israel
1987 Kyle Belding Gallery, Denver, Colorado
Klein Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1986 Marilyn Butler Fine Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, Colorado
1985 Ree Schonlau Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska
1984 Klein Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1983 Klein Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Fresno Arts Center, Fresno, California
One Man Exhibition, Capetown, Johannesburg, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
1982 Rochester Art Center, Rochester, Minnesota
Things Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1981 Klein Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
"Reconstructions" at San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California
"Drawings and Paintings" at Richland College, Dallas, Texas
Ceramic sculpture and painting at the Art Gallery and State College, San Bernardino, California
1980 "Drawings and Paintings", Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
Museum of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia
David Reid Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Museum of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
1979 Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York
1978 Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
Triton Museum, Santa Clara, California
1977 Mills College, Oakland, California
Pennsylvania State University, College Park, Pennsylvania
Wabash College Museum, Crawfordsville, Indiana
1976 Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York
1975 Nancy Lurie Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Center for Contemporary Art, Lexington, Kentucky
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Group Exhibition, Fondazione Roma, Rome, Italy
2017 Art Aspen, Aspen, California
2016-17 Artists in Residence: San Joe’s 20th Century Vanguard, San Jose Contemporary Museum
2015-16 Group Exhibition, Triton Meuseum of Art, Santa Clara, California
2014 Art Silicon Valley, San Francisco, California
2013 Time, Space, Existence, Palazzo Bembo, Venice Biennale 2013
2013 Group Exhibition, MondaPart, Paris, France
2011 The McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco, California
2009 Affordable Art Fair, Selected Juried Invitational, New York, NewYork
Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, California
2007-9 Dublin Art Council Nation Invitational Sculpture Show, Columbus, Ohio
2008 The El Paseo Invitational, Palm Desert, California, 2-year exhibition
2007 Works Gallery, San Jose, California, American-Thai Exchange Show
Linda Durnell Gallery, Los Gatos, California
Hampton Road Gallery/Peter Marcelle Gallery, South Hampton, Long Island, New York
“Merit Badge 2” Rockland Center for the Arts
Sculpture on View: Works from the Art Foundry, The Art Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, California
“Artists & World Environment” Thai-American Art Exhibition, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
2006 Bronze and Stone, Armstrong Gallery, Pomona, California
California Invitational, Buckeye Art Garden, Petaluma, California
2005 Linda Durnell Gallery, Los Gatos, California
International 75th Anniversary Outdoor Sculptural Garden
“Sit Down!” Artist Bench Invitational, Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts, Saratoga, California.
“Merit Badge” Exhibition & National Invitational, Rockland Center for the Arts
2004 Woodlot Gallery, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Outdoor tandem one-man show with Richard Hunt
8 major outdoor free-standing works by each artist on 25-acre wooded estate on Lake Michigan.
Warner Center, Woodland Hills, California.
2003-4 Standing Room Only, Scripps 60th Annual, Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California.
2003 Warner Center group show.
2002 Contemporary American Ceramics (1950-1990), The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
2001 "Out Door / In Door" City of Santa Clara, Invitational City Hall and Civic Plaza, Santa Clara, California
2000 National Ceramic Conference Featured Museum Show at Charlotte, North Carolina
Pacific Rim Sculpture Show Invitational Juror Exhibitor
1999 National Touring Show "Sculpture of the Nineties"
1995 Middlebrook-Middlebrook, Corporate Contemporary Center, Corporate Mall, Sacramento, California
Syntax Corp., Sunnyvale, California
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art Group Show - Public Art
1994 San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
D.P. Fong Gallery, San Jose, California
1993 D.P. Fong Show, San Jose Art League, San Jose, California
1992 San Jose Museum of Art, KETH Auction Works Gallery, Costa Mesa, California
KETH Auction Works Gallery, Costa Mesa, California
Group Exhibition, Cadence Corporation, San Jose, California
1991 "Florence-Santa Clara: Two Schools of Sculpture, " Academia delle Arti del Disegnno and Triton Museum of Art
1989 San Francisco International Airport, C.C.A. Small Sculpture Show
Palo Alto Cultural Center, Bay Area Sculptural Invitational
1988-89 "National 30-year Survey of the History of Raku" tour of five museums, originated in St. Louis, Missouri
1988 "Stone, Metal, and Wood" Palo Alto Cultural Center, contemporary sculpture in Northern California
1987 "Passagio" with Noguchi, Pomadoro, Max Bill, Botera, Fannagan, Lucca, Italy
"25th Anniversary Exhibition " Museum of Versalia, Pietrasanta, Italy
"Chicago International Art Exposition" at the Navy Pier, Klein Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Faculty Drawing Show, San Jose Museum, San Jose, California
1986 "School of San Jose", San Jose State University, California
"Another Great Love Affair", Denver Museum, Colorado
1985 Carol & Hiroko Hansen Collection of Ceramic Art", Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities, Arvada, Colorado
"Altered Spaces", Klein Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Kyle Belding Gallery, Denver, Colorado
1984 Karl Bornstein Gallery, Santa Monica, California
"Just Sculpture", Young Gallery, San Jose, California
1983 "American Clay Artist: Philadelphia' 83", The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"Soup, Soup, Beautiful Soup", Campbell Museum, New Jersey, traveling to eight locations through 1985
1982 "Forgotten Dimension" traveling exhibition, International Sculpture Conference
"Pacific Currents", San Jose Museum of Art, California
"Art and/or Craft: USA and Japan", Kyoto, Tokyo and USA
1981 "Outdoor Sculpture", Wichita Museum of Art, California
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California
Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, New York
1980 "Joshua Wedgewood Memorial Invitational",
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
Omaha Invitational, Joshland Museum, Nebraska
1979 "Northern California Clay Routes: Sculpture Now", San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California
"Illusionism in America", a traveling exhibition from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the Denver Art Museum
AWARDS
2007-9 Dublin Art Council Nation Invitational Sculpture Show, Columbus, OH. 2-year show, Purchase Award
2004 Village Green Outdoor Multi-Section Sculptural Commission
2003 Episcopal Church by the Sea, Fountain sculpture. Santa Monica, California
2001-4 Finalist City of Dublin Emerald Glen Park
2001 1st prize City of Santa Clara Out Door Sculpture Exhibition
Berkeley Public Library
1999 Weston Hotel, Palo Alto, California
1993 Finalist, Colorado Springs International Airport Competition
1992 Finalist National Competition, Ohio Arts Council. Ohio State University, Mendenhall Laboratories
1990 City of Davis, Pole Line Road, overpass wall and apron mural design
1990 Stapleton International Airport Lobby Piece
Natomas Station, California Sculpture Garden. Installed 350-foot sculptural granite ruin walls
1989 Davis Central Park Sculptor's Competition, San Jose International Airport, Entrance mural
Santa Cruz, Pacific Garden Mall
PUBLICATIONS
2010 San Jose Mercury News, Cover Story, November 3, 2010
2009 “Richard Calderhead’s Reviews of the Week” N-art-Y, www.N-art-Y.com
2009 “Defying Gravity” ARTSHIFT, www.artshift.com
2003 Ancient Muses: Archaeology and The arts – Contributing writer and Images of "Step in Stone Time" featured
2002 "Working with Clay Edition II" Susan Peterson
"Contemporary American Ceramics" 1950 - 1990. A survey of American objects and vessels.
2001 Review of "Step in Stone" in Sculpture magazine, San Jose Mercury News.
1988-93 Sculpture Magazine, three issues
1993 Feature article for the National Arts Magazine about myself as an American working in Italy
1992 Creative Sculptured Bath, featured in Home & Garden magazine, September 1992, issue
1991 Contemporary Ceramics, Susan Peterson
1990 Art Week
1989-90 Who's Who in American art, R.R. Bowker
1989 Contemporary Stone Artists, Franco Stravini (published in Italian only)
1988 American Art of the 80s, MacMillan
1970 Ceramics Month, numerous issues, May 1979, feature article
1982 Art News
1980 Australian Art, fall 1980 issue, feature article
1979 Low Fire Ceramics, Brody
1968 Crafts Horizons Magazine, work reviewed and
1979 illustrated, ten issues
1978 American Ceramics and California Ceramics, Danhouser
A Century of Ceramics in the United States, Clark & Hughto
1978 Hand building, Woody
Points of View 15 Artists, Pipenburg
Contemporary American Ceramics, Pipenburg
1977 Tradition and change, Hall
Artist & Life Styles, Moore
1975 Raku, Pipenburg
WORKSHOPS / LECTURES
2005 Sierra Nevada College, Visiting Artist Workshops
2004 College of Sierra Nevada Summer Sculpture Workshops
2003 Featured panelist "National Society of American Archeologists" June ’03 “Art as Artifact”, Washington, DC
1986 Lecture, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Lecture, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Panelist, NCECA, San Antonio, Texas
1985 Lecture, Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center. Pueblo, Colorado
Panelist, NCECA Conference, San Antonio, Texas
San Francisco Art Institute, Rhode Island School of Design
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Scripps College
1995 Stone/Marble Symposium, Carrera, Italy. San Francisco Art Academy
1994 Lecture, San Jose Museum of Art. Ohio State University
1993 Lecture, "Public Art: Past, Present, Future", Pueblo, Colorado
1990 Northern Kentucky State, University of Cincinnati, Miami Ohio University
1986 Lecture, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Lecture, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Panelist, NCECA, San Antonio, Texas
1985 Lecture, Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center. Pueblo, Colorado
Panelist, NCECA Conference, San Antonio, Texas
San Francisco Art Institute, Rhode Island School of Design
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Scripps College
1982 Six-month lecturer and workshop tour of Australia
1980 Art Institute of Chicago, five-month residency in South Africa
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
City of Morgan Hill, CA
Menlo College, Atherton, CA
Oakland Museum of Art, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
American Craft Museum
Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia
Museum of the NT, Darwin, Australia
Koehler Museum, Brisbane, Australia
Burpee Art Museum, Rockford, IL
Houston Museum of Fine Arts
High Museum, Atlanta, GA
National Contemporary Gallery, Canberra Australia
San Jose Museum of Art
NYC Museum of Art and Design
Kentucky Arts Commission Touring Collection
Davenport Municipal Gallery, Iowa
Dublin Arts Council, Dublin, Ohio
Cedar Rapids Art Center, IA
DeAnza College, Cupertino, CA
San Jose International Airport, CA
Fujitsu Corporation
Westin Hotel, Palo Alto, CA
Siding Australia, Sunnyvale, CA
Heritage Bank, San Jose, CA
Continental Bank, IL
McDonald’s, Inc.
Cadence Corporation, San Jose, CA
Amdahl, San Jose, CA
City of Sacramento, CA
City of Santa Cruz, CA
City of Davis, CA
City of Folsom, CA
City of Kent (Seattle), WA
State of Colorado
University of Iowa
University of Washington
Arizona State University
University of Kansas
Winona State College, MN
Pueblo Community College, Pueblo, Colorado
County of Milwaukee, WI
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Bob & Jan Frank, Los Altos, CA
Rosemary & Ted Buttner, Sunol, CA
Ken & Shari Sweeney, Gilroy, CA
Carol and Kurt Peterson
Judith & Frank Marshall, Palm Springs, CA
Ann & Don Gralnek, Los Gatos, CA
Dr. Donald Head Estate, Saratoga, CA
Bob & Jan Fenwick, Los Altos, CA
Dr. Andreas and Khanitha Neuer, Dortmund, Germany
Stephan A. Jansen Friedrichshafen, Germany
Anne Mandenoff and Guy de Vleeschouwer Brussels, Belgium
Senator Jane Harmen, Aspen, CO
Florence and Daniel Cathiard, Bordeaux, France
Linky and Stanley Motta, Panama, FL
Herb and Michelle Rosenfeld, Fisher Island, FL
Sadia El Rashid, Monaco
Alan Jacobson, Houston, TX
Elyse Schotstak, Aspen, CO
Derick Wyckoff, Los Angeles, CA