ROB BARNARD
“I am absorbed in exploring that space between predictable beauty and its opposite, the unaesthetic or homely.”
-Rob Barnard, 2019
Bernard Leach, in his seminal work, A Potter’s Book, introduced Japanese pottery to the West as an artform in its own right and inspired potters from around the world to travel to Japan to study. Perhaps, the most important American potter to emerge from that “baby boom” generation who traveled to Japan is Rob Barnard. Barnard went to Japan 1974 full of the romanticism that Leach wrote about but, instead, found a deeper more profound experience. His teacher and mentor was the late Kazuo Yagi who has often been described as the “father of modern Japanese ceramics.” It was Yagi who challenged Barnard to pursue the conceptual, emotional, and spiritual side of pottery.
ROB BARNARD
SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2020
Inner Lives: Cinerary Jars, Rob Barnard and Julian Stair, The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design, Richmond, VA.
2014
Green Chalk Contemporary, Monterey, CA.
2013
Rob Barnard, Pottery as Pure Art, The Rob and Josseline Wood Collection. The Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, CA.
Joseph Campbell: The Artist’s Way, collaboration with The Joseph Campbell Foundation, Opus Archives, Celadon Arts, Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel, CA.
2005
Genovese/Sullivan, Boston, MA.
2003
Dai Ichi Gallery, New York, NY.
2002
Genovese/Sullivan, Boston, MA.
2001
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1999
Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA.
Hashimoto Bijutsu, Nagoya, Japan.
Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen, Netherlands.
1998
Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Farmville, VA.
1997
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA.
1996
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
Japan American Society, Washington, DC.
1995
Hashimoto Fine Art, Nagoya, Japan.
Beyond East and West: A Rob Barnard Retrospective 1974-1994, Sasakawa
Peace Foundation, Washington, DC.
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1993
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
The Japan Information and Cultural Center, Washington, DC.
Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY.
1992
Yamaki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
Meitetsu Department Store, Nagoya, Japan
Yamaki Gallery, Osaka, Japan.
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1991
Chicago International New Art Forms, Anton Gallery, Chicago IL
Yamaki Gallery, Osaka, Japan.
Hashimoto Fine Art, Nagoya, Japan.
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1990
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1989
Meitetsu Department Store, Nagoya, Japan.
Pro-Art, St. Louis, Missouri.
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
Amaury St. Gilles Fine Art, Tokyo, Japan.
1988
Kuroda Toen, Tokyo, Japan.
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
Rasdall Gallery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.
1987
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1986
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1984
Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan.
Meitetsu Department Store, Nagoya, Japan.
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, VA.
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1978
Meitetsu Department Store, Nagoya, Japan.
1977
Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan.
Toen, Shigaraki, Japan.
1976
Marroniere Gallery, Kyoto, Japan.
SELECTED INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
2022
Errors, Mistakes, Miscalculations, Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel, CA.
2019
Party for Democracy, The Hawthorne Mansion, Monterey, CA.
The Art Party, The Hawthorne Mansion, Monterey, CA.
Gallery Group Show, The Hawthorne Mansion, Monterey, CA.
2017
Termini/Julian Stair, Rob Barnard, Rebecca Cross, Cross and McKenzie Gallery, Washington, DC
2014
Gallery Group Show, Green Chalk Contemporary, Monterey, CA.
Fresh Fish, Green Chalk Contemporary, Monterey, CA.
Brilliant Art Show, Green Chalk Contemporary Gallery Monterey, CA.
2013
ONE, Green Chalk Contemporary, Monterey, CA.
Joseph Campbell: The Artst’s Way, collaboration with The Joseph Campbell Foundation, Opus Archives,
Celadon Arts and The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel, CA.
2010
Transcendental Vision: Japanese Culture and Contemporary Art, The Independent, Sand City, CA.
2007
Brink, Anton Gallery, Monterey, CA.
Breaking Form: Rob Barnard, Mary Annella Frank, Reid McIntyre, Anton Gallery, Monterey, CA.
2006
Coast to Coast, Anton Gallery, Monterey, CA.
Three Potters: Rob Barnard, Dylan Bowen, Jane Hamlyn, Galeri Besson, London, England.
Der Blaue Mauer, Anton Gallery, Monterey, CA.
2001
Icons And Archetypes, Montgomery College, Rockville, MD.
9/11/01, (A Benefit Exhibition for Washington, DC Disaster Relief), Anton Gallery, Washington, DC
and Barbara Crawford Art Gallery, Chestnut Hill Academy, Philadelphia, PA.
2000
Traces, Roper Gallery, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD.
1999
Inheritors of a Legacy, Japan Information & Cultural Center, Washington, DC.
Major Mud II, The Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL.
1997
Ceramics Invitational, John Elder Gallery, New York, NY.
Assimilations, The Nippon Gallery, New York, NY.
English Urban, American Rural, Shillam + Smith, London, England.
Two Traditional Potters, Hand Workshop Art Center, Richmond, VA.
1996
Rob Barnard, Byron Temple, Judith Dowling, Asian Art, Boston, MA.
Wood-Fired Pottery, Amalgam Gallery, London, England.
Virginia Clay, Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Farmville, VA.
1995
East Meets West, Embassy of Japan, Washington, DC.
Fuller, Barnard, Temple, Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, England.
1993
Modern American Potters, Tenri Gallery, New York, NY.
1992
Ceramic Dialogues: Shiro Otani & Rob Barnard, Japan Information and Cultural Center,
Japan Embassy, Washington, DC.
Revolving Techniques, James A. Michener Museum, Doylestown, PA.
1991
Spirit Materials, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA.
1990
Other Drummers/Other Visions, Fonda Del Sol, Washington, DC.
1989
Fragile Blossoms, Enduring Earth, Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY.
1986
The Way of Tea: Inspirations, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO.
1985
Barnard/Chester/Naess, Departure Gallery, New York, NY.
Contemporary American Ceramics, Azuma Gallery, New York, NY.
1984
Woodfiring in America, Craftsman’s Gallery, Scarsdale, New York, NY.
1983
Wood/Fire, Lill Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
1982
Continuity and Change, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA.
1981
Ceramics for Collectors, Westlake Gallery, White Plains, NY.
1978
New Faces/Japan, British Embassy, Tokyo, Japan.
AWARDS
2000
Printmaking Fellow, Celadon Inc., Virginia University, Richmond, VA.
1990
Crafts Fellowship, National Endowments for the Arts.
1978
Crafts Fellowship, National Endowments for the Arts.
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA (Rob Wood collection of 40 pieces).
American Craft Museum, New York, NY.
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Milwaukee Museum, WN.
ASU Art Museum at Arizona State University, AZ.
The Mint Museum Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC.
Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY.
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
Millersville University, Millersville, PA.
Japan Embassy, Washington, DC.
International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, NY.
Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Farmville, VA
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI.
Scripps College, Los Angeles, CA.
REVIEWS
2013
Ryce, Walter, Green Chalk Contemporary Brings Sophisticated Art to New Monterey, THE MONTEREY WEEKLY, 9/12/13.
2005
Stair, Julian, The Mundane and Extraordinary, Potter Julian Stair finds an intriguing paradox in Rob Barnard’s
functional pots, CERAMIC REVIEW, 11-12/95.
2004
THE CERAMIC SURFACE, Matthais Osterman, A&C Black, London.
Responding to Art, Robert Bersson, McGraw/Hill.
2003
A Master’s Admonition, ASIASTICA, Freer & Saclker Galleries of Art, Smithsoinan Institution.
2002
Dawson, Jessica, Barnard and Douglas at Anton, THE WASHINGTON POST, 5/13/02.
2001
Lawrence, Lee, East Meets West, AMERICAN STYLE, Spring 2001.
O’Sullivan, Michael, The Clay’s the Thing, THE WASHINGTON POST, 3/16/01.
Burleson, Mark, THE CERAMIC GLAZE HANDBOOK, Lark Books, p. 9.
Colazzi, Vincenzo, Printmaking Jam, THE WASHINGTON REVIEW, 2-3/00.
2000 Swift, Mary, Rob Barnard, a Classic Potter in Virginia, interview, THE WASHINGTON REVIEW, 4-5/00.
de Waal, Edmund, DESIGN SOURCE BOOK, New Holland Press.
1999
Lllian, Clary, A POTTERS WORKBOOK, University of Wisconsin Press.
O’Sullivan, Michael, Freer to the Fourth Power, THE WASHINGTON POST, 5/12/99.
Wilcox, Claire, English Urban/American Rural, CERAMICS MONTHLY, Summer.
1998
Williams, Gerry, The Japanese Pottery Tradition and Its Influence on American Ceramicsm, AMERICAN CRAFT, 4-5/98.
1997
Crothers, Beck, Assimilations: Japanese Spirit, American Reality, THE WASHINGTON REVIEW, Vol. XXII, No. 1.
Enns, Gail, Assimilations, NEW YORK SOHO NEWS, 4/87.
Koplos, Janet, Japanese Spirit, American Beauty, catalogue from ASSIMILATIONS, Nippon Gallery, New York, NY.
1996
Koplos, Janet, Knowing Objects—An Unfinished Rumination, NEW ART EXAMINER, 4/96.
1995
Troy, Jack, Wood-Fired Stoneware and Porcelain, Chilton Books, p. xi, 7,8,110.
Perreault, John, Rob Barnard, AMERICAN CERAMICS, 12/95, p.54.
Fox, Nichols, Beauty Born of Fire, SOUTHERN ACCENTS, 9-10/95, p. 84-90.
Stair, Julian, Geoffrey Fuller, Rob Barnard, Byron Temple: Invented Tradition, STUDIO POTTERY, #18, 12- 1/95.
Allen, Jane Addams, Beyond East and West, catalogue writing from Beyond East and West: A Rob Barnard Retrospective 1974-1994.
1993
The Dynamics of Useful Objects, CERAMICS MONTHLY, 1-93.
Troy, Jack, Utilitarium Clay: Celebrate the Object, AMERICAN CERAMICS, 10/92.
McCoy, Mary, Rob Barnard, THE WASHINGTON POSTt, 9/25/93.
1992
Weil, Rex, Function at the Junction, WASHINGTON CITY PAPER, 5/92.
Revolving Techniques, CERAMICS MONTHLY, 12/92
Thern-Smith, Linda, Rob Barnard, THE NEW ART EXAMINER, 9/92
Koplos, Janet, Rob Barnard, ICHI NO ICHI-MANICHI DAILY NEWS #6.
1991 Thorson, Alice, Rob Barnard, WASHINGTON CITY PAPER, 4/26/91.
Leigh Ann Bowles, Say It In Clay, CURIO, Summer 1991.
NEA Fellowships 1990, AMERICAN CRAFT, 1/91.
1990
Zakin, Richard, Ceramics, CHILTON BOOKS.
Kangas, Matthew, Critics Talk Back, The Crafts Report, AMERICAN CERAMICS.
Kangas, Matthew, Summing Up the Eighties, AMERICAN CERAMICS, 8/3.
1989
The Fire Marked Pots of Rob Barnard, THE DAILY YOMURI, 3/16/89.
Thorson, Alice, Form Enhances Function, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 5/29/89.
Gilbard, Florence, Rob Barnard/Tazuko Ichikawa, MUSEUM & ARTS, 3/89.
1988
Gilroy, Roger, Go East…, WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE, 3/20/88.
Thorson, Alice, Teapots, Vases and Bowls, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/4/88.
Forgey, Benjamin, Rob Barnard, THE WASHINGTON POST, 3/19/88.
1987 Fredrick, Warren, The Politics of Pottery, CERAMICS MONTHLY, 1/87.
McCoy, Mary, Rob Barnard, THE NEW ART EXAMINER, 6/87.
Welzenbach, Michael, Rob Barnard: Potter, AMERICAN CERAMICS, 5/4/87.
Allen, Jane Addams, Master Potter, THE WASHINGTON T IMES, 3/24/87.
Troy, Jack, The Art of the Japanese Potter, AMERICAN CERAMICS, 5/4/87.
1985
Woodfiring in America, CERAMICS MONTHLY, 9/85.
1984
Welzenbach, Michael, Eye of the Potter, THE WASHINGTON POST, 11/14/84.
Harris, Timothy, Crafts and Craftsmen, ASAHI EVENING NEWS, 4/2/84.
St. Giles, Amaury, Rob Barnard, MAINICHI DAILY NEWS, 2/23/84.
Malcolm Wright, The Peters Valley Woodfire Conference, THE STUDIO POTTER, 12/2/84.
1983
Cort, Louise, A Rob Barnard Teapot, CERAMICS MONTHLY, 12/83.
Forgey, Benjamin, Barnard/Peterson, THE WASHINGTON POST, 6/23/83.
1977
Harris, Timothy, Rob Barnard, ASAHI EVENING NEWS, 4/2/77.
In Pursuit of Simplicity, ASAHI SHINBUN, 5/27/77.
ROB BARNARD
Rob Barnard has been making functional ceramics for over 40 years. He began his study of pottery at the University of Kentucky in 1971. He left to become a research student at Kyoto University of Fine Arts in Japan where he studied under Kazuo Yagi, widely known in Japan as the father of modern Japanese ceramics. Barnard established a studio in Domura, a village near Shigaraki, in 1974 and built his first wood fired kiln. In 1977 he became a private student of Yagi’s. While in Japan, he had many solo exhibitions in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, Otsu and Shigaraki, and his work was featured in numerous juried exhibitions. In 1978 he returned to the United States where, though two NEA grants, he built a kiln in rural Virginia. He has had solo exhibitions in California, Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Atlanta and Charlotte, NC as well as international solo exhibitions in London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya.
Barnard’s work is in public collections including the Museum of Art and Design, New York, the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery and Museum of American Art, Washington DC, the Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY, Milwaukee Museum, Newark Museum, and Mint Museum Craft + Design, in Charlotte, NC and the the Crocker Museum, CA.
His book A Search for Relevance, was published in 2021. This work is a collection of his previously published essays that chronicle the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that have helped confirm his perception that pottery is capable of expressing the same kind of serious thoughts and feelings found in all other forms of art. These individual articles have acted as a public diary of Barnard’s search for relevance as a potter in contemporary Western society.
