Graham Marks (United States, b. 1951) produces exuberant, coil-built ceramics adorned with vibrant glazes, which combine functionalism with visual delight. Of late, Marks has embraced loose, sinuous forms from which coils of clay spill in dynamic and improvisatory compositions. His candelabras and flower vases contain a wild energy all their own, full of brash, linear abandon. In their merging of pattern and embellishment, they recall the intricate crafts of eighteenth-century France, bringing rococo flourishes to the timeless theme of utilitarian vessels.
Marks taught ceramics at Kansas State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he was Head of Ceramics from 1986 to 1992. His work has been exhibited internationally and collected privately; it is held by numerous public institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Detroit Institute of Art, the Everson Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, the Cranbrook Museum of Art, the Stedelijk Museum, the Hermitage Museum, and the National Gallery of Australia. From 1992 to 1995, he studied acupuncture with J.R. Worsley, establishing a private practice which ran successfully for two and a half decades. In 2020, Marks returned to ceramics. He splits his time between Brooklyn and Alfred, NY.
GRAHAM MARKS
b. 1951, United States
EDUCATION
1976
MFA, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY
1974
BFA, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
For Joy and Grieving, HB381, New York, NY
2022
It Can Be What It Becomes, Sculpture Space NYC, Long Island City, NY
1993
Habatat/Shaw Gallery, Farmington Hills, MI
1992
Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL
1991
New Art Forms Exposition, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
1990
Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
1988
Helen Drutt Gallery, New York, NY
1986-87
Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI (Catalogue)
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Sculpture Center, New York, NY
1984
Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1983
Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1981
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
1979
Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1978
Exhibit A, Evanston, IL
1977
University Gallery, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS
1976
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
The Aesthetics of Everyday Objects: The Cup, ATLA, Los Angeles, CA
2021
With Eyes Opened: Cranbrook Academy of Art Since 1932, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2016
Empirical, Intuitive, Absorption, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY
2014
Gifts from America 1948–2013, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
1991
National Objects Invitational, The Arkansas Art Center Decorative Arts Museum, Little Rock, AR
Refuse, Detroit Artist’s Market, Detroit, MI
50th Annual Finger Lakes Exhibition, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
The Stephane Janssen/Michael Johns Collection, Arizona State University Museum of Art, Tempe, AZ
1990
American Ceramics, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, Japan
Building a Permanent Collection: Perspective on the 1980s, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Craft Today: USA, Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
Clay, Color, Content, 28th Ceramic National, Invitational Section, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
1989
Craft Today: USA, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France; Applied Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland; Museum of Applied Art, Frankfurt, Germany
Fifteen Years, Helen Drutt Gallery, New York, NY
Shared Boundaries: The Cranbrook Tradition, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO (Catalogue)
Six Master Craftsmen, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Surface and Form: A Union of Polarities in Contemporary Ceramics, The National Museum of Ceramic Art, Baltimore, MD (Catalogue)
1988
Alfred and Mary Shands Collection, J.P. Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, KY (Catalogue)
Power Over the Clay: American Studio Potters, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit, MI
Selected Works 1987–1988, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
The Aesthetic Edge, Corvallis Art Center, Corvallis, OR
1987
The Cranbrook Vision: Past and Present, Artrain, MI
Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
1987–90
The Eloquent Object, Traveling: The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA; Chicago Library and Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
1986
Big Containment, Swen Parson Gallery, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
Contemporary Arts: An Expanding View, Wellesley College Museum, Wellesley, MA; The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ; Squibb Gallery, Princeton, NJ (Catalogue)
Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical, Travelling: American Craft Museum, New York, NY; The Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Organic Abstractions, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA; Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL
1985
American Ceramics, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
American Craft, Pyramid Arts Center, Rochester, NY
Contemporary American Ceramics: Twenty Artists, New Port Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA (Catalogue)
Of the Artist, by the Artist, Wilson Center, Rochester, NY (Catalogue)
Surface/Function/Shape: Selections from the Earl Millard Collection, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL (Catalogue)
The Educated Eye, The State Museum of Albany, The Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY
The Presence of Clay, Jane Corkin Gallery, Toronto, Canada
The Vessel and its Variation, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
1984
Crafts: A Selected View, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Multiplicity in Clay, Fiber and Metal, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (Catalogue)
Personal Imagery, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
1983
A Passionate Vision: Contemporary Ceramics from the Daniel Jacobs Collection, Decordova Museum, Lincoln, MA (Catalogue)
Art in Architecture, Merritt Gallery, Rochester, NY
Selections from the Joan Manheimer Collection, University of Kansas, Kansas City, MO (Catalogue)
Selections from the Permanent Collection, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Who’s Afraid of American Pottery?, Travelling: Dienst Beeldende Kunst, ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands; Paleis voor Schone Kunsten, Brussels, Belgium; Stedelijke Musea, Gouda, The Netherlands (Catalogue)
Bevier Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology with Robert Rauschenberg, Rochester, NY
1982
American Clay Artists, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
Graham Marks and Cary Griffin, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Group Invitational, D.B.R. Gallery, Cleveland, OH
Group Invitational, Haber/Theodore Gallery, New York, NY
Sculpture Invitational – Three Man Show, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
Six Plus 12, Pyramid Arts Center, Rochester, NY
Young Americans—Award Winner, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
1981
Beyond Tradition: 25th Anniversary Exhibition, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Centering on Contemporary Clay: Ceramics from the Joan Mannheimer Collection, Museum of Art, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (Catalogue)
Clay, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (Catalogue)
Contemporary Approach to American Craft, Pyramid Gallery, Rochester, NY
Recent Acquisitions, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
1980
Ceramic Sculpture, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Contemporary Ceramics: A Response to Wedgewood, Museum of the Civic Center, Philadelphia, PA (1980-1982, Traveling nationally)
Iowa Invitational, Cedar Rapids Art Center, Cedar Rapids, IA
1979
Contemporary Crafts, Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Group Invitational, Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, CT
Ten Personal Approaches, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL
1977
American Art: Contemporary Crafts, Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Scripps College 33rd Annual, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
The Ceramic Vessel as Metaphor, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL (Catalogue)
1976
Fragment Show, Carborundum Museum of Ceramics, Niagara Falls, NY
MFA Thesis Show, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY
New Views by Young Ceramics, Exhibit A, Evanston, IL
1975
Group Show of Clay and Glass, Carborundum Museum of Ceramics, Niagara Falls, NY
Group Show with Claes Oldenberg and Lucas Samaras, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Stockton State College Sculpture Show, Pomona, NJ
Supermud Invitational, Carborundum Museum of Ceramics, Niagara Falls, NY
TEACHING
1976–78
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
1980–86
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
1986–92
Artist in Residence and Head of Ceramics, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
AWARDS
1985
Fellowship, The New York Foundation for the Arts
1984
Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Sponsored Project Grant, New York State Council on the Arts
1978
Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Arizona State University Museum, Tempe, AZ
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Museum of Art, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramics, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
Stedelijk Museum, ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
The Lannon Foundation, Miami, FL
University of Colorado Art Museum, Boulder, CO
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
