RON VAVRA
Ron Vavra studied art at Rutgers University and at Brooklyn
College in New York City. He worked as a commercial artist and later became an account director where he rose to the position
of Senior Vice President at a prestigious New York advertising agency. He later abandoned the corporate life and pursued a
career as a studio artist working with distressed wood that he turned on a lathe.
His work in wood received numerous
awards, was, and still is, sold at important galleries and is held in many collections. Vavra was a finalist in an international
design competition, has been featured in a National Public Radio affiliate documentary and an article in Southern Living Magazine,
as well as many other publications.
Due to the creative restrictions of a lathe, Vavra began exploring the possibilities
of ceramic sculpture in 2005. He found that this medium too had its own constraints so he began incorporating cellulose fiber
into a base of stoneware clay. This allows a great deal of leeway in creating shapes that otherwise would not be possible.
He further developed methods of working with the fiber clay that allowed him to create the totally unique and expressive forms
he was after. Once he has achieved a desired shape it is fired at least twice, then painted with acrylics. The creation of
each piece can span many weeks because only a certain amount of work can be performed at each session.
Ron Vavra has
leapt over the bounderies associated with ceramics, into a world of fluidity, even sensuousness that places his work in a
totally different and exciting category of its own.
“I am looking to create work that is elegant yet somewhat
mysterious, voluptuous, flowing, yet balanced. My current work - a series called ’SeaShapes’ - is inspired by
the oceans; their motion and mystery, what lives in them, their cycles and rhythms of living, dying and rebirth.”
Vavra’s
ceramic sculptures were quickly recognized and accepted into the world of art. In 2007, he was chosen a ‘Best of America’
artist, and in 2008, was selected as a contributing artist to the U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies Program which
has put him in the company of many of the world’s most prominent artists.
Vavra lives with his wife in Wilmington,
North Carolina. Their home is located along an estuary that is a few minutes boat ride to the Atlantic Ocean.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Best of America Artists, 2007. Selected a
'Best of America' artist in nationwide competition, sponsored by the Kennedy Promotions.
Art in Embassies Program, Selected
participant. United States Department of State. 2007/2008 Worldwide Program
Southern Living Magazine, January, 2006,
People & Places: “…Ron Vavra coaxes out incredible art with unusual skill, …truly unique art.”
Merit
Award, 23rd Annual Juried Spring Art Exhibition, Wilmington, NC 2005
Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC: Margery
Goldberg, owner: “…gorgeous work” 2005
Third Place, 22nd Annual Juried Art Exhibition,
North Carolina Azalea Festival, 2004
Juror Luana Luconi Winner: ‘truly special…great talent’
Louise
Wells Cameron Art Museum, Southeastern Artists Juried Exhibition, 2004
Curator Anne Brennan: ‘extraordinary, unique
and beautiful’
Mint Museum, Charlotte 2004
Curator Melissa Post, ‘artistic excellence…beautiful
work’
Dimensions 2003, National Juried Fine Art Competition, Winston-Salem
Show Director Marty Smith: ‘work
was the rave of the show”
Wilmington Star News, Wilmington, NC May 22, 2003 and, Artist Profile, July 26, 2003
“How
does he get such beauty…golden sheen masterpieces...round, voluptuous,
exciting.”
Finalist, International
Design Competition, Annapolis, MD, 2002
ONE PERSON SHOWS
Corporate Canvas Gallery, Wilmington NC 2008
National
Public Radio (NPR) affiliate WHQR Gallery, August, 2007
Fountainside Fine Art Gallery, Wilmington, NC, January 2006
Smith
Killian Fine Art, Charleston, SC 2005
Selected juried exhibitions:
Paris Contemporary Art Show, Paris,
France, 2007. Juried exhibition
26th Annual National Juried Fine Arts Exhibition
Wayne County, NC 2005
Louise
Wells Cameron Art Museum Exhibition, 2004
Raleigh Fine Arts Society Artists Exhibition, Raleigh, NC 2003
Dimensions
2003 National Exhibition, Winston-Salem, NC 2003
Associated Artists of Wilmington Spring Art Show 2003
48th Annual
Juried Art Show, Durham, NC, 2002
GALLERIES
CODA Gallery, Palm Desert, CA
Saatchi Gallery, London,
UK
Grimshaw Fine Art, Taos, NM
Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC
Wiford Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Fountainside
Fine Art Gallery, Wilmington, NC
Corporate Canvas Gallery, Wilmington, NC
Smith Killian Fine Art, Charleston,
SC
BOOKS
Best of America Artists, pottery and wood, 2007
Publication for treatment of Domestic Violence,
2007
Wilmington magazine, July/August, 2006. Featured artist
Southern Living Magazine, January, 2006: People
& Places article
NPR (National Public Radio) ‘Art Speak’ 2004: subject of documentary
American
Woodturner, Spring 2006, Artist’s Gallery
Wilmington Star News, Wilmington, NC Article, May 22, 2003
American
Woodturner, articles: Winter 2000, Summer 2002 COLLECTIONS
U.S. Embassy Athens, Greece. Ambassador Daniel V.
SpeckhardWeyerhaeuser Collection of Fine Art, Federal Way, WA
Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC
RS3P
Architects, Charleston, SC
Various private collections in United States, London and Paris
AFFILIATIONS
International
Sculpture Society
TriState Sculptors
Durham Art Guild, Durham, NC
American Association of Woodturners
Woodturning
Center, Philadelphia, PA
Wilmington Area Woodturners Association: founding member and first President
EDUCATION
Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, NJ. BA
Brooklyn College. Brooklyn, NY. Studies in fine art and design
The Ellsworth
School of Woodturning
MEDIA