Untitled

Although Marvin Lipofsky has become well-known as a glass artist, his start was in clay. He came to UW–Madison in 1962 having earned his BFA in industrial design at University of Illinois, Champaign–Urbana. While taking a ceramics course in college, he visited the Art Institute of Chicago, where he encountered two huge ceramic pieces that resonated with his interest in making sculpture from clay, rather than throwing ceramic vessels on a wheel. The pieces were by Peter Voulkos and John Mason. At UW–Madison he produced works inspired by these contemporary artists, including this untitled ceramic. Lipofsky included this large sculpture in his MS exhibition at UW–Madison in 1964.