Curtis Fontaine
American
Curtis Fontaine is a contemporary ceramic artist whose organic, intuitive sculptures push clay beyond traditional craft and into the realm of pure form. Deeply influenced by his mentor and friend Toshiko Takaezu, Fontaine continues the legacy of 1960s ceramic innovators who redefined the role of clay in fine art. His hand-built, coil-formed works emerge slowly and instinctively, often echoing natural growth—“like a leaf unfurling or a cloud forming,” he says.
While rooted in traditional technique, Fontaine’s pieces are animated and spatially attuned, engaging their environment as much as the viewer. He works from Takaezu’s former studio in rural New Jersey, where his sculptures quietly populate the land, responding to and shaped by the seasons. “I’ve had the good fortune of working closely with nature for many years,” he reflects. “I am grateful to witness the passing seasons and create and reflect accordingly.”
Each sculpture—ambiguous, sensual, and rhythmically unique—is born from clay’s limitations and potential. Fontaine relies on instinct, letting form lead, while the firing process, with its high risk and elemental force, reveals surface qualities shaped as much by atmosphere as intention. “It’s constant failure and success,” he says of his glaze work, which yields soft, natural hues and blushing surfaces.
Raised on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy by a Taiwanese mother and New England-born father, Fontaine draws on a cultural duality he calls “the back and forth required as a ‘happa’ or half and half.” With an art degree from Skidmore College and formative years spent apprenticing with Takaezu, Fontaine’s practice is a dialogue between East and West, control and surrender, structure and spontaneity.
Curtis Fontaine
Curtis Fontaine, Untitled Vessel #11, USA, 2021
H 54 in W 18 in D 17 in
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Curtis Fontaine
Curtis Fontaine, Untitled Vessel #20, USA, 2021
H 38 in W 27 in D 10 in
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Curtis Fontaine
Curtis Fontaine, Untitled Vessel #21, USA, 2021
H 31 in W 24 in D 21 in
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Curtis Fontaine
Curtis Fontaine, Untitled Vessel #12, USA, 2021
H 48 in W 28 in D 15 in
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Curtis Fontaine
Curtis Fontaine, Untitled Vessel #17, USA, 2021
H 32 in W 24 in D 14 in
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Curtis Fontaine
Curtis Fontaine, Untitled Vessel #13, USA, 2021
H 36 in W 26 in D 22 in
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Curtis Fontaine
Curtis Fontaine, Untitled Vessel #15, USA, 2021
H 46 in W 30 in D 13 in
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Curtis Fontaine
Curtis Fontaine, Untitled Vessel #16, USA, 2021
H 34 in W 28 in D 18 in
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