Madame Pickwick

Sometimes you pass next to a sculpture, maybe very tall, or very small but with great attention to detail. Or whatever the case may be. and you’ll think you have a clear picture of what the artist is like. Oh my goodness that sculpture is enormous, the artist must have been really tall and strong. And we’re probably wrong most of the time. Case in point being Viola Frey, a pioneer of ceramic sculptures in California. Well known for her monumental sculptures of men and women, both nude and clothed. Monumental yet simplistic pieces that made reference to “Art Brute” artists, that Viola Frey mentions as her inspiration, artists like Jean Dubuffet.

One of her many humanoid ceramic sculptures

She sadly passed away on July 26th in Oakland, at age 70. her spirit however, lives on in the many large scale sculptures she left behind for the world and for our history. In some photos I have seen of the artist, She is seen in the midst of a few of her sculptures, looking quite small. like a child in a story book, on an island of monsters. or Something like Gulliver’s travels. where she would be a Lilliputian. Even the aspect of the sculptures is reminiscent of children’s stories. It makes the sculptures seem almost glowing with a magical radiance of childhood dreams come to life. The works of art themselves are somewhat simplistic but don’t lose any of their impact or realism. some are realistically painted to resemble nudes or clothed people. some others are painted with abstract symbols and patterns like the picture seen above.

Viola Frey in a garden of sculptures, circa 1981

In more recent photos, she is seen working on another enormous sculpture, this time sitting in a wheelchair. It seems to me this woman whose artwork seems to be stuck in her childhood. knew something we were all missing. She might have been 500 years old when she died, living for centuries because of some supernatural hormone in her blood. Or because she’s from the planet krypton, and instead of saving the world from crime she would make these huge sculptures even with her small size. In any case, she knew how to turn heads.