The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 155

Roloff, John
American; (b. 1947, Portland, OR; lives in Oakland, CA)
1973 MA Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
1970 BA University of California, Davis, CA

John Roloff is primarily known for his large-scale kiln projects, which extended from the late 197 0s
to the early 1990s, and his site-specific outdoor and gallery installations that explore categories of
geology, history, architecture, and ceramics. Roloff studied geology at the University of California,
Davis with Dr. Eldridge Moores in addition to later ceramic studies with Robert Arneson and
William T. Wiley in the late 1960s. Roloff’s sculptural series Night Ship/The Frozen Sea, a decade
long exploration of the ship form, was the culmination of the artist’s scientific and artistic training.
Influenced by a childhood spent on the Oregon coast as well as romantic landscape paintings
of the nineteenth century, Roloff’s ships read as metaphors for discovery and exploration. Roloff
was awarded the Bernard Osher Fellowship (2008–2009) at the Exploratorium in San Francisco,
California (2008–2009). Additionally, he has received an Art Commission Award for Excellence
in Design, NY Art Commission (2002); a Visual Arts Award, California Arts Council (1990); a John
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (1983); and three Visual Arts Awards from the National
Endowment for the Arts (1977, 1980, 1986). Roloff’s work has been included in exhibitions at the

SELECTED REFERENCES:
Ayres, Anne. 2nd Newport Biennial: The
Bay Area. Exh. Cat. Newport Beach, CA:
Newport Harbor Art Museum, 1986.
Burstein, Joanne. “The Travels of John
Roloff.” American Ceramics 2, no. 3
(1983): 26–33.
McCready, Karen. Twenty Artists:
Contemporary American Ceramics.
Newport Beach, CA: Newport
Harbor Art Museum, 1985.
Roloff, John. “Resume.” John Roloff.
Accessed April 15, 2014. http://www.
johnroloff.com/ roloff_selectedCV.htm

Whitney Museum of American Art, UC Berkeley Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, Smithsonian Institution, Photoscene Cologne, and the Venice Architectural and Art Biennales.
He is currently Chair of the Sculpture/Ceramics Department at the San Francisco Art Institute.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JOHN ROLOFF WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION

Night Ship/Mined Hull/
The Frozen Sea
Ayres, Anne. 2nd Newport
Biennial: The Bay Area. Exh. Cat.

ALSO INCLUDED IN EXHIBITION

Untitled no. 79
Land Monitor Elevated

Newport Beach, CA: Newport
Harbor Art Museum, 1986.

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