Chronology

1943
Adrian Anthony Saxe is born on February 3, 1943 in Glendale, California.

1957
Earns a summer scholarship to the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and enrolls in Patricia Beattie’s ceramics course.

1959
Visits the design section of an American Ceramics Society exhibition featuring Peter Voulkos, where he views works that illustrate how clay can go beyond utilitarian function.

1960
Wins a national award for a sculptural artwork in a competition sponsored by a department store.

Moves with his family to Hawai’i, where he enrolls in the state university, majoring in inorganic chemistry and minoring in art.

Attracted to the ceramics department, Saxe is exposed to porcelain teawares made by Japanese ceramist Omori Terushige, as well as large-scale, wheel-thrown works by Harue McVey.

1961
Decides to concentrate on his art studies, and drops his chemistry courses.

1962
Leaves school and tours Hawai’i with Orville Clay, a former teacher with an interest in ceramics. Saxe and Clay return to California to set up a ceramics studio in Costa Mesa, with equipment they fabricate from salvaged materials.

1963
Saxe and Clay exhibit their work together at the Albatross Gallery in Balboa, California. Saxe also exhibits in his first solo show at Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California. He plans to move to Berkeley to join the group of ceramists working with Peter Voulkos.

1964
Suffers a serious automobile accident and is unable to move to Northern California as planned. During his recovery, he decides to concentrate his energies on making art.

1965
Enters Chouinard Art School, studying ceramics with Ralph Bacerra and art history with John Coplans. Sets up a studio space with fellow students on Second Street in downtown Los Angeles.

1966
Works for the Franciscan Group at Interpace China Corporation in Glendale, where he expands his technical skills, learning about low-fire glaze technology and factory methods of ceramic production.

1968
Participates in his first museum exhibition in a group show titled Design West, at the California Museum of Science and Industry, Los Angeles, California.

1971
Dr. Robert Wark, curator of the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino, California, asks Saxe to submit jardinière designs for the galleries. While researching for this commission, Saxe examines the Huntington’s collections of Chinese court porcelains, English Wedgwood Creamware, Chelsea Red Anchor ware, and Sèvres soft-paste porcelains. His interest in these techniques leads to significant innovations in his own work. Saxe’s first proposal for the Huntington, based on eighteenth-century shapes with rams’ head embellishments, is deemed too assertive so he produces them without ornamentation and in subdued tones.

Participates in his first international museum exhibition in a group show titled Contemporary Ceramic Art: Canada, USA, Mexico, and Japan, at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan.

1973
Accepts a position as a substitute teacher at the University of California, Los Angeles, while ceramics professor Edward Trainer is on leave. Saxe goes on to become a full-time Professor of Art at UCLA.

Exhibits in his first solo show at American Hand, Washington, D.C. Saxe exhibits work in six additional solo shows with American Hand.

1974
Earns his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California.

1980
The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., acquires Untitled Covered Jar, 1980, as the gift of Paul and Elmerina Parkman.

1982
Exhibits in his first solo show at the Garth Clark Gallery, Los Angeles, California. Saxe exhibits work in fifteen additional solo shows at the Garth Clark Gallery’s Los Angeles, New York, and Kansas City locations.

1983
Wins an artist’s fellowship and six-month residency at L’Atelier Experimental de Recherche et de Création de la Manufacture National de Sèvres in France. Saxe is the first of a series of visiting artists, in a new program established by the French Ministry of Culture. Founded in the 1750s, with the backing of the French monarchy, porcelain wares from Sèvres have a rich history. During his stay, Saxe experiments with the soft-paste porcelain, mold-making, and gilding that is available to him. His experiences at Sèvres reinforce his interest in historical modes of presentation, and have a lasting impact on his work.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, acquires its first work by Saxe, Cup and Matching Stand, 1982, as an Art Museum Council Fund purchase. LACMA will go on to acquire twelve additional pieces by Adrian Saxe.

1986
Wins a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

1987
Returns to the Manufacture National de Sèvres on an exchange fellowship between the United States Information Agency and the Association Dialog Entre les Cultures. This second residency allows him to further develop his understanding of the historical techniques used by the factory, and their cultural associations.

1989
The Southeast Center for Contemporary Art nominates Saxe for an AVA National Artists Award.

The Newark Art Museum, Newark, New Jersey, acquires Ampersand Teapot, 1988.

1990
The Southeast Center for Contemporary Art nominates Saxe for an AVA National Artists Award for a second time.

1991
The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., acquires Untitled Oil Lamp, 1981 and Untitled Mortar Bowl and Stand, 1983, as the gift of R. Ford Singletary from the collection of Randy M. Leonard.

1993
The Los County Museum of Art organizes a retrospective exhibition titled The Clay Art of Adrian Saxe. The show travels to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shigaraki, Japan and the Newark Museum of Art, Newark, New Jersey.

1996
The Newark Art Museum, Newark, New Jersey, acquires Covered Jar with Antelope Finial, 1974.

1997
Exhibits in his first solo show at Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California, titled Wish I May, Wish I Might. Saxe exhibits in two additional solo shows with the Frank Lloyd Gallery.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acquires Untitled, 1982, as the gift of Barbara S. Rosenthal and Kenneth W. Juster.

The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., acquires Untitled Ewer (Pumpkin), 1973, as the gift of Donna and John Donaldson in memory of Jean and John Michael on the occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary of the James Renwick Alliance and the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Renwick.

2000
Participates in the group show Departures: 11 Artists at the Getty, held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acquires Untitled Mystery Ewer (CAS), 1992, as the gift of Martin J. Davidson.

The American Crafts Council names Saxe as a Fellow.

2002
Receives a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.

Wins the Flintridge Foundation Visual Artists Award for 2001-2002.

2007
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, acquires Parisienne Chainsaw Massacre, 1982, as the gift of Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio.

2008
Exhibits in the group show Rococo: The Continuing Curve, 1730 - 2008, at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York.

2009
Exhibits in the group show Dirt on Delight: Impulses that Form Clay, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2013
The James Renwick Alliance honors Saxe with their Masters of Medium Award for 2013.

2014
The Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota honors Saxe with their 2014 Regis Master Award.