Draft:Luis Bermudez

Luis Apolinario Bermudez (July 12, 1953 – October 10, 2021) was an American sculptor of Mexican descent who made architectonic ceramic works exploring themes of landscape, ancient cultures, and elemental forces.

Early life
Luis Apolinario Bermudez was born in Los Angeles, California and spent many summers at El Piño, his grandparents' ranch outside Guadalajara, in Jalisco, Mexico.

Art and career
Bermudez's work has been described as having a "generic pre-Columbian presence" and often references architecture, ancient cultures and the natural world. As a ceramicist, he developed his own glazes, mold-making techniques, and a formula for castable refractory, a clay compound similiar to concrete.

The E.B. Crocker Art Gallery  acquired Bermudez's sculpture Treaty Stones–1977 in 1977, the same year that he was included in their exhibition California Crafts X. He would go on to show alongside ceramic artists Richard De Vore, Peter Shire , Dora De Larios, Paul Soldner, Ken Price, John Mason, and Peter Voulkos. In 1988, Bermudez received a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Fourteen works by Bermudez were posthumously featured in the Hammer Museum's 2023 Made In LA biennial, Acts of Living. He was the only non-living artist to be included in this exhibition.

Teaching
Bermudez was a teacher at Cal State Los Angeles for twenty years, and also held teaching positions at University of California, Los Angeles, Otis College of Art and Design, and Cal State Northridge.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

 * 2010-11: Luis Bermudez: Myth, Place and Identity, Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, Ojai, CA

Selected Group Exhibitions

 * 2023: Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
 * 2016: Lineage: Mentorship & Learning, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
 * 2012: kilnopening.edu 2012: Southern California Ceramic Instructors and Their Students, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
 * 2010: New Work, Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, Ojai, CA
 * 2009: Cerámica de la Tierra – The Pre-Columbian Tradition, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
 * 2006: Beatrice Wood Ceramic Annual, Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, Ojai, CA
 * 2006: Scripps College 62nd Ceramic Annual 2006, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Claremont, CA
 * 1993-1994: Fiction, Function, Figuration: The 29th Ceramic National, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; The Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
 * 1992 Transformed From Clay: 14 Southern California Artists, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
 * 1991-1992: Clay Today, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA; Ahmanson Building, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
 * 1989-1990: Twentieth-Century Ceramics, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
 * 1988: 5 In Clay, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
 * 1988: Up From L.A.: A Crafts Survey, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA
 * 1986: Kindred Spirits, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
 * 1986: Magic: Eventual Transformation, Reflections Gallery, La Mesa, CA
 * 1985-1986: Pacific Connections, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA; University Art Collections, Matthews Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA
 * 1984: Art in Clay – 1950’s to 1980’s in Southern California, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
 * 1980: Westwood Clay National 1980, Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design, Los Angeles, CA; Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
 * 1980: Clay: Form, Function, and Fantasy, Long Beach Gallery, Long Beach, CA
 * 1978: Young Americans: Clay/Glass, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ; Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY
 * 1977: California Crafts X, E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA

Selected Collections

 * Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Howard and Gwen Laurie Smits Collection, Los Angeles, CA
 * Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
 * Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA

Selected Curatorial Work
In addition to his teaching and studio practices, Bermudez also curated exhibitions, including:


 * 2005: Nepantla Dreams: Cal-Mex State L.A., Fine Arts Gallery; California State University, Los Angeles; Consulate General of Mexico Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
 * 2003: CSULA: Reflections, Regency Conference Center Ascot Room, Town and Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, CA
 * 1992: UCLA Ceramics Invitational: 1971-91, Century Gallery, Los Angeles; Mission College, Sylmar, CA

Awards

 * 1988: National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship Grant