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Erik Gronborg
Erik Gronborg (b. 1931) is a Danish-born American artist and educator best known for his work in ceramics.

Early Life and Education
Erik Gronborg was born in 1931 in Copenhagen, Denmark. At age eighteen, Gronborg worked as a technical troubleshooter at an electronics factory in Copenhagen. A lifelong pacifist, Gronborg refused to serve in the Danish military, and was placed instead in a labor camp for conscientious objectors. During his period at the camp, Gronborg recognized his passion for art, and began to plan study it. After being released from his service, Gronborg moved to the United States in 1959. After hearing a friend's description of University of California-Berkeley, Gronborg accepted a ride share to Berkeley, where he enrolled as an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley's emerging Department of Art. Although the ceramist Peter Voulkos had recently begun teaching at UC-Berkeley, initially Gronborg mainly focused on wood and bronze sculpture.

At the time, Berkeley was an instrumental hub in the emerging Artist-Foundry Movement. Gronborg became involved with Peter Voulkos and Donald Haskins' Garbanzo Works, a pioneering studio that enabled sculptors to cast their own work in bronze rather than outsourcing the process to a distant foundry. Berkeley professor Harold Paris, who also worked at Garbanzo, became a particularly close mentor. Paris was quoted in a 1963 Artforum article about Garbanzo Works, saying “A self-respecting foundryman would have laughed at some of the things we attempt­ed, but we were interested in making sculpture, not in self-respect.”

While he was still a student, Gronborg's work caught the eye of curator Herschel Chipp, who selected it for inclusion in the Biennale de Paris of 1963 as a part of a sub-exhibition featuring eleven young Bay Area sculptors, including Bruce Beasley, James Melchert, Catherine M. Chase, and Stephen De Staebler. Gronborg's work was given the City of Paris Award, the Biennale's top honor, which came with a one-man show at the Musee d'Arte Moderne in Paris. Gronborg received his M.A. in art from U.C. Berkeley in 1963.

Career and Teaching
After receiving his Master's degree, Gronborg agreed to accompany an archaeological dig to Egypt as an artist and photographer in the Spring of 1964. This experience connected Gronborg with Islamic art (particularly ceramics) of the 11th and 12th century. This period of travel, which lasted through the summer of 1964, would prove impactful for the rest of his teaching and studio career. Upon his return to Berkeley, Gronborg busied himself with preparations for his solo exhibition at the Musee d'Arte Moderne in Paris, which opened in February 1965. The exhibition, entitled simply GRONBORG, showcased thirty sculptural works that showed his rapid development as a sculptor over the past four years. In a review for Le Monde, writer Paule-Marie Grand marveled at Gronborg's range, noting a lack of "unity", but writing that "Perhaps the awaited unity of work shall soon be realized, but with Gronborg, there is no reason for apprehension."

In 1965, Gronborg accepted a teaching position at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, which launched a productive four-year period that focused mainly on ceramics.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
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Selected Group Exhibitions
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