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Louis Mendez 1929-2012
Mary and I were shocked and greatly saddened at learning of the death of our friend Louis Mendez. We want to join the friends and family of Louis in mourning his passing.
Louis was an exceptional artist and an insightful and generous person. We are certain that he will be missed by all who knew him.
There is a line from a famous verse that reads:
There is a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
We join Louis's family and friends in weeping for his passing, laugh when we remember good times together, mourn his death, but we must also dance with joy for having had him in our lives. May he rest in peace.
Obituary New York Times
MENDEZ--Louis, 1929-2012. The
exuberant artist/educator, Louis Mendez, died peacefully at the Jacob Perlow
Hospice Inpatient Unit at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, just two
weeks shy of his 83rd birthday. Louis Ernest Mendez was born on the Lower East
Side of Manhattan of Puerto Rican, Spanish and Irish heritage. He spent his
early years in Spanish Harlem and his teenage years in Goshen, NY, where his
high school teachers recognized his unusual talent in drawing and sculpture.
Louis went on to earn BFA ('52) and MFA ('54) degrees from the New York State
College of Ceramics at Alfred University, where he became a protege of
Professors Charles Harder and Daniel Rhodes, influential figures in the
mid-century American studio ceramics movement. After college, Louis was hired
by fellow Alfred alumnus, David Gil, as the first designer at Bennington
Potters in Vermont. He later worked as a designer at Lenox China in Trenton,
NJ, before entering the field of education, teaching first at the Pratt
Institute in Brooklyn, then at the Philadelphia College of Art, and ultimately
at the Ohio State University in Columbus, where he was an Associate Professor
of Art and Chairman of the Graduate Faculty in the Ceramics Department. Aside
from these professorial appointments, he taught more casually, but with no less
enthusiasm, at numerous venues, including New Jersey City University and the
Ceramic Education Center (NJ), Brookfield Craft Center (CT), Art+Clay (NM),
Valle de Bravo (MX), Juniata College, (PA), and with special joy at the 92nd
Street Y 60+ Program in New York City. From the 1960s onward his output
included no only pottery, but masks, wall-reliefs, mosaics, and free-standing
sculptures both large and small. Louis developed his signature "Spanish
Handbuilding Technique," an approach to ceramic hand building that allowed
construction and firing of large sculptural works in clay without the use of an
armature, a development that helped to transform ceramics from
"craft" to "art." Mendez exhibited in many important venues
in the USA, including the Museum of Art and Design, the Museum of Contemporary
Hispanic Art, Taller Boriqua, the Brooklyn Museum, the Everson Museum, the
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, and the Silvermine Guild of Artists.
International exhibitions include group shows at the Victoria and Albert Museum
(London), the Internazionale Biennale dell' Arte Contemporanea (Florence,
Italy), the Gangjin Festival (Korea), and a one person show at the Museo
Regional Michoacano (Morelia, Mexico). His work is included in the collections
of the Museum of Art and Design (New York), the ASU Museum at the Herberger
Institute for Design + the Arts in Tempe (AZ), the Mint Museum of Craft &
Design (North Carolina), the Columbia Museum of Art (SC), the Gangjin Ceramics
Museum (South Korea), and the Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art
at Alfred University, among others. Louis is survived by his wife Dianne, son
Aaron, daughter-in-law Mieko and two grandchildren; his sister Victoria
Blanco-Alfiero; his sister and brother-in-law, Donna and David Dunning; three
nephews and one niece. In lieu of flowers, the family asks friends to consider
a donation to one of the following: Alfred University; send gift with a note
stating that the gift is in memory of Louis Mendez to: University Relations, 1
Saxon Drive, Alfred University, Alfred NY 14802. The 92nd Street Y; make check
payable to 92nd Street Y with a note indicating that the gift is "In Memory
of Louis Mendez for HB Senior Program." MJHS Foundation; note that the
gift is f/b/o the Jacob Perlow Hospice Inpatient Care Unit at Beth Israel
Hospital in Memory of Louis Mendez.
Published in The New York
Times on August 5, 2012
Some photos of Louis
You can see more images of Louis's work on his website:
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