James Lovera

American, (1920–2015)

Lovera grew up in Hayward, California, where he took a number of high school art courses, then continued his studies at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. He participated in the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, where he watched throwing demonstrations by Gertrud and Otto Natzler, Carlton Ball, and Marguerite Wildenhain. After his graduation in 1942, Lovera began creating pottery in his home studio while he studied with Wildenhain and Antonio Prieto (see Wildenhain’s 1950s Jar and Prieto’s Pitcher, Bowl, and Bottle). He was offered a faculty position at San Jose State in 1948, took a sabbatical year in Japan in 1976, and retired as professor emeritus after thirty-eight years of teaching color, design, and ceramics. Lovera’s textures and hues exemplify the midcentury modern aesthetic for their clarity of form and experimental glazing.