Richard Cleaver

My sculptures integrate ceramic, which is the primary medium, with wood, fresh water pearls, semi-precious stones, gold leaf and oil paint. They are made complete with secret compartments which serve as hiding places for multiple and often times personal meanings. My recent work is based on narratives drawn from personal and historical events that are overlapped with subconscious images. The figures are like actors on a stage, enigmatic yet tense while being enveloped or encrusted within layers of overgrowth concealing a world within.

- Richard Cleaver






Cleaver, Richard (b. 1952, New Jersey, lives in Baltimore, MD) received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and has been carving figures out of clay for over thirty years.















Education

1980
M.A., University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

1977
B.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
 


Grants And Awards

2011
Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award

2010
The Mary Sawyers Baker Prize

2008
Franz and Virginia Bader Fund

2007
Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant

2003
Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Arts Award (1st prize)
Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant

1999
Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant

1995
Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant

1994
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship

1992
Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant