Robert Arneson

Robert Arneson was born in Benicia, California and attended the California College of the Arts and Mills College. As a professor at the University of California at Davis, Arneson was a prime mover in the West Coast Funk Art movement, a mid-twentieth century countercultural arts movement - primarily in ceramics - informed by popular culture and an untraditional approach to art making. Arneson was hugely influential in American ceramics. He became known for the powerful social and political commentaries he used in his work, especially his whimsical and irreverent self-portrait busts. Arneson taught at the University of California at Davis until 1991. He passed away one year later.

Education: B.A., California College of Arts & Crafts, 1954; M.F.A., Mills College