Rob Barnard
Jar, 2023
Ceramic
14.5 x 11.5 x 11.5 inches
36.8 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm
RBa 23

$1,800

Cavin-Morris is pleased to announce a spotlight feature on the ceramic art of Rob Barnard.

“The feeling or sense of life of a pot comes from its capacity to point beyond itself to some mysterious inner yearning that is part of the human condition.

-Rob Barnard

The Master Japanese ceramist Yagi Kazuo with whom he studied said of Rob Barnard’s work in 1978 wrote:  

I know of no other ceramicist who has closed in on the Orient as has Rob Barnard.  When I first met him, his interest lay in the irrational form characteristic of Oriental Art, but in particular of Japanese pottery, and in the ‘flow’ of feeling from the artist’s heart to the work.  Visually we are made to feel that Rob Barnard’s work is, at times, wild and rough, yet at other times we feel that it is an action of his abstract expressionist universe. . . .

Mr. Barnard has glimpsed the true essence of pottery and thus entered deeply into the philosophical world.  This understanding can be seen in his quiet intensity.  I feel that even Japanese would profit by the deep suggestions in his recent work, which is highly unusual in that he is applying concepts evolved in modern ceramics to his work and merging them into the unchanging tradition of Japanese pottery.

Cavin-Morris was attracted to the work by its almost mystical actively silent presence, in its sheer honesty of execution and an aesthetic beauty that incorporates a sense of infinite quietude in its sometimes rough, sometimes imperfect, always successful expression of its elemental soul of earth, air, fire and water. It is almost musical in its jazz-like sense of controlled improvisation around a natural internal rhythm.

Barnard lives in the Shenandoah Valley.  He began studying pottery at the University of Kentucky in 1971 and was a research student at Kyoto University of Fine Arts in Kyoto, Japan from 1974-1977, where he studied under the late Yagi Kazuo.  He returned to the US in 1978.

His work is in the collections of the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, Washington, D.C; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY; Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, CA; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Milwaukee art Museum, WI; and the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC.

Rob Barnard
Jar, 2024
Ceramic
14 x 14 x 14 inches
35.6 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm
RBa 25

$1,800

Rob Barnard
Bottle, 2024
Ceramic
17.5 x 7 x 7 inches
44.5 x 17.8 x 17.8 cm
RBa 24

$1,800

Rob Barnard
Jar, 2024
Ceramic
15 x 11 x 11 inches
38.1 x 27.9 x 27.9 cm
RBa 26

$1,800

Rob Barnard
Jar, 2023
Ceramic
13 x 6 x 6 inches
33 x 15.2 x 15.2 cm
RBa 30

$900

Rob Barnard
Lidded Jar
Ceramic
9 x 5 x 5 inches
22.9 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm
RBa 31

$900

Rob Barnard
Vase, 2024
Ceramic
8 x 5 x 5 inches
20.3 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm
RBa 32

$900

Rob Barnard
Vase, 2024
Ceramic
7.5 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches
19.1 x 14 x 14 cm
RBa 33

$800

Rob Barnard
Tea Cup
Ceramic
2 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
5.1 x 6.4 x 6.4 cm
RBa 52

$150

Rob Barnard
Tea Cup
Ceramic
2 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
5.1 x 6.4 x 6.4 cm
RBa 53

$150

Rob Barnard
Tea Cup
Ceramic
2 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
5.1 x 6.4 x 6.4 cm
RBa 54

$150

Rob Barnard
Jar, 2024
Ceramic
8.5 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches
21.6 x 14 x 14 cm
RBa 35

$900

Rob Barnard
Vase, 2024
Ceramic
7 x 6 x 6 inches
17.8 x 15.2 x 15.2 cm
RBa 36

$400

Rob Barnard
Tea Bowl, 2024
Ceramic
2.5 x 6 x 6 inches
6.4 x 15.2 x 15.2 cm
RBa 38

$600

Rob Barnard
Tea Bowl, 2024
Ceramic
2.5 x 6 x 6 inches
6.4 x 15.2 x 15.2 cm
RBa 40

$600

Rob Barnard
Sake Bottle, 2024
Ceramic
6.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches
16.5 x 8.9 x 8.9 cm
RBa 43

*SOLD

Rob Barnard
Sake Bottle, 2024
Ceramic
7 x 3 x 3 inches
17.8 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm
RBa 44

$400

Rob Barnard
Sake Cup, 2024
Ceramic
2.5 x 2.75 x 2.75 inches
6.4 x 7 x 7 cm
RBa 46

$180

Rob Barnard
Sake Cup, 2024
Ceramic
2.5 x 2.75 x 2.75 inches
6.4 x 7 x 7 cm
RBa 47

$180

Rob Barnard
Sake Cup, 2024
Ceramic
2.5 x 2.75 x 2.75 inches
6.4 x 7 x 7 cm
RBa 48

$180

Rob Barnard
Sake Cup, 2024
Ceramic|
2 x 2.25 x 2.25 inches
5.1 x 5.7 x 5.7 cm
RBa 50

$180

Rob Barnard
Sake Cup, 2024
Ceramic
2.5 x 2.75 x 2.75 inches
6.4 x 7 x 7 cm
RBa 49

$180

Rob Barnard
Tea Cup
Ceramic
2 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
5.1 x 6.4 x 6.4 cm
RBa 55

$150

Rob Barnard
Tea Cup
Ceramic
2 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
5.1 x 6.4 x 6.4 cm
RBa 56

$150

Rob Barnard
Flattened Bottle, 2010
Oil fired stoneware, crawl glaze
12 x 7 x 5 inches
30.5 x 17.8 x 12.7 cm
RBa 17

$900

Rob Barnard
Bottle, 2020
Oil fired stoneware, red slip, crawl glaze
9 x 4 x 4 inches
22.9 x 10.2 x 10.2 cm
RBa 18

$800