The Nevica Project

Robert Sperry (1927 - 1998)

Born in Bushnell, Illinois, Robert Sperry  spent most of his childhood on farms in Illinois and Saskatchewan. He completed his BFA in 1953 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received his MFA from the University of Washington in 1955. After the unexpected retirement of his teacher, Paul Ami Bonifas, Sperry was appointed as head of the Ceramics Department where he taught for over 30 years. Known primarily as a ceramic sculptor, Sperry was also a talented painter, filmmaker and printmaker. During his career, he created a number of monumental public and corporate art murals and sculptures.
His work is included in such public collections as Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California; Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York; and Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C..