{{Short description|American artist (1930–2023)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Jim Melchert | birth_name = James Frederick Melchert | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|12|2}} | birth_place = New Bremen, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|6|1|1930|12|2}} | death_place = Oakland, California, U.S. | field = Ceramics, fine art | training = Princeton University,<br/>University of Chicago,<br/> University of California, Berkeley | spouse = Mary Ann Hostetler | children = 3 | movement = Funk art }}

'''Jim Melchert''' (né '''James Frederick Melchert'''; December 2, 1930 – June 1, 2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 15, 2023 |title=Jim Melchert, artist and beloved UC Berkeley professor, dies at 92 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/jim-melchert-sculpture-obituary-18148785.php |issn=1932-8672}}</ref> was an American visual artist, arts administrator, and professor. He is known for his ceramics and sculptures. Melchert was part of the Funk art movement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thorpe |first=Renee Melchert |date=2023-06-08 |title=Remembering Jim Melchert, celebrated ceramics artist, teacher, and expert winker |url=http://oaklandside.org/2023/06/08/obituary-jim-melchert-ceramics-artist-berkeley-oakland/ |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=The Oaklandside |language=en-US}}</ref>

Melchert helped elevate ceramics into mainstream contemporary art by challenging the medium's traditions of expression, form, and function <ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Glendening |first=Daniel |date=2025-04-16 |title=Jim Melchert: Where the Boundaries Are {{!}} October 18, 2025 – January 3, 2026 {{!}} di Rosa |url=https://www.dirosaart.org/2025/04/jim-melchert-where-the-boundaries-are/ |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=www.dirosaart.org |language=en-US}}</ref> and was often described as "the great philosopher of the post-war craft movement."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Sharon |last2=adminnewspack |date=2025-10-21 |title=First major Jim Melchert retrospective to debut at di Rosa San Francisco |url=https://thevoicesf.org/first-major-jim-melchert-retrospective-to-debut-at-di-rosa-san-francisco/ |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=The Voice of San Francisco |language=en-US}}</ref> thumb|Jim Melchert at his home in Oakland. Photo Credit: Griff Williams, 2020 He was connected with the California Clay Movement (or American Clay Revolution) that came out of California in the 1950s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Really I Just Make Stuff&quot;–Ron Nagle&quot; |url=https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramics-monthly-article/Really-I-Just-Make-Stuff-Ron-Nagle-167679 |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=Default |language=en}}</ref> Melchert's teacher, and later colleague, Peter Voulkos was central to this school of ceramic art which was part of a larger transition in crafts from "designer-craftsman" to "artist-craftsman."{{cn|date=April 2026}}

== Early life and education == James Frederick Melchert was born on December 2, 1930, in New Breman, Ohio.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Mizota |first=Sharon |date=2023-06-05 |title=Appreciation: Beloved artist and professor Jim Melchert taught us the value of paying attention |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-06-05/appreciation-artist-ceramics-professor-uc-berkeley-jim-melchert |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |issn=2165-1736}}</ref> His parents were Hulda Egli and Rev. John Carl Melchert, and he had two older brothers.<ref name=":0" /> He graduated in 1948 from Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Ohio.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 3, 2023 |title=Remembering: Jim Melchert |url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/post/remembering-jim-melchert |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=American Craft Council |language=en}}</ref>

After earning an AB in art history from Princeton University in 1952, he moved to Japan where he taught English for four years after he declared himself a conscientious objector to the Korean War.<ref name=":0" /> Upon returning to the United States, he earned postgraduate degrees in painting at the University of Chicago (1957), and studied ceramics under Peter Voulkos at the University of California, Berkeley (1961).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marter |first=Joan M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sPGdBxzaWj0C&pg=PA432 |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533579-8 |pages=432 |language=en |chapter=Peter Voulkos}}</ref>

== Career == Throughout his career, Melchert worked with many media, including painting, drawing, performance art, film, and most notably sculpture and ceramics.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maloney |first=Patricia |date=2021-10-04 |title=Jim Melchert's Gallery 16 Retrospective Cements His Enduring Influence |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904170/jim-melchert-gallery-16-review |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=KQED |language=en-us}}</ref> His unique process involves breaking down, drawing on, and reassembling ceramic tiles before painting the new constructions with glaze.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jim Melchert |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/jim-melchert-27561 |access-date=2021-10-23 |website=Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) |language=en-US}}</ref>

His "near-legendary performance" ''Changes'' in which he and nine Dutch artists immersed their heads in clay slip and sat upright on a bench until it dried was performed in Amsterdam in 1972.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-12-26 |title=Jim Melchert Mending essay |url=https://wordsaboutart.com/blog/http/wordsaboutartcom/blog-page-url/2018/9/28/new-post-title-2 |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=Words About Art |language=en-US}}</ref> <ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Emily |date=2025-11-12 |title=Contrarian art giant Jim Melchert found hope in the cracks |url=https://48hills.org/2025/11/contrarian-art-giant-jim-melchert-found-hope-in-the-cracks/ |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=48 hills |language=en-US}}</ref> The film of the performance is in museum collections including [https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/collection/10528-jim-melchert-changes Stedelijk Museum] and BAMPFA.

He taught at San Francisco Art Institute from 1961 to 1965; and the University of California, Berkeley from 1965 to 1992. Theresa Hak Kyung Cha was one of his notable students at UC Berkeley.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marter |first=Joan M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sPGdBxzaWj0C&pg=PA433 |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533579-8 |pages=433 |language=en |chapter=Theresa Hak Kyung Cha}}</ref>

From 1977 until 1981, Melchert served as the director of Visual Arts Program for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewallen |first=Constance |date=2020-12-14 |title=JIM MELCHERT with Constance Lewallen |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2020/12/art/JIM-MELCHERT-with-Constance-Lewallen |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=The Brooklyn Rail |language=en-US}}</ref> From 1984 until 1988, he was the director of the American Academy in Rome.<ref name=":0" /> During his term in Rome, many notable artists were in residence, including Ana Mendieta, Alex Katz, Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, and Judy Pfaff.

== Death == Melchert died at his Oakland, California, home on June 1, 2023, at the age of 92, of complications from a stroke he suffered in April.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Whiting |first1=Sam |title=Jim Melchert, conceptual and ceramic artist and beloved UC Berkeley professor, dies at 92 |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/jim-melchert-sculpture-obituary-18148785.php |website=San Francisco Chronicle |date=15 June 2023 |access-date=June 15, 2023}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> He had three children.

== Legacy == As part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, Melchert donated his papers to the Smithsonian’s Archive of American Arts in 2004 and 2019–2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James Melchert papers, circa 1949-2021 |url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/james-melchert-papers-11162 |access-date=2021-10-23 |website=Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}</ref> His work is held by over two dozen collections, including the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, The Museum of Arts and Design and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In 2025, Griff Williams, wrote the first monograph to document Melchert's esteemed career.<ref name=":2" /> The book, ''Where the Boundaries Are,'' includes essays by Sequoia Miller, Tanya Zimbardo, and Maria Porges.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bravo |first=Tony |date=2025-12-14 |title=Stunning art and design books that celebrate Bay Area talent |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/books/article/new-art-design-culture-book-21231426.php |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en}}</ref> A traveling museum retrospective with the same name and curated by Williams premiered at DiRosa Center for Contemporary Art.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jim Melchert, Where The Boundaries Are, di Rosa SF |url=https://www.roborantreview.com/reviews/where-the-boundaries-are-jim-melchert-di-rosa-sf |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=Roborant Review |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2026, Melchert's work was included in the exhibition Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Multiple Offerings at BAMPFA.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-25 |title=Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings |url=https://bampfa.org/program/theresa-hak-kyung-cha-multiple-offerings |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=BAMPFA |language=en}}</ref>

== Collections == * San Francisco Museum of Modern Art<ref>{{cite web |title=Melchert, Jim |url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Jim_Melchert/ |website=SFMOMA |access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref> * Metropolitan Museum of Art<ref>{{Cite web |title=Untitled (Vessel) |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/828167?searchField=All&amp;sortBy=Relevance&amp;ft=Jim+Melchert&amp;offset=0&amp;rpp=20&amp;pos=1 |access-date=2021-10-23 |website=The Met Museum}}</ref> *Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Changes - Jim Melchert |url=https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/collection/10528-jim-melchert-changes |access-date=2021-10-23 |website=Stedelijk.nl |language=en}}</ref> *Los Angeles County Museum of Art<ref>{{Cite web |title=Black A |url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/188529 |access-date=2021-10-23 |website=LACMA Collections}}</ref>

== Publications == * {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RUlSHQAACAAJ |title=Nut Pot Bag or Clay Without Tears |publisher=University of California, Davis |others=Authored by Jim Adamson, Robert Arneson, Clayton Bailey, Fred Bauer, Maija Peeples-Bright, Victor Cicansky, David Gilhooly, Jim Melchert, Nicholas Stephens, Chris Unterseher, Peter Vandenberge, David Zack, Lowell Darling |year=1971 |type=artist book}} * {{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Sequoia|title=The Ceramic Presence in Modern Art: Selections from the Linda Leonard Schlenger Collection and the Yale University Art Gallery|publisher=Yale University Art Gallery|year=2015|isbn=978-0300214406|language=English}} * {{Cite book|last=Spinozzi|first=Adrienne|title=Shapes From Out of Nowhere: Ceramics from the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection|publisher=August Editions|year=2021|isbn=978-1947359062|language=English}} * Williams, Griff. ''Jim Melchert: Where the Boundaries Are''. Essays by Sequoia Miller, Tanya Zimbardo, Renny Pritikin, and Maria Porges. Oro Editions. Gallery 16. 2025. {{ISBN|978-0-9827671-8-4}} == References == <references />

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Melchert, Jim}} Category:1930 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Artists from Ohio Category:Nut artists Category:People from New Bremen, Ohio Category:Princeton University alumni Category:San Francisco Art Institute faculty Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty Category:Funk art movement artists