Rippon photo of artsitTom Rippon helped redefined American ceramics, pushing the medium beyond expectations. His work is delicate, playful, and in a soft way, provocative. Rippon could be viewed as an anti-clay, clay artist. The skin of his works resembles marzipan, his forms, cartoon-like. Yet beyond the cheerful veneer, the work is grounded and informed. Rippon’s sculptures are in the collections of many museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution and area museums such as the Missoula Art Museum, the Montana Museum of Art and Culture and the Yellowstone Art Museum. Rippon taught at the School of Art at the University of Montana, Missoula for 19 years, retiring in 2008.

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MMAC 120: Tom Rippon had distinctive, whimsical take on ceramics

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