Rick Dillingham

Rick Dillingham (1952 –1994) was a stalwart Santa Fean, scholar, author, collector, curator, dealer and ceramic artist. As a volunteer, he spent time restoring Native American clay vessels for the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. Undertaking this scrupulous conservation process inspired his own raku-fired vessels, which he broke, glazed and artfully reassembled— an echo of the act of piecing together clay shards.

Dillingham died of AIDS-related complications in 1994, but his legacy remains alive today in the works he left behind that capture a unique American story with particular sensitivity to the land of the Southwest.

Dillingham’s work is included in numerous private and public collections including the Los Angeles Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.

https://gpgallery.com/exhibitions/rick-dillingham/