David W. Warren
David W. Warren has painted and drawn all of his life. During his senior year in high school, he entered a regional art competition and won first place, awarding him a full scholarship to Kilgore Junior College. He later graduated with a BA in Art from Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, also under a full scholarship.
During the next twelve years, David worked for commercial art galleries and then for The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. In June 2001, the artist’s studio was flooded from tropical storm Allison. The next year, he moved from Houston to Bastrop, Texas in the Lost Pines to escape the gulf storms and flooding. In Bastrop, he began working with ceramics after he was given a kiln that was previously his Grandmother’s.
On September 4th, 2011, the worst fire in Texas history destroyed the Lost Pines and the artist’s home and studio. Despite such setbacks, David never quit practicing his art and is working in his third studio in Austin, Texas. He was a 2011 CERF+ grant recipient due to the Bastrop fire.
David’s work has been exhibit and is collected throughout Texas, the U.S. and beyond.
Artist’s statement
Texas and the American Southwest is the inspiration for my art. I have painted watercolors and pastels, but the ceramics are now most popular.
My ceramics are all high fire stoneware. All my work is hand built; no two pieces will be identical. I love natural organic forms so my pieces are fashioned after desert plants: cactus, agaves and lechuguilla. Their dripping melted glazes are evocative of the extreme hot Texas desert.
Influences on my art are Mexican Folk art, Native American pottery, the ceramicist George Ohr and the architect Antonio Gaudi.