"Mother" by Anne Van Kleeck (1922-1988)

American Sculptor (1922-1998)

Anne Van Kleeck was born in Marion, Ohio in 1922. After completing her academic education (Ohio Wesleyan University, B. A. And Ohio State University, M. A.) Van Kleeck held a position as an art instructor and assistant professor of fine arts at Columbus Art School and Ohio Wesleyan University respectively. In 1957, Anne traveled to Venice, Italy to study bronze casting, beaten iron and mosaic techniques. During that stay she hired an Italian foundry expert and together they set up a small foundry on Murano where they cast bronzes for her one woman show in Venice.  and attended Ohio Wesleyan and Ohio State University where she studied casting in the foundry of the Instituto del Veneto. 

In 1959 Anne moved to the bay area of Berkeley, California where she had a studio equipped for casting bronze sculpture. Although experienced in stone carving, welded metal and beaten iron, she preferred cast bronze as a medium. Van Kleeck was also known for her jewelry, ceramics and ceramic sculpture and paintings. Her work has been shown in Europe, South America, Japan and throughout the United States and is represented in many public and private collections. She was singularly honored with an invitational exhibition at the Galleria Dell' Opera Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, in 1960. Anne lived in the bay area of California throughout the 1970s and passed away in Tampa, Florida in 1988. 

Prizes & Awards: About 30 cash prizes and awards including top awards: National Sculpture & Print Show, Muncie, Indiana; Sarasota Fine Art Show, Sarasota, Florida; Palm Beach Fine Art Exhibition, Palm Beach, Florida; West Palm Beach Annual Art Show, Florida; Ohio State Fair Fine Art Show, Columbus, Ohio. & Govenor's Award; Annual Sculpture & Ceramic Show, Butler Museum of American Art, Youngstown, 0hio.; Syracuse National Ceramic Show, Syracuse, N.Y.; Columbus Art League Annual, Columbus, 0hio; Oakland Art Museum, merit award Oakland, California

One Woman Shows: Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, California, 1963 Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Italy, 1960 Gump's Gallery, San Francisco, California, 1959 Butler Museum of American Art, Youngstown, 0hio; 1959 Galleria San Vidal, Venice, Italy, 1958 Ball Art Museum, Muncie, Indiana; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Wooster College, Wooster, Ohio; Norton Gallery of Art, Palm Beach, Florida; Kagan-Dreyfuss Inc., New York, New York.

Museums Where Work Has Been Shown Include: Metropolitan Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Cincinnati Museum of Art; Oakland Art Museum; Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, etc.

Museums Owning Work: Cincinnati Museum of Art; Columbus Gallery of Fine Art; Ball Art Museum, Muncie, Indiana; Butler Museum of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio. 

Seattle World's Fair Exhibition, America House