Artist

Ronna Neuenschwander

born Hoxie, KS 1954
Media - portrait_image_113616.jpg - 90330
Photograph by Kim Zumwalt.
Born
Hoxie, Kansas, United States
Active in
  • Portland, Oregon, United States
Biography

Ronna Neuenschwander graduated in ceramics and became an office manager of a glass factory, working on her sculpture during her free time. After surviving a plane crash in 1979, she reconsidered her priorities and quit her job to devote herself to art. The artist traveled to Africa to study the animals that she wanted to sculpt. Along with the rest of her caravan, Ronna was stranded in the desert outside of Timbuktu when the drought prevented travel by water. Lost in the heat and dust for two days, she was sustained by the calm confidence of the native people. Ronna met her husband, Baba Wagué Diakité, in Mali, and her work blends the motifs, traditions, and materials of both of their cultures.

Works by this artist (1 item)

Ronna Neuenschwander, Obsession, 1998, painted and sawdust-fired earthenware with terra sigillata, cut and formed tin, and teeth, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art, 1998.136
Obsession
Date1998
painted and sawdust-fired earthenware with terra sigillata, cut and formed tin, and teeth
On view