Museum Directory

Peter Held

Peter Held received his B.S. degree in studio art from the State University of New York at Brockport. Upon graduation, he moved to Helena, MT to become a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts (1974-76). He later completed a Masters degree in Museum Administration at Oregon State University and interned at the Portland Art Museum in the Asian Art Department. He returned to Helena in 1994 to serve as Executive Director and Curator of the Holter Museum of Art where he successfully lead a $2.3 million capital and endowment campaign. Since 2003, he has been Curator of Ceramics at the Ceramics Research Center, part of the ASU Art Museum at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Held also serves as a trustee for the American Craft Council.

Held has curated over seventy-five exhibitions including five national traveling ceramic shows and has authored numerous articles on contemporary art and crafts, and is the editor & essayist of the five books.

The ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center and Peter Held received the 2007 CLAY Award (Ceramic Lifetime Achievement Award), from the Friends of Contemporary Ceramics, the leading organization of ceramic collectors, art dealers and curators in the United States. The award is given for lifetime achievement in advancing the field.