- 2019 Individual Inductee -
Eric Joseph Abraham
Eric Joseph Abraham was respected as a nationally-recognized artist, teacher, businessman, and a wonderful friend to all who knew him.
Eric was born on November 27, 1936 in New York City. Both of Eric’s parents, James Rolla Abraham and Fern Rae (Peery) Abraham, were artists who met working on the WPA Artist and Writers Project in New York City; mother Fern Rae illustrated children’s books for the Public Schools of New York City. Art became a part of Eric’s life at a young age when his mother gave him pencils and paper and a lump of clay as well as encouragement. The family lived in various locations before settling down in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Eric graduated from high school in 1955.
Eric then served a four year enlistment in the U.S. Air Force in the intelligence division, after which he enrolled at the Kansas City Art Institute at Kansas City, Missouri and became a Sculpture Major and later in painting. At that time there was not a Ceramics Major, but he took several semesters of ceramics. In 1962 he met and married a fellow student, Judy Love. After completion at the Art Institute he worked for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City for a little over a year and a half. The Abrahams then moved to New Mexico for a year. At that time Eric started making art on his own and building up a group of works before he was invited to attend graduate school at the University of Nebraska majoring in Ceramics (1969).
Artist Randy Milhoan met Eric at the University of Nebraska in 1964. When Milhoan was helping launch the SummerVail art workshops at Vail, Colorado in 1971, he invited his old friend to join in. Eric was paid a whopping $125.00 a week, plus free food and board, to come teach for the summer. He did it for twelve consecutive summers.
Eric taught at Kansas State University from 1959 to 1973. He and Judy divorced in 1975, but remained very good friends. Eric moved to Vail and taught ceramics at Colorado Mountain College in Vail and Leadville, Colorado. One time Milhoan and Eric were painting some very large posters and Eric confided that he was colorblind, which Milhoan said was pretty remarkable for an artist.
“Eric’s work ethic pushed him to produce an enormous body of work, thousands of drawings, sculptures and inventive ceramics,” Milhoan said. “Eric’s work was remarkably identifiable in the 50 years I knew him. He accomplished one of the hardest tricks in life, making a living as a full time artist, while holding fast and true to his vision.”
For several years Eric lived in a 1950 Chevy school bus and set up a studio wherever he lived. In 1982 he settled in Denver, Colorado and worked at Santa Fe Pottery for 16 years. In 1983 Eric met Ruth DeOreo and they were together for 31 years until his passing. He enjoyed doing large ceramic work, which included several wall murals as well as bathroom sink and mirror sets. Eric also created two large fire breathing dragons, one of which was presented on the “Today” show. He was also a featured artisan on the Lynette Jennings Design Show on the Discovery Channel.
When the building Eric lived in Denver sold in 1998 he moved his studio and home to Wabaunsee, Kansas in 1999, where he lived in an 1890 wooden schoolhouse with an old doublewide trailer for a studio. In March 2004 Eric bought the 6,000 square foot former Yarnell’s Chevrolet dealership in Lucas, Kansas and transformed it into his home and studio. He named it the Flying Pig Studio and Gallery in keeping with his propensity for slipping a flying pig into his artwork. In its time the Flying Pig Studio and Gallery developed a nationwide following that spread far beyond Lucas and Kansas. Eric was a member of the Lucas Area Chamber of Commerce and served on the Grassroots Art Center’s Board of Directors. He was instrumental in helping with Lucas’ now famous Bowl Plaza. His work is seen outside as the toilet's porcelain drain where you can find all things that might go down the toilet. He even put a puppy dog drinking from the toilet. Eric also served as a member of the boards of both the Columbian Theatre and Art Centre in Wamego, Kansas, and Lester Raymer’s Red Barn Studio Museum, Lindsborg, Kansas.
For forty years Eric gave workshops, had exhibitions of his work across the country, and was an Artist in Residence in several locations. From the early 1970s on Eric showed his work at six to seven art fairs and festivals per year, never retiring, and won several awards for his artistry.
Eric was once asked why he was an artist. He rattled off a list of professions for which he was unfit.
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“People took me skiing one time as a joke. So, I couldn’t become a ski instructor.
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“I’m not going to lie, so I can’t be a politician.
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“I was interested in being a stock broker, but handling other people’s money is too much responsibility.
“Art,” he concluded, “is the easiest thing I could do.”
His signature was “Eric Abraham, WFA,” for “world famous artist.” His art lived in a world where pigs in hats flew and robots drank martinis. In his former online biography he called himself the “world renowned professional professor of porkelain proficiency.”
“Other potters do the straight stuff much better than I can, so I’ll let them do it,” Eric said. “There’s that old saying: ‘A pot without a soul is just clay around a hole.’”
Eric Abraham passed away at age 76 on September 7, 2013 after complications from surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas. This talented artist will always have a special place in the Russell County Kansas Hall of Fame.
SOURCES:
Hays Daily News, November 10, 2005, Page 5; December 11, 2005, page 29; September 13, 2013
Lucas-Sylvan News, Lucas, Kansas, “Artist with Whimsical Flair Dies Suddenly,” September 12, 2013
Vail Daily, Vail, Colorado, “Eric Abraham, one of Vail’s first artists, passes away,” September 13, 2013