Frank Juárez
Shotwell/CULTIVATE.
I was introduced to the work of Michael Pfleghaar by artist and CULTIVATE director Mallory Shotwell. After looking at his website and scrolling through his Instagram, I knew I wanted to learn more about his work. I was drawn to how he approaches clay giving it its own identity through playful compositional elements such as color, form, and line. His subject matter resonates on multiple levels bringing up vivid memories that remind me of home and remaining present in that current moment.
Recently Michael Pfleghaar’s mother reminisced that his first word was “flower” and believed that an artist’s path is set in childhood. Flowers and botanicals have been part of his creative practice. Through drawings, paintings, as well as ceramics, botanicals remained a constant subject in Pfleghaar’s work. The two-dimensional work influences his approach to ceramics as it often is made from flat slabs of clay, referencing the flatness of painting. Surfaces are treated with high-color underglaze and often scratched to reveal the red clay body. These inanimate objects have always been surrogates for the figure in his work. Exaggerated shapes give each piece a personality and groupings of sculptures create conversations between them.
Michael Pfleghaar is an artist living and working in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He received his MFA in visual arts from Lesley University College of Art and Design, in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2011. Working in both 2-D and ceramic sculpture, Pfleghaar often depicts botanicals imbuing them with abstract elements and a colorful palette. An influence of modern design can be seen in the clean lines, balance, and organic materials he returns to within his compositions.
His work was included in the 2012 LGBTQ exhibition ReMix: Revisiting Appropriation, curated by Jonathan Katz in San Francisco, CA. In 2013 was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Ox-Bow School and Artists Residency in Saugatuck, Michigan. In 2016, Pfleghaar attended the Spread Art Artists Residency in Detroit, Michigan.
He was awarded The Best of Show in the 2021 Festival of the Arts and in the West Michigan Area Show at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in Kalamazoo in 2020. In 2023, Pfleghaar was one of four artists chosen to have their work permanently installed as terrazzo floor designs at the Gerald R Ford International Airport
His artwork has been featured in Arcadia Magazine, Studio Visit, Metropolitan Home, Solace, and American Craft. Apple, HBO, CBS, ForeSee, Hayworth, and Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts and are in a few of the organizations that have utilized Pfleghaar’s artwork as illustrations. His artworks are in permanent collections including the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Steelcase Inc., Herman Miller, the State of Michigan and Grand Valley State University.
Visit pfleghaar.com to learn more and connect on Instagram at @pfleghaar.