John Lennertz, Sculptor

John Lennertz was born in Huntington Beach, California and attended California State University, Long Beach for his Bachelor of Arts degree.  During this time he apprenticed with a fine furniture maker and studied a wide variety of art making methods including bronze casting, drawing and painting, jewelry making, blacksmithing and fiber structures.  Ceramics was never a focus for him even though he would often sculpt in clay as it related to the bronze casting process.  His interest in ceramics as a finished art medium began through teaching.  In 2007 he was given the opportunity to add a ceramics section to his sculpture course offerings, he jumped at the chance and immersed himself in the study of ceramics; since then he has shown in numerous national and international ceramics exhibitions.  He is entirely self-taught when it come to ceramics and admits “I’ll never learn enough about ceramics, there are several life times worth of questions and I came to ceramics late in life.”

                Mr. Lennertz currently resides in Sacramento, California with his wife, two children, and a small menagerie of pets.  He is a full-time ceramics instructor and maintains a studio from his home.