Sam Perry
"I first learned how to work with wood as a teenager making skateboards in my family’s Honolulu canoe shop," says Perry. "My father is a competitive paddler and master canoe builder who has dedicated his life to the art of canoe construction and restoration. My grandfather was one of the founding members of Lanikai Canoe Club (established 1953), dedicated to maintaining and strengthening Hawaiian culture through fostering the indigenous sport of outrigger canoe paddling. In the canoe shop, I learned that wood is not lumber; it’s a being with a legacy of its own. I left Hawaii in 1982 to come to the mainland for college.
As the director of installation and conservation at Runnymede Sculpture Farm for over thirty years, I have planted seeds, watched saplings grow into young trees, and cleared away trees that have fallen in storms, from old age, or from disease.
I have lived and worked in Oakland since I enrolled in California College of Arts and Crafts to study ceramics in 1983. Around 1999-2000 I changed mediums from clay to wood. All of the wood I use in my work has fallen naturally, and much of it comes from Runnymede. It takes up to three years for the logs I collect to cure before they are ready to be carved."
EDUCATION
1990 MFA, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
1986 BFA, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
1982 Punahou School, Honolulu, HI
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Sam Perry Pop-Up, M Stark Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA
2024 Folds, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022 Sam Perry, Roll Up Project, Oakland, CA
Intertwined, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2021 Sam Perry, One Front Street, San Francisco, CA (Kathy Baum)
2019 Clew, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2018 Sam Perry, 45 Fremont, San Francisco, CA (Kathy Baum)
2016 Sam Perry: Seeing but Never Meeting, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016 Sam Perry: Sculpture, Oakland City Center Lobby, 555 12th St., Oakland, CA (Danielle Fox)
2015 Curve, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
2014 All Natural, St. Mary's College Studio Gallery, Moraga, CA
2013 Knots and Tangles, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 New Work, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 New Work, Oakland Museum of California at City Center, Gallery 555, Oakland, CA
Wood Sculpture, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 Ingrained, Oakland Museum of California at City Center, Sculpture Court, Oakland, CA
1990 CCAC MFA Solo Exhibition, Old Oakland Gallery, Oakland, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Opening Exhibition Maybaum Gallery Union Square, Barney’s, San Francisco, CA
2024 Welcome to the SF Peninsula, M Stark Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA
2023 Sneaker Wave, M Stark Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA
2021 If a Tree Falls: Art of the Boundary Oak, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2019 Altered Stated, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA (Heather Marx)
2018 Into the Woods, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 If a Tree Fell: Sustainable Wood Design, curated by Ernest Jolly, UC Davis Design Museum, CA
Napa Valley Collects, Napa Valley Museum, CA
2013 Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Rena Bransten Gallery booth, Houston, TX
2D-3D Works, LH Horton Jr Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College; Stockton, CA. Juried by Renee de Guzman, Senior Curator of Art, Oakland Museum of California
ORIGINS: Elemental Forms in Contemporary Sculpture, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
2012 The Bridge, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 Big Ass Sculpture, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Small Miracles, CCA Alumni Show, San Pablo Art Gallery, San Pablo, CA (Anne Austin)
2006 CCA Ceramics 1950-2005, The Family of Clay, CCAC, Oakland, CA
1992 48th Scripps College Ceramic Annual, Claremont, CA
1990 Ceramic Biennale, Savona, Italy