Claude Horan

Claude Horan (born October 29, 1917) is an American ceramic and glass artist who was born in Long Beach, California. He received a BA from San Jose State University in 1942 BA and an MA degree in art from Ohio State University in 1946. His wife Suzi Pleyte Horan collaborated on many of the larger projects. He was a lifeguard and longboard surfer in Santa Cruz in the late 1930s, and is credited with naming Steamer Lane.

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  Horan at the helm of the Horanamoku

He started the ceramics program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1947. After a sabbatical in 1967 during which he learned glass blowing, Horan established a glass blowing studio at the university in 1968. In 1978, he retired from the University of Hawaii as a professor emeritus. Horan’s students include Toshiko Takaezu, Henry Takemoto, Chiu Huan-tang and Harue Oyama McVay, who became chairman of the ceramics program upon Horan’s retirement.

The Hawaii State Art Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art and the Division of Ceramics and Glass of the National Museum of American History (Washington, D.C.) are among the public collections holding work by Claude Horan. His sculptures in public places include:

• Untitled 1976 sculpture, Leilehua High School, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Hoʻolaulea (1976) and Cecil (1976), Red Hill Elementary School, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Vita Marinae, 1975, Waikiki Aquarium, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Na heʻenalu o kailua maluna o ke kilohana a na nalu, 1974, Kailua High School, Kailua, Hawaii
• Kiʻi Kalai Mea Pa'ani Na Kamaliʻi, 1974, Kealakehe Elementary School, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
• The Stallion and His Crew, 1979, Pukalani Elementary School, Pukalani, Hawaii
• Moby Dick and Friends, 1980, Kekaha Elementary School, Kekaha, Hawaii
• In the Spirit of the Koolaus, 1980, Kalaheo High School, Kailua, Hawaii

References

• Radford, Georgia and Warren Radford, Sculpture in the Sun, Hawaii's Art for Open Spaces, University of Hawaii Press, 1978, 79, 93-4.
• Yoshihara, Lisa A., Collective Visions, 1967-1997, An Exhibition Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Art in Public Places Program, Presented at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, September 3-October 12, 1997, Honolulu, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, 1997, p. 123.
• Claude Horan in the Art Inventories Catolog of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
• California, Birth Index, 1905-1995