IN MEMORIAM
Dane Cloutier April 12, 1955 - October 5th, 2020
Via longtime friend Gus Bostrom:
It is with a heavy heart I must announce the passing of our dear friend Dane Cloutier.
I first met Dane and his wife Penny at the Hillsborough Antique Show in 1987. I was fascinated by the Arts & Crafts Movement, Stickley Furniture and the decorative ceramics. Dane was one of the early preeminent dealers at the time and I was only 17 years old. By the time I turned 20, Dane gave me some heart felt, fatherly advice. He saw that I was dedicating my life to the Arts & Crafts Movement when he told me "you have to think beyond the Arts & Crafts Movement. You can't put all your eggs in one basket. Branch out into mid-century and other styles.."
I did not follow Dane's advice. My love was the Arts & Crafts Movement. Dane moved on in the late 1980s and was one of the first dealers to focus on mid-century ceramics. He traveled the United States tracking down the still living artists and interviewing them.
Photographed with renown ceramic artist Peter Voulkos circa mid-1980s
Dane & Penny Cloutier
Circa early 1980s
Dane & Penny Cloutier
Enjoying the California Coastline Circa 1980s
Dane Cloutier
Sitting on Stickley chairs
Dane was one of the first west coast dealers to embrace Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement.
In early 2014, Dane Cloutier, representing the famous Berkeley Collector Forrest R. Merrill, helped broker the sale of all of Dirk van Erp's tools, his complete workshop. I made a promise to Dane Cloutier and Forrest R. Merrill that if I could acquire the van Erp tools, I would set up a non-profit 501(c)3 to own and protect them. Dane Cloutier is directly responsible for the creation of The Dirk van Erp Foundation and the Dirk van Erp Workshop Museum. Without Dane's help, this museum never would have come to fruition.
https://vimeo.com/91908289
Video of Dane Clutier showing Gus Bostrom the Dirk van Erp tools for the very first time in January 2014.
Dane Cloutier, Gus Bostrom (holding Aiden Gustaf Bostrom), Hoa Nguyen-Bostrom, Alyson Bostrom and Matthew Mackie (aka Dirk) on our last day at the old Berkeley Gallery October 1st, 2016