David Gilhooly (1943–2013) was an American ceramicist, sculptor and printmaker and a central figure in Northern California’s Funk art movement. Born in Auburn, California, he earned his B.A. (1965) and M.A. (1967) from UC Davis, where he studied with Robert Arneson. Working alongside Arneson and others in the university’s legendary TB 9 ceramic studio, Gilhooly helped transform clay from a medium associated primarily with craft into a vehicle for irreverent contemporary sculpture. Gilhooly became best known for his elaborate “FrogWorld,” a comic civilization populated by frogs and other creatures that parodied human history, religion, mythology and art. Food also became a recurring subject, appearing in ceramic banquets and humorous reinterpretations of historical events. Gilhooly experimented with materials including wood, fur, neon and Plexiglas, but ceramics remained central to his practice. His playful, deliberately absurd work challenged the seriousness and hierarchies of the art world, embodying the humor, experimentation and disregard for convention that defined UC Davis and Bay Area Funk.