Tyrus Gerlach (1945-2025) was a sculptor, ceramic artist and performance artist associated with the experimental Bay Area art movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He earned his B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1967 and earned his M.F.A. in studio art at the University of California, Davis in 1970. At UC Davis, he worked as a teaching assistant in ceramics with Robert Arneson and as a foundry technician and teaching assistant in sculpture with Tio Giambruni. Gerlach participated in a 1971 performance art program at the University Art Museum in Berkeley, alongside Jim Melchert, Howard Fried, William T. Wiley, Bill Morrison and Marc Thorpe. He subsequently taught ceramics at Syracuse University and pursued work in construction and project management.