Virginia Cartwright

American, b. 1943

Teapot
1986

Stoneware
4.5 x 7.5 x 4.5 in.
Gift of Nora Eccles Harrison
1986.63

Virginia Cartwright’s hand and slab-built thin-walled functional work has almost always been left unglazed. She notes, “The skills that I previously learned from dressmaking and metal smithing influenced the construction of my pieces.” To create the forms, she would cut a triangle out of the clay, as in making a dart for constructing a dress bodice, then bring the clay together which pulled in the form. As in the case of the Teapot, the triangle cutouts were wide and deep on top and bottom making the form ‘rounder’.

Cartwright was born in Los Angeles and received her Bachelor of Arts at California State University, Long Beach and her Master of Fine Arts from the School for American Craftsmen, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester, New York. She also attended Marguerite Wildenhain’s (see Wildenhain’s 1950s Jar) summer school at Pond Farm in Northern California. At RIT Cartwright studied with and was lab assistant for renowned sculptor Franz Wildenhain, Marguerite’s former husband. Cartwright taught at several schools, including Scripps College, in Claremont, California and Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles.

Billie Sessions, PhD.

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This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Ceramic Case 7: Southern California Connections , 8/17/2012 - 11/4/2013
• Black Mountain College: Shaping Craft + Design , 8/25/2014 - 2/28/2015
• Welcome Center Ceramics , 5/11/2017 - 5/15/2018
• Unearthed , 8/23/2022 - 5/14/2023

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