teacup, Ron Nagle

Archive Label 2003:
Nagle’s angular teacup explores the relationship of function and form while declaring the vessel an art object. Since the 1960s he has concentrated on the cup form, slip-casting, painting and firing his cups, often dozens of times, until he achieves the right color and texture. Influenced by the tradition of his mother, a china painter, and ceramist Peter Voulkos, a former teacher, Nagle acknowledges the cup’s historical place in ceramic tradition while expanding the form to embrace architectural stucco texture and Art Deco color. Pink Teacup’s tiny size and pink color also make a humorous comment on the cup’s function. Nagle’s work since the 1980s is moving away from the definition of the cup as vessel and toward exploration of the cup “as a potential form for expression.”

Archive Label 2001:
This tiny, recent teacup expands the traditional ceramic form to embrace architectural stucco texture and Art Deco color.