Virginia Cartwright
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Working with clay has been a passion in my life ever since I took my first ceramic class in high school. The path I followed to get the skills I needed, took me on adventures that I had never dreamed of. After working on the potter’s wheel for 4 years, I began making thin, functional, hand built pieces. The skills that I previously learned from dress making and metal smithing influenced the construction of my pieces.
EDUCATION
M.F.A. Rochester Institute of Technology, studied under F. Wildenhain
B.A. California State University, Long Beach
Other Kyoto Fine Arts University, Japan, Pond Farm Pottery and Haystack Mt. School
TEACHING
Teaching ceramics has been my passion since 1966. After finishing graduate school in New York, I taught ceramic at Colby College in New Hampshire. The next year I followed my dream of moving to Japan. With a one way ticket and $300 in my pocket, I traveled alone to Tokyo and was able to find a teaching job in Hamamatsu. I later moved to Kyoto and visited pottery villages and museums while working at the Kyoto Fine Arts University. One year later I returned to Los Angeles to teach ceramics at Otis Art Institute. The following year I taught evening classes at Cal State L.A. for two years. After the fall semester, I got married and took a few years off from teaching to focus on my own work, travel, and to start my family. I resumed teaching in the Los Angeles area. Over the next ten years I taught at seven Universities and Community Colleges. My most recent full-time position was in Los Angeles at Harvard-Westlake School where I served as Chairman of the Art Department and taught ceramics for 18 years.
EXHIBITIONS
21st Century Ceramics National Invitational, Columbus, Ohio
Ripples - Students of Marguerite Wildenhain, Calif. State Northridge
Teapot Show Images Friedman Gallery, Louisville, KY
N.C.E.C.A. exhibition, Alumni Show: Decades, RIT, Rochester, NY
Women’s Contributions to Clay: 60 Years of Enrichment, L.A. CA
Teapot Invitational, Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco, CAThe Ceremony of Tea, Images Friedman Gallery, Louisville, KY
One Woman Exhibition and Workshop, North Harris College, Houston, TX
Visitors, Garth Clark Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
Minor Works / Major Artists, N.C.E.C.A. Exhibition, Phoenix, AZ.
In the Spirit of Yixing, The Hand and the Spirit, Scottsdale, AZ.
Ceramics Now, Invited Artists, Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA.
Professor’s Choice III, Lang Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA.
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State Univ., Logan UT.
Art Quest - 85, National Competition, 2nd Place Award, Long Beach, CA.
Scripps Clay Connection, Lang Art Gallery, Claremont, CA
American Porcelain, The Smithsonian Art Institute, Washington D.C.
PUBLICATIONS
Virginia’s work has been published in numerous books and magazines. She has produced a series of 5 instructional videos for potters and teachers.
Inlaid Colored Clay
Soft Slab Techniques with Lana Wilson
The Art of Making Teapots
Six Easy Pieces Part 1
Six Easy Pieces Part2
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
The Smithsonian Art Institute, Renwick Gallery
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Norra Eccles Harrison Museum of Art
The Museum of Contemporary Ceramics in Phoenix
WORKSHOPS
What I do best, and enjoy the most, is giving workshops. Here is a shortened list of some of the workshops that I have presented over the past 25 years. Feel free to e-mail me if you would like a workshop for your group.
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts,
Pewabic Pottery, Detroit,,MI
Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino CA
University of Cincinnati, OH
Volcano Art Center, HI
Kansas State University
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
College of Marin, Mill Valley, CA
Scripp's College, Claremont, CA
Utah State University, Logan, UT
University of Cincinnati, OH
Santa Rosa Community College, CA
Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village,,NE
Anderson Ranch, CO
Ocmulger Pottery, Ipwich, MA
Creative Arts Center, Sunnyvale, CA
Ceramic Artists of San Diego, CA
Linn-Benton Community College, OR
Arts de Cultura, Del Rio, TX