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1930Born, Inglewood, California
EDUCATION
1952 BA Anthropology and Decorative Arts, University of California, Berkeley, California
—Continuing Education in art and ceramics: Long Beach State University, Cal Poly State University, Saddleback College, College of Marin, all in California
PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE
1952-1972 Graphic Designer
1972—Studio artist
BIOGRAPHY
After a career as a commercial artist Corcoran began working with clay in 1972. Her career is guided by her fascination with birds along with inspiration from Japanese ceramics and the work of James Audubon. Each of her teapots includes a bird and visual reference material that provides additional understanding of the particular species. She begins each series of 5 to 7 teapots with careful drawings of a particular bird species. Corcoran hand builds each piece using porcelain they are then bisque-fired. Large paintings are created and tagged with numbers of glaze techniques. These paintings are used as her glazing guide when applying the surface designs. A piece can involve under-glaze, over-glaze and, airbrushing to create a chiaroscuro effect. Corcoran’s decorative techniques incorporate painting and line drawing.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
National Museum of Ceramic Art, Baltimore, Maryland
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, Texas
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
World Ceramic Foundation, Inchon, South Korea
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Clark, Garth. The Eccentric Teapot: Four Hundred Years of Invention. New York, NY: Abbeville Publishing Group, 1989.
Corcoran, Annette, Ronald Kuchta and Dorothy Weiss. Annette Corcoran: Birds and Teapots, 1987-1996. San Francisco, CA: Dorothy Weiss Gallery, 1996.
Dietz, Ulysses Grant. Great Pots Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy. Madison, WI: Guild Publishing, The Newark Museum.2003.
Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000. Los Angeles, CA: The Los Angeles County Museum, Rizzoli International Publication, 2000.
Lynn, Martha Drexler. Clay Today: Contemporary Ceramists and Their Work: A Catalogue of the Howard and Gwen Laurie Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Cornicle Books, 1990.
Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified August 4, 2023. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/corcoran