Ron Nagle

1939Born San Francisco, California

EDUCATION

1961BFA San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California

WORK EXPERIENCE

1961-1978Faculty, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California and California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California

1978-2010Professor, Mills College, Oakland, California

 BIOGRAPHY

Ron Nagle’s work is characterized by its diminutive size and focus on the cup form typically decorated with a complex, intense and bright color palette. Most of his pieces are not more than 6 or 7 inches in any direction, many are between 2.5 and 4 inches.

Nagle’s work belongs in the world of Abstract Expressionist Ceramics, which includes Ken Price, whose influence can be seen in Nagle’s work. Nagle also looked to Japanese tea bowls and paintings by Giorgio Morandi.

His use of low-fire ceramics and multiple glazing techniques, often spraying 20 to 30 layers of China paint on each piece allowed him to create strong, saturated colors. The teacup reoccurs in his work throughout his career. He usually casts a model in plastic, then, after making changes, he recasts it in clay using a plaster mold.

In 1962 Ron Nagle and Jim Melchert formulated a white earthenware (whiteware) clay which, unlike traditional earthenware, did not dull colors but intensified them.  This whiteware advance was immediately adopted by Robert Arneson, among many others.

An interview of Ron Nagle conducted July 8-9, 2003 by Bill Berkson, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in San Francisco, California is available at:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-ron-nagle-13019.