CUPS 1979 — 1985

Cups were among the first pieces I designed when I started slip casting and the first when I transitioned to geometric forms. The early cups were small one-of-a-kind sculptures using the concept of “cup” for form. The Cactus Cups are the most anthropomorphic and self-referential. They are lively and colorful and have arms and hands. I made these cups from 1978 through 1982.

I designed the Corn Cob cups in response to a couple in my Chabot class who were always bickering. The crows are the bickers; the mice are the rest of us. I made these cups from1978 until 1980.

The Silhouette Cups grew out of a series of line drawings I had been doing inspired by a Ron Davis painting. The slits were a “grill” to reference the bowl of a cup: “they aren’t banks; no hole on the bottom.” They had both a sun side and a shadow side; the shadow side was the silhouette. I transitioned to geometric shapes in 1986 and made both the cups and jars before closing my studio in 1988.