Ron Nagle

Ron Nagle, Untitled, glazed and overglazed earthenware, c. 1970, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Ron Nagle (born February 21, 1939) is an American sculptor, musician and songwriter. He is known for small-scale, refined sculptures of great detail and compelling color.

Nagle lives and works in San Francisco, California.

Life

Born in San Francisco in 1939, This same fanaticism is evident in the detailed color and texture of his sculptures.

Work

Nagle has practiced ceramics for over 50 years. He has worked extensively with the typology of the vessel—specifically the cup—and pushed through the utilitarian concerns of traditional craft into formal consideration of the medium. His small-scale, intimately sized sculptures are often composite of multiple elements and involve a confluence of techniques and materials including slip-casting, airbrushing, hand-molding, traditional and non-traditional glazing, scalp-metal, polyurethane, wax, and epoxy.

Drawing is fundamental to Nagle's practice, and he considers his work from a two-dimensional, flat point of view. This resonates with his stated interest in painting, where he cites influences such as Giorgio Morandi, Cy Twombly, and Billy Al Bengston.

His work is associated with the California Clay Movement, and Nagle is often included in exhibitions concerning Abstract Expressionism.

Music

Apart from his sculpture, Nagle is also a musician and songwriter. In 1965, he founded the "San Francisco Sound" rock'n'roll band The Mystery Trend with a group of friends while at the San Francisco Art Institute. Nagle has also completed several solo albums, including Bad Rice that was released by Warner Bros. in 1970. In 1975 Nagle met singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Scott Mathews and formed a songwriting and production company. Together, the two wrote songs that sold in the millions and released their own album on Capitol Records in 1979 that received a 5-star rating in Rolling Stone and scored some European hits.

Nagle also worked on the sound effects for The Exorcist (1973). The artist magnified and distorted sounds of jar-trapped bees and shattering windows to create disturbing effects in the horror film.

Exhibitions

Nagle's first solo exhibition was in 1968 at Dilexi Gallery in San Francisco. Since then, his work has been exhibited extensively, including solo exhibitions at the Saint Louis Art Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Thirty of Nagle's ceramics were included in the exhibition "The Encyclopedic Palace," curated by Massimiliano Gioni for the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.

Grants and awards

2011 Arts and Letters Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters

2008 Joan Danforth Endowed Faculty Chair, Mills College

2006-07 Metz Chair, Mills College

1998 Flintridge Foundation Visual Artist Award The Best of 1998, Dave Hickey, Artforum

1997 Fellow of the American Craft Council

1996 Joan Danforth Endowed Faculty Chair, Mills College

1990–97 Faculty Research Grant, Mills College

1986 National Endowments for the Arts Fellowship

1984 Faculty Research Grant, Mills College

1983 Mellon Grant

1981 Mellon Grant

1979 Lucie Stern Chair, Mills College National Endowments for the Arts Fellowship

1978 Adaline Kent Award, San Francisco Art Institute

1974 National Endowments for the Arts Fellowship