Breaking the mold
PCC art professor Philip Cornelius spreads his love of tea as an artist-in-residence at Fullerton College
By Carl Kozlowski 04/02/2008
Philip Cornelius doesn’t fit the stereotype of an academic artist. He’s not a stuffed shirt preaching windily about the aesthetic value of one era versus another. In fact, he’s disarmingly frank when discussing the motivations that drive his work.
Ceramist Cornelius has built a four-decade career crafting his own signature form of sculpture called “thinware,” which is ultra-thin and, in his words, fired “right to the edge.” A professor at Pasadena City College since arriving in the Crown City in 1965, the 73-year-old Cornelius is currently being honored as the monthly artist-in-residence at Fullerton College as well. But while he frequently creates works based on the shape of teapots, he claims to be a fan of other caffeinated beverages entirely.
“Fuck no, I hate tea! I’m a coffee drinker!” he exclaims when asked if he was motivated by a hankering for herbal drinks. “I don’t give a shit about the stuff. I just make stuff and people respond to it.”
With that refreshing candor on display, Cornelius explains that he sees himself as “just an artist who works.” He says that a committee at Fullerton asked him if he was interested in developing a show for the campus, as well as teaching four days of sculpting demonstrations, from March 31 to April 3. With a $5,000 budget approved, he settled in at the Orange County campus for the run of the exhibit.
It’s even more impressive that Cornelius has succeeded in his artistic profession because science, not art, was his original college major. An 18-month tour of Europe with the US Army enabled him to expand his horizons by visiting many museums and galleries while off duty. When he returned to San Jose State University to finish his undergraduate career, he found an inspiring challenge in a ceramics class and then moved on to study the art form under Paul Soldner at Claremont College.
“Everybody was doing other stuff, so I chose to do teapots in a way that had never been done before,” recalls Cornelius. “People started calling them art, and that’s what they are. I started in 1970; [I] was just trying to find my voice before them. I’m very confident when I’m on the potter’s wheel and I teach people that.”
Indeed, Cornelius takes special pride in the teapots because when he makes them he employs a “slab technique” that he invented. While it’s hard to describe the process that produces his visually inventive works, it’s proven popular enough to score him more than 100 one-man art shows around the planet — including displays in the Smithsonian Institution and the French National Collection in Sévres, France — and has enabled him to transcend copycats.
“I’ve been developing my style for 30 years, so I’m 30 years ahead of everybody who’s starting now,” he says with assurance. “Everything I make is designed around a teapot — a spout or a lid. I use the parts of a teapot differently and it becomes a unique creation.”
Some things have evolved over the years for Cornelius, such as his decision to work with durable porcelain, rather than the paper-like stoneware with which he started his career.
That change in medium forced him to learn how to “throw” as well as how long it takes the pottery to dry out, but those are processes to which he’s learned to adapt.
While his scraps alone are nearly two square feet and one-twentieth of an inch thick, the works themselves form a much larger impression in their visits throughout the world.
“I did a series of camouflage pieces, and I’ve done line pieces. I’ve had 10 or 12 variations I do at any time. I make 20 or 25 of each piece, each kind of work,” says Cornelius. “Every piece is my favorite until I make the next one.”
That change in medium forced him to learn how to “throw” as well as how long it takes the pottery to dry out, but those are processes to which he’s learned to adapt.
While his scraps alone are nearly two square feet and one-twentieth of an inch thick, the works themselves form a much larger impression in their visits throughout the world.
“I did a series of camouflage pieces, and I’ve done line pieces. I’ve had 10 or 12 variations I do at any time. I make 20 or 25 of each piece, each kind of work,” says Cornelius. “Every piece is my favorite until I make the next one.”
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