Acquisition Highlight

Annette Cocoran's California Teapot

A centerpiece of You’ve Got to Be

Kidding: Humor and the Absurd in California Art is a whimsical teapot by renowned Pacific Grove based potter, Annette Corcoran (b. 1930), called California Teapot (2000), a recent gift of the Winfield Family. Corcoran has been creating highly detailed and expertly crafted porcelain vessels in various combinations of birds, waterfowl, flowers, vegetables, and abstract geometric shapes, among other things, since

1970. Her work can be found in important museum collections across the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Oakland Museum of California. California Teapot is made in the shape of a geological section of the Golden State itself, and across its top are highlights of California’s most familiar icons and agricultural products in miniature sculptural form while identifying its geographical neighbor states on each of its sides. One would be hard pressed to find the teapot’s spout and lid, which are humorously located at the tail end of the applied sperm whale, and in the form of a pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow (which doubles as the vessel’s handle), respectively. The piece is a delightful example of the many ways that California artists have utilized humor and the absurd as a driving strategy in their creative process.