Virginia Ellen Cartwright

Virginia had an open, genuine smile for every person she met. She loved garage sales, seed-pods, dessert menus, sharing, naps, and telling inappropriate stories at the dinner table. Her happiest days were spent in Kyoto, Japan, where she lived alone and studied ceramics in her early 20’s; raising a roly-poly baby in Pasadena in the 1970s; and, once she retired, eating chocolate cupcakes with her sweetheart at the Benicia waterfront.

As a ceramic artist, she was known for her innovation in hand-building with folded slabs and inlaid colored clay, and for the dynamic workshops where she shared her techniques with potters around the country. She also introduced thousands of students to working with clay over decades of teaching at private schools, community colleges, and universities. She received her MFA at the Rochester Institute of Technology under Bauhaus-trained ceramicist Frans Wildenhain, and studied at the historic Pond Farm Pottery in Guerneville. Her work is represented in many books on contemporary ceramics, and belongs to the permanent collections of the L.A. County Museum of Art, the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, and the Smithsonian.

Virginia is survived by her daughter Erika Clowes, her son-in-law Dan Clowes, and her elder siblings Ann Churchill and Roy Cartwright. Her beloved partner of 26 years, Sam Bradley, died in 2023.

In her final years, Virginia suffered from dementia. She was cared for with love and respect by the staff at the Elder Ashram in Oakland. Though she gradually lost her memories, her essential kindness and delight with the world never left her.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Virginia’s name to the American Civil Liberties Union or Compassion and Choices. Donation links are below.