The Exotic Teapot

Imagine attending a party full of brainless ladies holding cups that have fingers and saucers that appear to have the ability to walk off the table.  The concept and sculpture is that of Ronit Baranga’s, created for his solo exhibition “Shells of Wings”.  Additionally, Baranga received honorable mention in the designbloom® “dining in 2015” competition for crafting finger walking teapots, cups and saucers.  Has the Mad Hatter Tea Party theme met its match?

Margaret Bohls, curator for “Teapots:  Function, Formal, Narrative” has written an article to ceramic artists.  The purpose was to share with them the reasons for creating that magnificent object referred to as the teapot.  She writes:

 The teapot is, arguably, the most visually and culturally loaded pottery form. Trade, fashion, social class, nationalism, and industry, have all contributed to the layers of cultural and historical meaning inherent to this particular cultural artifact. Being at the same time an aesthetic object and a utilitarian object, the teapot also carries all of the potential and all of the contradictions inherent in the field of contemporary ceramics.  

 Margaret addresses the various avenues a ceramic artist can focus on when deciding how to design their teapots.  Besides functional these include:  the aesthetic challenge, the physical relationship to the body, the historical or story-telling perspective and that of decoration.   

After reading the article and with a cup of tea in hand I realized that I was looking at my teapot collection so to gain a greater insight from the artists designing the ones displayed on my shelves.  

York Chang is an artist, exhibitor, photographer and curator.  This exhibit, “The Future Belongs to the Masses II” is from 2005.  “I like the sense of secret things hidden just under the surface waiting to be excavated, that throwaway image that was discarded once as flawed but now I've found.”  York believes that true meaning is real when all the elements of our senses are involved. 
These 40-year old teapots were found in an old Chinese restaurant with some tea leaves still remaining.  Because of the leaky roof of the restaurant, rainwater would seep through and frequently hit the pots.  The exhibit was designed to include a series of water pumps hung above the teapots to emulate the rain; the sounds were enhanced with a 16 channel recording of rain. 
Additionally, because the pots were aligned as if soldiers, the painting on the wall is that of Chinese soldiers.

Fanny Liberek is a ceramic artist from Sion, Valais, Switzerland.  In 2008 she was presented the prestigious Bruckner Foundation Award as the graduating student from the School of Applied Arts in Geneva, one of only two students in Switzerland.  This allowed her to utilize the Foundation’s studio, their 1000l gaz kiln and the ability to display her teapots in the collective artists’ annual exhibition.  The purpose of the award is to encourage young artists to practice and enhance the art of contemporary ceramics.  This same year, Fanny won first prize in the third annual international small teapot competition with this teapot entitled 14 guests for tea.

I adore this teapot entitled Poodle Herd.  It is by ceramic artist Kelli Rey from Winnipeg in Canada.  She has a series of functional dishware within the Herd and Friends collection. Most of Kelli’s pieces can be found at Dooryard Pottery, a Canadian gallery that specializes in functional ceramic pieces full of texture, colour and oddity.  The Poodle received much admiration at the 4^th Annual International Small Teapot Competition and will no doubt be recognized at the upcoming Winnipeg Folk Festival this July.

I am sure that we all have at one time or another seen something floating in our teacup that we didn’t think should be there.  But these ceramic cups have little creatures intentionally placed in the interior at the base.  When the warm tea is consumed, brilliantly hand painted butterflies, ducks, turtles, dog faces, bees, cats and hippos slowly become visible to delight tea drinkers as they reach the bottom of the cup. 

January 2009 my New Year’s Resolution was to follow one teapot artist’s work and rejoice in her accomplishments.  I chose Faraday Newsome who resides in the desert with her ceramic artist husband Jeff Reich.  Besides exhibiting in numerous shows throughout the year, the couple upgraded their website, joined a group of philanthropist to help museums and started a newsletter to inform us all of upcoming artsy events.

It was such an enjoyable and obtainable resolution I think I’ll repeat it for 2010.  I look forward to learning more about glass artist Elaine Hyde over the next 12 months.  I do hope you'll join me .   

Once the collection of teapots, or any other adorned object, has for five+ years become a dutiful exercise the question of displaying them then surfaces.  There should be no reason to not expose these precious pieces.  However, keep in mind that it is the teapots to highlight and not the shelving or furniture piece.  Nonetheless, the latter should help accentuate the collection.  One collector of mini teapot ornaments placed her pieces in an old soda pop crate that ultimately frames each little pot.  Another collector chose to paint the shelving a colour that compliments her assorted teapots.  There are many options of how to do so; these will hopefully inspire you to consider exhibiting your own collection.

There is an art to displaying your favorite masterpiece on the wall.  Its surroundings make all the difference in how it is appreciated.  I have found the same for blossoming teas.  First, you would not buy a painting that is musty and crinkled; therefore, only buy flowering teas that are individually wrapped and not crammed in a tin.  Second, be sure there is ample space to visualize the work of art:  the teapot needs to be large enough for the flower to fully bloom.  Third, lighting is what adds drama or draws attention: place blossoming tea in a clear glass teapot, preferably with a votive tea-lit candle below the pot.  The advantage of blossoming tea masterpieces are that you can experience many and never spend what you would on an original oil painting.