: The teapot has been called the most perfect of inventions. The
emotional associations of the vessel are as potent as a strong
brew. Friendly to use, warm to the touch, plump and comforting,
the teapot forever dispenses cheer in our lives.
A teapot strategically placed in theatrical or movie scenes or as
illustrations in magazines and advertisements, acts as an icon
for home and hearth. For 500 years, the teapot has served as the
spouted, steaming engine of hospitality.
"The Artful Teapot: Twentieth Century Expressions from the Kamm
Collection," on display February 1-May 30, at the Mint Museum of
Craft and Design, explores the teapot as an inventive vehicle for
artistic expression.
"The Artful Teapot" is an exhaustive romp of sometimes
bewildering forms, ranging from the elegant Chinese Yixing teapot
(where this wonderful, functional object was first invented) to
the infinite possibilities of form, surface and glaze employed by
the artists of the Twentieth Century in transforming the teapot
into an inventive canvas for commentary on topics as diverse as
politics, sex, dreams, religion, history, architecture, satire
and angst-laden relationships.
The majority of the 250 teapots by more than 100 artists on
display in "The Artful Teapot" are created by living artists,
including leading craft luminaries as Richard Notkin, Betty
Woodman, Adrian Saxe, Ralph Bacerra, Peter Shire, David Gilhooly
and Michael Lucero. Many fine artists were commissioned by
California collectors Sonny and Gloria Kamm to create many of the
teapots. Others were selected from series designed by artists
such as Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring and Cindy Sherman.
Architects and designers are also represented by the likes of
talent such as Christopher Dresser, Walter Gropius and Michael
Graves. The anonymous folk potter and the outsider artists also
have a place at this most eclectic table.
No surprise then, that teapots made from tin cans, ivory, rock
salt, beads, coconuts and ostrich eggs compete for the viewer's
perceptual attention as strongly as teapots that solicit an
aesthetic appreciation for the workmanship with traditional
teapot materials such as ceramic, glass and metal.
"One of the great challenges for an artist is to make a great
teapot," stated guest curator Garth Clark. "It's a matter of
proportion, balance and function. You've got to be able to
produce a main body balanced against two linear elements, the
spout and handle. It sounds easy, but it's actually quite a
difficult thing to do, even more so it you're going to do
something distinctive and unique."
"The Artful Teapot" carries on a dialogue with its own past and
present and even does so through diverse cultural voices by
artists Ettore Sottsass, Piet Stockmans, Ah Leon and Arman. The
exhibition also features archival drawings, photographs, prints
and a video that documents
"Timeless Teapots: Selections from the Mint Museum of Art
Collection," will be on display February 28-July 17 at the Mint
Museum of Art on Randolph Road. The exhibition provides an
historic and cultural background to the western practice of tea
that began in Europe in the late Seventeenth Century. Featured
will be 300 years of teapots from leading European potteries such
as Meissen, Staffordshire and Wedgwood and leading American and
North Carolina potteries and potters.
Barring the Nineteenth Century addition - the built-in sieve to
hold back tea leaves, the basic teapot form has withstood the
onslaughts of many designers intent on improving it, resisting
five centuries of reinvention.
The Mint Museum of Craft + Design is located at 220 North
Tryon Street. For information, www.mintmuseum.org or
704-337-2000.
