Tuesday, November 11, 1997
Form, function collide
in ‘Tantilizing Teapots’
ART Artists use unique shapes and designs with ancient beverage
vessels
By Dayna Michaelsen
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Craft and Folk Art Museum looks a lot like the crazy tea
party from "Alice in Wonderland" these days. The museum’s latest
exhibit, "Tantalizing Teapots: The Felicitous Union of Form and
Content," open through Feb. 2, showcases more than 100 teapots of
all shapes, sizes, colors and inspirations.
The teapots on display are just a small portion of the private
collection of Gloria and Sonny Kamm. Longtime collectors of
contemporary art and studio glass, the Kamms have amassed thousands
of pieces. They range from rare originals costing thousands of
dollars, to inexpensive flea market finds. While some of the
teapots are functional, others are clearly meant as works of
art.
In some cases, the teapot is the artist’s canvas to be decorated
with elaborate drawings, paintings and designs. In other instances
it is a sculpture taking on unique and exiting shapes. Most often
it is a combination of both.
The artists on display in the "Tantalizing Teapot" exhibit have
played with all aspects of the teapot, from shape and design, to
color and the material they are made from. Some have tweaked the
teapot so much that they’re not even recognizable as such.
Very few of the pieces on display have the shape of the
traditional teapot. They share only the barest essential
characteristics necessary to earn the status: the lid, the spout
and the handle. Even these essentials come in varying shapes and
sizes. For example, the lid of Annette Corcoran’s "Red Shouldered
Hawk" is a bird of prey perched atop an intricately carved pyramid.
Here, a curious onlooker can find a rare crossing of nature and
domesticity, where a culinary container takes the shape of a
bird.
The majority of the teapots currently on display in the gallery
are contemporary American pieces, but there is great variety in the
exhibit. From the giant silver tea set to the riot of red wire that
has been twisted to loosely resemble a teapot, the display ranges
from the traditional to the abstract, clearly displaying the scope
of historical knowledge involved in the craft of the exhibit
pieces.
Jean Davidson, a volunteer curator for the exhibit, counts Brian
Kurt Peshek’s "Aluminum Teapot" among her favorites. Davidson
humorously notes that this swirl of thin metal pipe that has only
the shape of a teapot "would certainly not pour tea." Here, a pot
takes on an abstract artistic aesthetic as opposed to a realistic
functional purpose.
Many teapots in the exhibit have been inspired by pop culture.
David Gilhooly’s "Frogs with Oreos" is a comic combination of
happy-looking amphibians and those great American cookies. Hap
Sakwa’s "Las Vegas Teapot" is a mosaic of pictures and relics
rooted in American culture, including small Disney figurines and
old-fashioned shooting marbles. As works of art, the teapots again
reflect history. The time period in which they were crafted remains
forever etched in these "pop-culture teapots."
The huge variety in "Tantalizing Teapots" shows in the sizes of
the teapots as well. A tiny Shirley Temple tea set is placed across
the room from a very large work from Michael Lucero’s Female Roman
Statue Reclamation Series. For this particular work, Lucero has
replaced the head of a broken statue with a colorful teapot.
Delicate teapots of the finest glass reside here along with teapots
of metal and earthenware.
Many of the pots in the museum are also arranged by theme. There
is a case of those shaped like animals, where turtles, pigs, pandas
and squirrels have been made into teapots. In light of the recently
passed holiday, there are Halloween teapots shaped like ghosts,
goblins, pumpkins, and more. Davidson even calls a set of teapots
"a salute to the Industrial Era," where one, for example, in the
form of an automobile engine looks like it should pour oil and not
tea.
Intertwined with these colorful teapots throughout the gallery
is the story of tea itself. The exhibit does not stop at the visual
level of learning but adds the textual aspect as well. Along with
brief histories of the tradition of tea in Japanese and English
cultures is the tale of how the drink has evolved throughout the
centuries.
During the Tang dynasty in China, blocks of tea leaves were
simply shredded and boiled with salt into a murky liquid. Things
improved in the Tang dynasty when tea was made from finely powdered
leaves beaten with a bamboo whisk until a light foam formed.
As time went on, many tea-makers began adding fillers like sheep
droppings and sage to their tea to sell it more cheaply. Reputable
dealers began packaging their tea in individual packets to ensure
quality, and the tea bag was born. America has also had a role in
the recent history of tea through its contribution of iced tea.
To learn the history along with enjoying the actual teapots, the
Craft and Folk Art Museum is offering several events in conjunction
with the "Tantalizing Teapot" exhibit. There are lectures,
discussions with ceramics scholars, and traditional Japanese and
English tea ceremonies. In addition, children and adults alike can
decorate their own teapots and cups.
Throughout the world, tea is second in popularity only to water.
It is a good thing, then, that artists such as the ones whose work
is on display, continue to create beautiful, comic and provoking
ways to serve it.
ART: The "Tantalizing Teapots" exhibit is on display through
Feb. 2 at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, 5800 Wilshire Blvd.
Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for students with ID. For
information, call 213-937-5544.
Craft and Folk Art Museum
The "Las Vegas Teapot" is one of many unusual works on display
at the Craft and Folk Art Museum.