Teapots: Morgan Exhibit Steeped In Style

Clearly, few objects are as widespread and recognizable as the teapot. From the traditional Japanese ritual tea ceremony known as “Chanoyu” to the modern-day childhood tea party, the teapot has played a central role in the history of tea drinking dating as far back as the 16th century, when the Chinese first created an unglazed teapot of brown or red stoneware for steeping tea leaves.
In 1610, Dutch importers brought tea to Europe, and along with it came the teapot, which at that time was relatively small and broad-based, having a spout and handle.

By the beginning of the 18th century, the Chinese were making teapots of fine glazed porcelain with blue and white designs, primarily for export to England where the demand for both tea and teapots was burgeoning. Thereafter, the English began to produce their own fine porcelain teapots, which today are highly prized among collectors.

In fact, teapot collecting itself has grown to become wildly popular worldwide. So it’s not surprising to find an exhibition of teapots right here in Pittsburgh. Featuring at least 50 teapots by more than 29 artists from around the country, the second annual invitational exhibition “teapots!” — currently on display at Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery in Shadyside — presents some of the coolest looking teapots you may ever see, even though not a single one is intended to contain what is clearly one of the world’s favorite hot beverages.

Your granny’s teapot these are not. Instead they are all primarily nonfunctional. In fact, some of the works on view are not teapots at all, but take the form of jewelry, freestanding sculpture, even a photogram. And that photogram is a picture of a tea bag. Not a teapot.
“I didn’t really care that each piece takes the teapot form,” gallery owner Amy Morgan says about making her selections for this show.

Last year’s inaugural exhibition was very popular, leaving local collectors wanting more. So, even though this is a glass gallery, Morgan decided to widen the scope of the exhibition and consider other media. And in each case, all who were invited were encouraged to explore the teapot form literally, metaphorically or otherwise.

“This year we decided to expand,” Morgan says. “I had to do a little more research to find people who I thought were at the top or close to the top of their game in other media. When I sat down to really explore it, I found so many people that were really doing wonderful work in their own little areas of expertise. And I realized that they can really be incorporated into a show that speaks to what I do here in the gallery.”

That means that among a plethora of glass works, visitors will find teapots made of turned wood, ceramic, metal, even fiber, as is the case with three quilted teapots by Mary Beth Bellah. One of which, “Tea Party,” is made almost entirely of fabric printed with champagne bottles and is topped with a real champagne cork. Another, titled “Hand Me A Teapot,” has a small porcelain doll hand at the top as a knob.

Woodturner Cliff Lounsbury shows two teapot sculptures made from wood burl. Neither is a vessel capable of holding liquid though, which is entirely noticeable with “Risen,” which the viewer can see right through the natural holes in the amboynia wood it is made of.

Speaking of nonfunctional, there is no mistaking whether or not the teapots in “Nine Teapots” by Stephanie Trenchard are functional. That’s because each of the nine vibrantly colored glass teapots are encased in solid but clear glass blocks.

Metalsmith Kristin Lora presents two of the tiniest teapots in the show — “Mini Dotted Teapot on Wheels” and “Silo.” The former is all of 3 inches tall and sits on four tiny wheels. The latter, which is a little taller, looks like a grain silo, as the title implies, but also has very small figurines of farm animals inside and at the top and base.

Often seen as an anthropomorphic object, teapots can speak about cultural experiences, rituals and even spiritual practices, and that’s also true of some of the works in this show. For example, Paul Nelson’s blown-glass teapots have a Middle Eastern flair, sporting curling handles and upright spouts, much like the “bottles” or oil lamps of the legendary “Genie in a bottle” lore.

Also having cultural connotations is Christopher McElroy’s “Slickrock Creek Cirque Teapot,” which, with its simulated-bamboo glass handles, has a decidedly Japanese look.

Some teapots allow the viewer to call up memories or connotations of an imaginary kind, such as Paul Counts’ appropriately titled Dr. Seuss teapots, which have all the swirls and squiggles one would expect, and in blown glass no less.

David Peters’ mixed media teapots reveal his personal passion for flying vintage airplanes. Each is built around vintage airplane parts — “Tea Over the Rocks” being fashioned from a 1951 fuel filter and “High Desert Tea” having a 1942 air oil separator as its body. Both are covered in aeronautical navigation charts to which Peters has added various gauges and pipes.

As to be expected, the show includes many whimsical works, such as one tea set made to look like a group of flying saucers. But most hilarious is Meryl Ruth’s “Pink Pearl Puggetbook.” A ceramic teapot made to look like a pink quilted handbag, it comes complete with two pug dogs with their heads popping out of either side as if going along for the ride.

“I should have started this long ago,” Morgan says, looking over the show. “First of all, I love doing it. It’s always a challenge to find new things to exhibit. Second, I have always loved doing a show that’s thematic. It’s fun.”

This article was taken from: pittsburghlive.com