Sunday, April 21, 2013

Teapots

Early on in my ceramics journey, someone once said me-"If you want to be successful in ceramics, you better sell teapots."








Thankfully, I take most well-meaning advice "with a grain of salt."

After the first year of doing my "Naked Clay" series,  I began to feel a little stagnant. I wanted to work on something along the lines to maintain the series, but to challenge it and see what other designs might complement it, as well.

 The teapot advice came to mind.

I had never attempted a teapot before.

I wanted to construct one by staying with shapes I was currently working with: orb, vase, and twig forms, along with my traditional spirals and Blue Engobe.

After several unsuccessful marriages of those components, I finally was able to merge them and created  two teapots:

"Exponential Teapot I & Exponential Teapot II"

The following year, they were exhibited in a group show at the Brand Library in Glendale, CA.

Exponential Teapot II sold at opening night. Later I found out, the buyer was a well-known teapot collector, with over 2000 teapots in the collection.

The sale was bitter-sweet for me. On one hand, in addition to catching the attention of a prominent collector, it was the fastest I've ever sold an item and the most money for one. But on the other hand, I missed my teapot. To me, it wasn't just a ceramic piece-- it was unison journey of function and vision--synergized  perfectly together.

I've kept my Exponential Teapot I with me, out of any further exhibitions, until now-17 years later.

I'm hoping the new owner will enjoy it and appreciate the journey of its creation, as much as I did.

You can find it at my Etsy site:

vyktoryas - Etsy