This Friday, May 18 OCAC Metals Department will be hosting their Annual Tea Party featuring teapots handcrafted by the 3rd year students from the Metals Department. In the 3rd Year Teapot Class, students design and create – through raising and forming, large scale soldering and fitting processes – a functional, sterling silver teapot in this intensive course. They make decisions about construction methods and design, choose materials for handles, and study historical and contemporary examples of teapots and other hollowware. The course, essential to the vocabulary of a metalsmith, has traditions dating back to ancient history that are still practiced today. Techniques associated with creating a hand-made teapot give students the opportunity to leave OCAC and make a living through creation of utilitarian objects. They also come away understanding design and function and how to balance these two components.
image: Lizzy Gladstone, 2011
To celebrate this annual event and possibly entice readers interested in the subject to explore more about teapots and teapot making, the library has selected Garth Clark’s amazing book on the subject, The Eccentric Teapot: four hundred years of invention. As the stated in the book cover, this book “introduces us to some of the most sublime, outrageous, and exotic teapots ever to grace a Mad Hatter’s tea party”! There are portrait teapots of Oscar Wilde, Brooke Shields, and Queen Elizabeth. Teapots that resemble lions, tigers, and bears–Oh My! And teapots that are “so far removed from the concerns of function that they resemble nothing so much as drawings of teapots”! The result is a fun and exhilarating romp through a colorful gallery of idiosyncratic designs that begin to boggle the imagination and stretch one’s notion of the relationship between form and function! Also the concept of beauty – or what is beautiful – since many (at least IMHO) of the results are profoundly ugly but always always always provocative and thought-provoking!
Check it out!
The teapot I think, is the very best example of a form and or function item. They are such fun, can also be elegant and capable of dispensing my favorite beverage. Enjoyable post!
I agree! What interests me about many of the teapots in the book is how they attempt to debunk the function of the teapot (essentially make it unusable) and yet still communicate “teapotness” through the language of form. Really interesting! Thanks for commenting! Best, Kevin.
I love this and wish I could see all the teapots. Great poster!!!
Thank you! Always glad to hear someone has enjoyed one of our picks! It’s definitely worth tracking down a copy of the book to see all the strange and wonderful things that artists have done with the teapot! Thanks again. Best, Kevin.
Just to let you know that I have passed the “One Lovely Blog” award on to you.
Thank you!
Oh, so cool! That is very kind of you. Thank you! Best, Kevin.
You are very welcome.
Love it!
Hi Jenyjenny! Glad you liked this week’s pick! I really like it too.
Best, Kevin.
Us British LOVE our tea!!…fab teapots!! :0)
Ha! Yes, so I’ve heard
We love our tea in Portland too – although I think coffee gets more press (pun not intended – well sorta). Thanks for commenting! Best, Kevin.
Oh, I LOVE teapots!
Than you will definitely LOVE this book! SO many teapots! Great images. It is eye candy (to say the least) at its sweetest. Thanks for commenting! Best, Kevin.
Wonderful post. This is an excellent practice! How long has the Oregon College or Art and Craft been doing this?
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed the post! I can’t say for sure how long the tea ceremony has been going on here, but I would venture to guess that at least a decade if not decades. It’s really a fantastic experience to interact with the student’s work and talk with the artists about them! Thanks for commenting! Best, Kevin.
I think making a teapot is engineering, almost…So many little things to think about, will the water pour down properly, what about the weight, and the lock! The lock must not fall down! But such a satisfaction, if you make a good, and maybe funny, maybe beautiful, teapot!
I totally agree! It is engineering! So many variables ….. Thanks for commenting! Best, Kevin.
Again, the more of your blog I read the more I want to come and be a student!
Ha! That is such a kind thing to say!!! Helps validate our efforts on the blog. Thank you. So great to hear! Best, Kevin
Definitely up my alley! great post
Hi Maryanne, Glad you like this week’s pick! It’s a really great book. I hope you’re able to get a copy from your local library! Best, Kevin.
Lovely post.
Now you’re speaking my language! mmmmm tea mmmmmmm crumpets mmmmmm biscuits mmmmmm tea…….