Collection Highlights
Jan Huling Beaded Sculpture
“With each new row of beads, I more clearly see the personality of the piece emerging and it tells me what color needs to follow, what line needs to intersect. I listen.”[i] -Jan Huling Jan Huling is known for her meticulous use of seed beads
Beatrice Wood Ceramic Teapots
“Beatrice Wood combines her colors like a painter, makes them vibrate like a musician. They have strength even while iridescent and transparent. They have the rhythm and luster both of jewels and human eyes. Water poured from one of her jars will taste like wine.”[i]–
John Prip Experimental Teapot
“…John Prip has set the standards of excellence in American metalsmithing…As an artist, he has stretched the horizons of the field. As a teacher, he has shared the results of his experiments and encouraged the development of a new – and highly accomplished – generation
Cubism: Cornell and Berman
When we discovered Cubism, we did not have the aim to discover Cubism. We only wanted to express what was in us.[i]-Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque invented Cubism around 1907 in Paris. It is considered one of the most significant artistic innovations of
Industrial Teapots: Walker and Montgomery
This blog post concentrates on another prevalent theme within the Kamm Teapot Collection, art influenced by industry. These objects contain recognizable industrial references such as smokestacks as well as man-made mechanisms and hardware like engines, screws, and bolts. Many of these works utilize the illusionistic
Drawing on Teapots: Weiser and Isupov
For this blog post we will focus on two ceramicists, Kurt Weiser and Sergei Isupov, who are known for covering the surfaces of their designs with drawings. There are many examples of this approach within the Kamm Teapot Collection. Annette Corcoran, Michael Lucero, David Regan,
Historical Ceramics: Saxe and Antemann
The Kamm Teapot Collection contains numerous contemporary works in clay that look to historical ceramic traditions for inspiration. These designs might contain reflections of ancient Chinese pottery or perhaps eighteenth century French porcelain, but they also wholeheartedly exhibit their creator’s “own twists and personality.”[i] Cindy
Funk Art: Arneson and Gilhooly
“Funk art: the art of the absurd, the ridiculous, the exaggerated.”[i] – John Natsoulas In the 1950s and 1960s some American artists began reacting against Abstract Expressionism. They were influenced by the Beat Generation and avant-garde movements such as Dada, Surrealism, and Pop Art.[ii] With
Yixing: Gulotta and Xia
Yixing is a city, a type of clay, and a style of pottery.[i] The city of Yixing is located on the Yangtze River Delta in the Jiangsu providence of China. It is considered the country’s pottery capitol as well as the birthplace of the teapot.[ii]
Trompe l’oeil: Levine, Shaw, Leon
Trompe l’oeil: A French term that means to “deceive the eye.” Artists utilize this illusionistic technique to mislead the senses and effectively “blur the boundaries between real and represented.”[i] Trompe l’oeil has a long rich history. Evidence of this technique can be found among the
Pop Art: Lichtenstein, Haring, Volkov
“Pop Art looks out into the world. It doesn’t look like a painting of something, it looks like the thing itself.”[i] – Roy Lichtenstein Pop Art first broke onto the British art scene in the 1950s.[ii] Derived from Neo-Dada, it was the “brain-child” of a
Bernard Leach Ceramic Teapot
“A potter is one of the few people left who uses his natural faculties of heart, head, and hand in balance…”[i] — Bernard Leach, 1961 Bernard Howell Leach is considered the most influential potter of the twentieth century. He left an irrefutable mark with his writings,