Tag Archives | Figurative
Octopus Teapot
This octopus-shaped vessel by Miel-Margarita Paredes is a fully functional teapot with a removable lid over the hollow space in the head that forms the body of the teapot, and a curved tentacle forms the spout. Paredes is a metalsmith and artist known for creating sculptures based on naturalistic animal forms. Some themes in her […]
Black Basaltes Swan Teapot
This stoneware teapot is attributed to Sowter & Company, an early 19th century pottery manufacturer. Sowter & Company—also called Mexborough Old Pottery—was one of several pottery companies in the Don Valley area of Yorkshire, England at the time. Other contemporaneous Yorkshire potters include Rock Pottery (also called Mexborough Pottery or Mexbro’ Pottery), Swinton Pottery, Don […]
Kamm Family Teapot Drawing
This drawing was commissioned by the Kamm Teapot Foundation from cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer. Feiffer has drawn and written for numerous projects, including his long-running syndicated comic strip Feiffer and the illustrations for The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. He has won many awards for his work, including a Pulitzer Prize for his political […]
When Pigs Fly
This large teapot sculpture was created by the quilter and bead artist Thom Atkins, and takes the form of a pig riding a winged-dragon. In this sculpture, the spout of the teapot is formed from the open mouth of the dragon, while the handle is formed from the tail of the dragon, which curls upward […]
Grey Bros. 4zz’s
This painting is by the contemporary American artist Gladys Nilsson, who is known for her colorful, often surreal figurative watercolor paintings. She currently teaches painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). During the 1960s and 70s, Nilsson was a part of a loose collection of artists called the Chicago Imagists, or […]
Hidden Identitea
This teapot sculpture is by the contemporary ceramicist Laura, or “Red,” Weldon Sandlin. Sandlin was born in Owensboro, KY, and now lives and works in Decatur Georgia. She began her artistic career as a graphic designer, and switched to clay after taking a ceramics class. Since then, she has been largely self-taught. Sandlin’s ceramic sculptures […]
Aircraft Carrier Teapot
This teapot sculpture by ceramicist Gerry Wallace takes the surprising form of an aircraft carrier warship, which sits on a separate base made in the shape of ocean waves. The spout of the teapot is formed from an airplane at the bow of the aircraft carrier, and the handle is formed of a curling […]
Luck & Flaw Caricature Teapots
These teapots were designed by British satirists Roger Law (b. 1941) and Peter Fluck (b. 1941), who first met and became friends in art school. Each had independent careers illustrating and cartooning before forming the partnership Luck & Flaw in 1975. They began creating three-dimensional caricatures of public figures, which were shown in The New […]
Richard Notkin’s Yixing Teapots
These teapots by the contemporary ceramicist Richard Notkin were created as part of his Yixing series of teapots. Though Notkin is an American artist, many of his works pay homage to traditional styles and forms of the teapots of the Yixing region of China, particularly in the small scale of the teapots and […]