Coming up from April 4th through June 8th Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, in Pittsburgh, will host Teapots!, its 13th invitational exhibition on the one of the most classic, practical, and graceful household items -- the teapot. This year's exhibition will feature works by more than 30 artists that cross a variety of mediums, including ceramics, fiber, glass, metal, wood and mixed media. This quotidian form is amazingly versatile, offering a surprisingly wide range of possibilities. In the exhibition's press release the parameters are laid out by the museum director's personal definition of the tea-lover's vessel: "...Amy Morgan's only requirements for a 'teapot' are a spout, handle and lid--leaving the rest up to the creative discretion of the artist." Such a broad definition leaves, as one can imagine, much for the artist to explore.
There is an interesting array of shapes and uses of material among this year's teapots. Jen Violette, a glass artist and sculptor out of Alfred University, has contributed a blown glass teapot that maintains her usual design quality and interest in garden pattern. Mike da Ponte's surreal teapot is decorated with shocking imagery of teeth and is a piece from a series of his that explores ideas of consumerism. Stephan Cox's bazar and bestial works are almost unrecognizably teapots, speaking to the breadth of possibility the theme allows for. Featured as well this year will be the glass art power couple, Jeremy Popelka and Stephanie Trenchard. Jason Chakravarty has created a gorgeous ceramic pot with a handle of blown glass in the form of an octopus. And the list goes on.
Much of the stimulus for this exhibition comes from Amy Morgan's particular admiration of the teapot. Quoted in the exhibition's release, she states, "What I find most appealing every year is the subtlety of the form, as some artists express their design concepts through a formal structure, while others do so through abstraction and figural work." It will be wonderful to see this tradition continue and the teapot take on more guises surprising new ways.
IF YOU GO:
April 5, 2019 through June 8, 2019
Teapots!13
Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery
5833 Ellsworth Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15232
Website
Tel: 412.441.5200