Orca Whale Reassembled Ring Teapot

An artist is always appreciative of serendipity, the unanticipated good occurrence. I was not thinking of an orca whale when I composed this teapot reassembly, but it seems like an appropriate name now. I started with an unusual finned ring with a cross-section vaguely like a long-necked swan. I cut it into five arc sections, curving the woodsman's saw blade as I cut so that each section end had a positive or negative curve to it. I reassembled it into a zig-zaggy "V" composition, and posed it off-line on an oval base. I decided to put the handle just behind the spout, and the lid opening behind it to the far left. I tried several finials, and finally came up with a stylized curvy paisley-pattern teardrop restatement of the swan-profile ring cross-section. I wanted to glaze this teapot glossy black over opaque glossy white, because I had seen on other glazed pieces that the white glaze "boils through" the second black layer, resulting in a rich white-speckled black surface. I mixed up extra black glaze, put it in a wide tub, then laid the teapot on its side and dipped it as far into the black glaze as it would go. After it dried, I turned it over and dipped the other side. The top half of the teapot went into the glaze pool deep enough to completely cover the white first glaze layer, but the oval base was too wide, and prevented the bottom half of the white surface from being completely covered by the black glaze. I stood the teapot up on its base and waited for it to dry, immediately planning to brush-paint the black glaze over the uncovered white sections. As I looked at the teapot however, I noticed that the straight dip lines followed the bumps and curves of the ring sections like a topographical map, adding a subtle surface pattern in black against white to this complicated sculptural composition. Later, after a successful firing, I realized it had the white-under, black-over coloring of a penguin or orca whale. I chose the orca for its name because it is a majestic and noble animal. My friend Topher says the curving patterns of the swan-shaped cross-section, the white-black borderline, and the teardrop lid finial remind him of waves and water, and reinforce the orca whale imagery. I meant to do it all along!

This teapot is held in a private collection in Aspen, CO.