African Elephants Upright Ring Teapot
14" tall x 13" wide x 4" deep
In my first upright ring teapots I tried to relate the teapot
form to the endangered animals attached. I gouged, scraped, and
scratched the surface of this ring to suggest the leaves and tree
bark that are the African elephants main food source in their
jungle habitat. To further this reference I glazed the teapot in
various matt and glossy greens, purples, browns, and blacks. I had
already put the ridged and double-curved elephant-trunk
spout on the South American Jaguars Upright Ring Teapot, and I used
it again on this teapot to echo the sculpted animal-figure elephant
trunks. I placed the adult mother elephant figure with tusks inside
the ring, and added a baby elephant on the lid facing a second baby
elephant perched on the trunk-shaped spout. I was encouraged by
the acceptance of this piece in the National Teapot Show III,
held at the Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor, North Carolina, July-September
1996.
This teapot is held in a private collection in West Orange, New
Jersey.
|