African Elephants Upright Ring Teapot

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.

In addition to my unique reassembled ring teapots, my partner Susan Nykiel and I also make a wide range of functional and elegant pottery pieces. Please visit our new online store at oakbluffspottery.etsy.com to see what we have to offer! This is an excellent place to shop for beautiful handmade pottery for your own home or for your gift-giving pleasure.