Mountain Gorillas Recumbent Ring Teapot

Soon after I began making upright ring teapots, I started to think about ways to vary the teapot composition and upright format. Here I made a round cross-section ring, and when is was still soft but stiff enough to handle without denting, I picked up one side and draped it over some sponges wrapped in plastic. I sculpted an adult silverback mountain gorilla figure and positioned it as if it were holding up the curved recumbent ring, and perched a juvenile gorilla figure on the lid. I glazed the teapot in bands of brown and gray over the bronze green matt, to suggest the highland grassy jungle habitat of the vegetarian African mountain gorillas. I did not return to this “recumbent ring teapots” idea until I later tried orienting reassembled ring teapot compositions in horizontal formats, but this was an early idea variation I would return to in my later sculptural work. This teapot was also accepted in the “National Teapot Show III,” held at the Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor, North Carolina, July-September 1996.

This teapot was damaged beyond repair in a later exhibition and is unavailable.

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.