Chihiro Makio ... from jewlery to teapots

Simple, yet interesting jewelry is what I like to create. The most basic shapes such as circles and squares can be very interesting if they have character. I do not use decorative gemstones in my pieces because those stones tend to become the focal point of the jewelry. Rather, I create something interesting and pleasing to the eye and skin, by combining different shapes and textures of the metal. The colors I use on my pieces are often glass seed beads and sequins, and they are as beautiful as precious stones. I believe that it is my techniques and labor that’s making this jewelry valuable, not the value of precious stones.

I feel that the most important aspect to my jewelry is its craftsmanship. I often feel under-appreciated when I am referred to as a “designer”, because it sounds so far removed from the creation of the work itself. When I start working on a piece, a lot get changed in the process. Sometimes it evolves into something completely different than what was originally in my sketchbook. More often than not, something much better is created. Even though I have been working with silver for approximately thirteen years now, each design offers a completely different way of working with the material. Every design gives me new ideas but also some challenges I have to “figure out” a solution for.

Another very important aspect of my jewelry is its functionality. I find a lot of very innovative and beautiful jewelry out there that are non-functional as jewelry. I can’t imagine some of those would be comfortable to wear. My jewelry needs to be worn for a full appreciation. That is why I pay great attention to its shape, weight and volume so that the wearer can be totally comfortable while wearing it.

Jeff Lloyd Dever - Polymer Clay Teapots and Jewlery

Jeff Dever received his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Atlantic Union College in 1976 and has been in the field of graphic design and illustration ever since. He is founding partner of the award-winning studio Dever Designs (1985) and its subsidiary Fresh Art, located in Laurel, Maryland. He is on the adjunct faculty for illustration and graphic design at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, and as a teacher/consultant at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. He is a consulting Art Director for American Style Magazine and is responsible for the design of the article "Movers and Shapers" on polymer clay in the summer 1999 issue in which editors selected some of his polymer work. Jeff's 3-D illustrations have received numerous awards and his vessels have been represented in several national survey exhibitions. One of the highlights of his polymer clay career was to be present at Ravensdale 2000 and to have the privilege of being on its faculty.

http://www.finecraftnetwork.com/AM/Artists/DeverJ/DeverJ.html

Greg Fidler - Crude

ARTIST STATEMENT

The familiar essence of glass is derived from a manufactured utilitarian need. Processes in hand forming glass undermine these attributes and in effect give my work purpose.
It is my desire to produce sculpture that communicates progression while paying respect to traditional processes and their survival in the present. My ideas owe more to natural forms and my deference for the material than to consciousness obscurity.

ARTIST BIO

Greg was born in 1970 and raised in the Catawba Valley of North Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Science in Cultural Anthropology from Franklin Pierce College in 1993.
Greg has worked with numerous glass artists from Maine to Seattle, while attending classes at the Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck Glass School, and Haystack School of Crafts. He graduated from The University of Illinois MFA Sculpture program in 2001 and is currently an Artist in Residence at Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC.

Richard Swanson

FIGURATIVE SCULPTURE/TEAPOTS
An important aspect of all my figurative sculpture, teapots included, is the way forms relate and flow together. I am constantly combining and simplifying to enhance movement/rhythm/unity. My work is informed by historical examples--Yixing teapots, Inuit carvings, Pre-columbian ceramics, African sculpture and Japanese netsuke carvings. I admire the concise vocabulary of these pieces, their use of every day life as subject matter, their compact format and their straightforword but unique way of relating figurative elements. In much of this work, the traditions of sculpture and function come together in a way that transcends ordinary ornamentation.

Matt Wilt - Industrial Teapots

My work is inspired by historical ceramics as well as the flotsam and jetsam of contemporary culture. Moche ceramics of Pre-Columbian Peru are a powerful influence, both technically complex and sculpturally compelling. The richness embodied by these ancient clay vessels drives me to make work that is emotive, reflective of my world-view, and visually demanding of the viewer. Moche artists drew from every facet of life: plants, animals, architecture, the human body, the divine and the mundane of existence. I strive to work in this manner as well, combining objects and forms from the diverse culture and society in which I live, the United States of America in the 21st century. Initially, this approach resulted in vessels derived from street trash such as mufflers and styrofoam cups, buoy forms on the Delaware River, and the urban architecture of Philadelphia. In recent years my work has become less vessel-oriented, though research into historical ceramics has continued to feed my ideas. Often my forms will seem to suggest a specific function or use, but the use is ambiguous; a hybrid of the known world with a less concrete reality. This newer work also draws from a catalogue of forms that are suggestive in nature. In Philip Rawson's book Ceramics, he refers to memory traces, and the power of forms to evoke thoughts and memories. This is similar to the way we associate colors with emotional states or meanings. By incorporating forms that are symbolic and suggestive, I attempt to engage the viewer in a process of decoding.

Ceramic Like Stone

Barbara Frey is another that makes clay (porcelain) look like something it is not ... her teapots / work looks like stacked stones ! Even in person you would not guess it was clay

Teapots are a form everyone can relate to

Teapots are a form everyone can relate to - and with all of the creativity out there, they are certainly something everyone can be fascinated with ... it is not just something your grandmother collected anymore. Artists around the world are using different forms, materials, visions ... to interpret their style into a form known as a teapot.

Steve Hanson is one artist I really love. He uses clay, but makes the surface look like metal - the themes of his works are very interesting from the graphics to the forms. His newest pieces get into Politics and Propaganda ... www.functionart.com