NEHMA | Collection - Teapot 9502

Chris Gustin

American, b. 1952

Teapot 9502
1996

Stoneware
9 x 9.5 x 7 in. (22.86 x 24.13 x 17.78 cm)
Gift of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation
1999.17

Is Chris Gustin’s Teapot 9502 actually a teapot? A human form? Its scale and shape are rich with suggestions stemming from both vessel and figurative traditions. The vertical “spout” form alludes to the original function of the teapot, while its abstracted “lid” and “handle” resemble the head and upper body of a figure with an infant in its arms. Teapot 9502, with its soothing chamomile color, elicits emotional reactions from every angle.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Gustin developed an interest in the ceramics medium growing up around his family’s ceramic manufacturing companies in Southern California. At the age of eighteen, he spent two years helping run the family business at Wildwood Ceramics. He earned his BFA in ceramics from Kansas City Art Institute in 1975, and his MFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1977. Gustin taught ceramics until his retirement in 1999. He also cofounded the artist residency at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine, and established the Gustin Ceramics Tile Production Company.

Sara Morris

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