The full name of this sculpture is Rocky Start (Koi) Teapot, and it was created for exhibition at Teapots! 10th Artists Invitational at the Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA. (Opened April 1, 2016. View catalog of all artists’ work. View article covering the show.) As was true of the Eclipse Teapot, created for the Morgan’s 2010 Teapots!, this sculpture is the result of a collaboration with my husband, Lindsay, who kindly took on many of its woodworking challenges. Although Rocky Start certainly would suffer if real tea were put in it, it does include the normal features of a teapot: a body, lid, handle and spout or pouring lip.
The sculpture took approximately three months to complete. Its “body” is composed of an Australian brown mallee burl which has been partially hollowed and the pouring lip carved out. The rocky “handle” and base support (now covered in beadwork) are carved out of maple. The peyote-stitched (beadwork) lily pond, on the upper level, forms the lid and features a lotus blossom as the finial. Beneath the pond-lid, a wooden disk fits into a socket to cover the opening into teapot. Also worked in peyote stitch are the waterfall and the pond with a fish (the fish having a small wooden core).
Rocky Start (Koi) Teapot
Design & beadwork by Leslie B. Grigsby; woodworking & assembly assistance by Lindsay Grigsby
Australian brown mallee burl (carved & burned), maple (carved), glass seed beads (peyote stitch), thread
Overall length: (approx.) 15″
Exhibited: Loan exhibition. Private Thoughts: Beadwork Sculpture by Leslie Grigsby for the New York Ceramics & Glass Fair, NYC (January 18 [preview] through 22, 2017); Teapots! 10th Artists Invitational, Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA (April – May 2016)
Available for purchase
The below images show the teapot when it was a bit less than halfway completed. On the handle/rock, small holes indicate where I eventually would attach the beadwork. Roughly sketched outlines indicate where coloration changes in the beaded rock would take place.
Leslie B. Grigsby Beadwork 