Richard Notkin - American Ceramicist

Heart Teapot: Hostage/Metamorphosis IV, Yixing Series

Richard Notkin, 20th Century Solutions Teapot: With or Without Reason, detail, Yixing Series, 2003

Hexagonal Curbside Teapot, Variation #23, Yixing Series, 2006

Nuclear Nuts Teapot, Variation #13, Yixing Series, 2001

Richard Notkin is an American ceramist who currently lives and works in Helena, Montana. He earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1970, and his MFA from University of California, Davis in 1973. He is known for his re-interpretations of the Yixing teapot, some examples shown here, which pay homage teapots from Yixing, China.

The original craft of teapots from Yixing, China are made with "purple clay" which absorb the flavors of the tea over time. Thus,  each teapot becomes specific to its owners' style of tea, developing its own uniqueness with each use. As such, most of these teapots were intended for single serving use, and each person was to use their own teapot.

Notkin explains in ceramicstoday.com that he vessel of choice is the teapot because it is the most complex, and gives him a wide variety of ways in which to express his images, social commentaries, and narrative pieces. He also believes that since the teapot is such a familiar vessel, that it, in a sense, grabs the initial interest of the viewer but then they have to continue looking in order to discern its meaning or narrative imagery, which speak  of  our civilization's current situations and symbols. 

Cube Skull Teapot, Variation #23, Yixing Series, 2000

Information learned from:
www.ceramicstoday.com/potw/notkin
www.estatetea.com/yixing