Object Details
Artist
Peter Shire, born Los Angeles, CA 1947
Luce Center Label
Peter Shire's teapots are constructions of color and shapes built out of slabs of clay. Weathervane Teapot is a balancing act of three-dimensional squares and balls, with squiggly rods and hollow tubes. He hoped that his whimsical pots would break down traditional, class-conscious ideas about "tea-time," making it a practice accessible to all. This teapot asks to be picked up, but leaves us wondering where we should hold it to pour the tea, or if it is capable of pouring at all. Shire stopped making clay teapots in 1985, devoting his time thereafter to building furniture.
Luce Object Quote
"However crazy and fanciful my work appears, I'm still held by function. The teapots I make are borderline, however. They're more involved with a group of shapes and a material." Artist quoted in Artists Design Furniture, 1984
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Donna and John Donaldson in memory of Jean and John Michael on the occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary of the James Renwick Alliance and the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Renwick Gallery
Date
1981
Object number
1997.109.24A-B
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Decorative Arts-Ceramic
Crafts
Medium
glazed ceramic and wood
Dimensions
overall: 12 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 5 1/2 in. (31.8 x 40.0 x 14.0 cm)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Renwick Gallery
On View
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor, 53B
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Abstract
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1997.109.24A-B