BUILT TO POUR

When I reflect on my earlier days in clay, especially in Cleveland, I can't help but remember just how many teapots and pitchers (jugs) that I made. They were in every firing be they stoneware, porcelain or terra cotta but over the years there were less and less orders for jugs and teapots seemed to go to specific places and special orders. Since those days I have continued to make both forms and in time they find homes through galleries or now days over the internet. I think back on the tradition I came from, among which there were three Leach pupils, all dedicated to function and purpose and by hook or by crook, I can't see stopping making teapots and pitchers anytime soon.   Illustrated is a healthy size cottage style teapot made of terra cotta covered first in a dark black slip and then over-decorated in "falling leaves" in thin yellow, green and red with a thin clear glaze over the surface. The end result, this cottage teapot is built to pour, holds enough for six (?) and was designed and made to be a standard, functional pot that is as at home in the hand, on a table or adorning a shelf hopefully not just collecting dust.