TEAPOT WITH ELEPHANT
9.5" x 7.5" x 6" WSKG PRICE: $125
SOLD
In 1983 I went to Bennington College to study painting and never
studied painting because I saw the ceramics studio. For the
first time I saw a pot made on the wheel, and a kiln being
unloaded, and I just loved it right away. It is very hard to
learn pottery, but I have stuck with it all these years and
everything good in my life is connected to clay. I worked as an
apprentice to Dean White in 1985 and learned a lot about the
business of a working potter, and graduated college in 1987.
I wasn't sure what to do for work, and the want ads were full of
jobs for special ed teachers, so I got a graduate assistantship at
University of Illinois Chicago and moved out there and got a
masters as a special ed teacher in 1990. The University had
open pottery studios and I continued working in clay on the side
and teaching classes there and was artist in residence for
awhile. My future wife ran the studio and galleries :)
We started dating and married in 1992. I taught blind and
multi-handicapped students at Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind full
time from 1990-1993 and went back to school to become a reading
specialist. From 1994-1997 my wife and I taught at a boarding
prep school in Massachusetts, Cushing Academy, where I taught
English skills and pottery. I retired teaching in 1997 to
become a potter all the time, and we settled in New Hampshire and
lived there several years before coming to the Ithaca, NY area in
2006.
When we lived in New Hampshire I did dozens of craft fairs
every year, which is back breaking work for a young man, but a lot
of fun. For the last 3 years, although I sell in some shops,
I do most of my selling online and directly from the studio.
Although I have a wonderful home studio I am also an instructor
at Cornell University's Pot Shop. I made this teapot there
and it was fired with their glazes, which are quite different than
my own glazes. I think the shiny blue and matte green are
very pretty in contrast with each other.
I like to make dynamic and colorful shapes, which you see in
this piece. The world is full of ordinary brown pots, and I
like to have fun!
Check out Gary's pottersblog! and at www.garyrith.com!
Art In Motion, 3rd Place 3D winner Gary Rith talks about the piece
that won,
other pieces he has made, and more.
