The form of the teapot is an unusual double-gourd shape known throughout Asia. Its balloon-shaped body helps prevent bitterness in the brewing of the tea leaves. Bresnahan threw the two parts of the pot separately on a wheel and then joined them together.The double gourd makes pleasant, gurgling sounds created when liquids are poured from it. Because the handle is usually the first part of a pot to break off (witness all the broken handles on ancient pottery), Bresnahan collaborated with artist Paul Krueger to create a more durable handle. Krueger experiments with different textures, colors, and weaving patterns for each of Bresnahan's teapot forms. Two artists using two very different media--hard, fired clay and flexible reeds--have produced a pot with beauty, strength, and functionality that goes beyond the materials if each was used separately. Unlike glazed ware, which has a glassy, hard surface, this teapot has a warm, soft surface texture with flashes of rich color produced by the firing process. In a world full of precisely named, manufactured chemical dyes, Bresnahan prefers the "spirit of the color" that is created through the natural process of firing pottery with a wood fire.
|