Mom always had a kiln at home in our garage so we grew up making bowls, dishes, cups, animals, etc.  She also taught children’s art classes in the 60s and 70s first at home and then at the La Jolla Contemporary Museum of Art and at Bishop’s School in La Jolla, so not only our family but the entire community had the opportunity to experience the pleasures of creating artful and functional clay pieces.

 

I  made this teapot at a ceramics class I took with my mother and friend Dana at Mira Costa College in San Diego County; this class focused on hand-building styles, not the wheel.  White clay was first rolled into slabs with sun and tree impressions made, cut into triangular shapes for the body, lid and spout, and then finished with rolled handles.  The celadon glaze is one of my favorites.  The teapot is fully functional of course!