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Kalahari inspired tea pot


Collection: Gray's School of Art Ceramics Collection; Gray's School of Art Collection
Object Type: teapot
Artist/Maker: Buchan, Carol
Date: 1985
Media/Materials: Ceramic
Dimensions: 12.3 cm dia. x 17.5

Description:

Teapot with hyphenated striped decorative pattern. Artist Carol Buchan was inspired by African Art and in particular masks. Her student disertation compared the Kalahari bush tribes and the Benin king ships. Carol was also inspired by the traditional African hand building techniques and her own early was constructed following that tradition. The artist then began to investigate industrial methods of making the same type of shapes to aid the production of multiples of an object. This teapot was slip cast and the model for the base was created on a plaster lathe. This allowed the production of future pieces in greater volume. The decoration also had an African influence in the begining but later pieces had a more playful and colourful decoration which was influenced by circus and fairground imagery. However, the familiar African patterns were still present. Carol also experimented with traditional burnishing and pit firing. This work was created in Gray's School of Art when the artist was a student. Later pieces were fired in an electric kiln. The artist moved to the Borders and continued to make the teapots for a short while and sold them successfully through a local gallery.


Object Number: ABDRG10871