a journey to the artists, origins and work of American craft
Richard Notkin,
Pyramidal Skull Teapot, Military
Intelligence I, Yixing Series, 1989.
When craft artists use
their art forms to
reveal their passions,
their objects are
imbued with special meanings. As
we view and use the objects they
create, we are invited to not only
appreciate their beauty and form, but
also consider the ideas
they convey.
Richard Notkin’s
work is infused with a
profound concern for
humanity. Notkin uses
clay, a traditional material, to visually express
his political concerns
about government, war, the Holocaust, and other social issues.
Notkin conveys his messages
through teapots, tiles, and other
sculptural forms. In speaking about
the teapot, he calls it “the most
complex of vessels, consisting of
body, handle, spout, lid, and knob.”
He redefines its purpose without
compromising its essential form.
Like the intricate Chinese Yixing teapots that inspired his work,
Notkin’s pots are richly detailed and
skillfully crafted.
Like his teapots, Notkin’s tiles
also function as vehicles for political commentary. When seen from
a distance, The Gift, a mural made
from 1,106 ceramic tiles, depicts the
mushroom cloud of the 1946 Bikini
Atoll nuclear test. Each tile individually depicts images such as skulls,
ears, and dice. Notkin’s works are
not subtle; nor are they hard to
interpret.
Meaning in the work of blacksmith Tom Joyce is equally profound but far less direct. Joyce talks
about iron having a “memory.” He
takes iron pieces forged years ago
and transforms them into bowls,
gates, tables, and other objects. As
he recycles iron fragments from the
past, he remembers those who have
used them. For Joyce, metal holds
the emotions and energies of every-
one who has touched it.
Some of his projects
accentuate the notions of
fragments and memory.
In creating Rio Grande
Gates for the Albuquer-
que Museum of Art, he
transformed oil drums
and other ferrous refuse
gathered from the banks of the Rio
Grande river.
Community members also contribute to his work by donating
metal objects with personal memories and meanings. A baptismal font
created for a Santa Fe church was
forged with items offered by the congregation, such as hardware from a
home destroyed by fire.
“I believe that the aesthetic impact of a work
of art is not proportional to its size, but to its
content. It is not the objects created which are
of prime importance, but the lives of people
who may be touched in significant ways. —Richard Notk”in
