Teapots: From Wild Goat to He Goat: From Dada to Goya

 This strange , organic teapot really captured my imagination . This Raku ceramic, called  ‘Wild Goat teapot – Homage to Paul Soldner’  is by Nina de Creeft Ward from The Beatrice Wood Centre for the Arts.  I don’t know who Paul Soldner is, I just hope he was pleased with the wild goat reference!  This teapot reminded me of a painting by Spanish artist and Printmaker Francisco de Goya'(1746 -1828).  The painting goes under several names;  ‘The Great He Goat’ or ‘The Coven,’ or ‘Witches Sabbath’ in 1820 -23.  The painting  shows a number of grotesque witches at their sabbath with Satan as the guest of honour.  Some of the faces of the witches are truely terrifying.  ‘The Witches Sabbath’ is one of a series of what is known as  Goya’s Black Paintings.  These paintings were done in later life  (1819 – 1823)  by a very depressed  Goya, after he had survived two near fatal illnesses.  They are dark and full of fear and show the artist’s anxiety.

The artist who the Arts Centre is named after (where the teapot came from) is Beatrice Wood and she was a very interesting character.  This American artist  and studio potter was born 1893 and died in 1998.  In later life she became known as the ‘Mama of Dada’ a movement 1916 – 1922.   I shall be writing about (eventually).  An interesting fact about her is that the character of Rose DeWitt Bukater in the 1997 film Titanic was partially based on her.

I have had a look at her biography, which is fascinating and I must write about (eventually) and have found out who Paul Soldner was.  He was an American ceramicist born in 1921 and his work is quite exciting!  See it on his website HERE

Another of my teapot posts:  Teapots are like a box of chocolate – you never know what you’re going to get’