Between 1980 and early 1990, I gave myself a challenge to create unique hand built porcelain teapots that were unlike anything anyone had seen before.  It was the beginning of a series of sculptures that I dubbed, “Geometric Teapots.” 

I began each of the pieces the same way, with a drawing compass and a piece of paper.  Once I had the basic 2D design I liked, I spent hours lying awake at night, figuring a way to turn it into a 3D object. Next, I built a paper model of the 3D idea, followed by cutting templates of each of the shapes that would be used to create the final piece.  Using the templates, I transferred the design onto a porcelain slab, and I cut out each piece with an X-Acto knife. Blow Fish had around 56 pieces and Teapot 4 was my final work and it had 73!

Below are some of the sculptures I created during this time period. The earliest, Blow Fish, was from my college senior year and remains one of my most favorite pieces of artwork to date.

Blowfish, 1980, 4.5 x 4.5 x 5 inches