Teapot 1999

Leila Denecke made this lovely ‘Teapot’ sometime in her career, and here it sits at the Minneapolis Institute of Art! I wonder what Denecke was thinking when she made it. I imagine she felt a lot of warmth from the clay. It seems she had to be very strong and also delicate to get it just right. The speckled glaze is really lovely. When I look at it, I feel like I’m in the woods and there’s sunlight dappling the ground. It almost feels like a painting – a really great abstract painting, where the artist is just letting the medium do its thing. I think artists are always in conversation with each other, across time. And I think Denecke’s work is part of that conversation. It's a beautiful piece, and it makes me want to go home and make something myself.