Teapot 1999

Leila Denecke made this Teapot with clay, and some kind of glaze, sometime after 1950. I love how it just sits there, radiating a feeling of usefulness. Look at the way Denecke has left the marks of making so visible. You can see the textures created by the potter’s wheel, and the slightly uneven glaze, thick in some places, thin in others. It is as if she wants us to remember that this object was made by hand. I’m really drawn to the point where the spout joins the body of the teapot. The glaze seems to pool here, creating a darker, richer tone that suggests the warmth of the liquid held within. It reminds me of Agnes Martin. Like her, Denecke manages to make something quietly powerful from simple materials. In the end, art is about possibility, and the potential for something beautiful to emerge from the most humble of beginnings.