More Fanciful Teapots

Rebecca Mazur (aka Zimmerman), Untitled Teapot, 2001, 9″h x 7″w x 7″d

I asked Rebecca how she came by the powerful graphics in her work.  When she told me that she had taught elementary school art for ten years, that explained a good deal about the allure of her bold colors and the humor inherent in her animated figures. And when she explained that she grew up under the tutelage of her architect father, I understood the nature of her overall design, where many components are assembled to complete a unified structure.

Rebecca spoke to me about her inspiration for these later teapots:

“Most of my teapots are intended to appear animated…as if, when the owner is not looking, the piece would have the ability to secretly walk or dance about.  My inspiration came from my love of color, texture and animation… Dr. Seuss, Tim Burton, ideas that came in dreams. (I made these pieces) for my own pleasure with the hope that others would find them appealing and delightful as well.”

Here’s what she had to say about the piece above:

“I experimented with chip carving the surface before embellishing it.  I thought that the chip carving gave the base the look of hammered metal.  My brother is a metalsmith…I have played around with forging metal.”

Rebecca Mazur (aka Zimmerman), Centipede, 2000, 9″h x 15″w x 3″d

About the teapot above, Rebecca added:

“I (experimented with a) technique for surface design and texture….I used sandpaper to emboss the surface of raw polymer then I stippled powdered pigments into the roughed surfaced…then pressed sandpaper again onto the pigmented surface and then more pigment before it was (cured.) This gave the illusion that the surface was flocked or velvet and illuminated the piece I believe because the color was so saturated and intense.”

A note of thanks to D. Kinder of Illinois who provided images of these pieces from his collection.