Saddleback College

International Small Teapot Show

The Virtual Gallery

    On 24 FEB 2004 at 6 pm we hosted over 200 people at the opening reception.  Several artists were also in attendance, as well as our juror, Guangzhen Zhou.  Outside the gallery, Saddleback College students served Chinese dim sum and 10 different types of tea.  Over 120 visitors received teacups thrown or hand-built by Saddleback College students and faculty specially for this event.  Inside the gallery, visitors were treated to 85 teapots from the competition and 40 teapots from Yixing, China. 

    The competition teapots were displayed on light-colored sand, with small river pebbles suggesting at a dry streambed. 

The Yixing pots, some of which are shown at the left, were remarkable in their conception, creativity, design and construction.  These pots are constructed of a special clay found only in the Yixing region.  Many of the colors seen are naturally occurring in this clay. 

    On 11 March 2004 several of the artists from Yixing, China will visit the show.  They are coming to the United States as part of an international group organized by the show juror, Guangzhen Zhou.  While at Saddleback College, these artists will give talks and share their knowledge through a workshop.  This will be a unique opportunity for Saddleback College students to interact with working ceramic artists from the People's Republic of China.

    The winner of the Grand Prize, a trip to visit ceramics production sites in China, is Annette Corcoran, of Pacific Grove, California. Her entry, Wood Stork Teapot, is seen at the left.  At only 2 inches in height, it was one of the smallest pots in this "small teapot show."  Saddleback College can be very proud of Annette.  She was student of ceramics at Saddleback in the early 1970's.  While she was at the artist's reception, she told us that Tom Gaines, the designer of our ceramics program, tried hard to get her to use the wheel.  However, Annette was determined to master the construction of small hand-built objects.  Today, Annette Corcoran is an internationally known ceramicist, well known for accurate and artistic representation of birds on small teapots.  She also shared this with us, "Saddleback College and Tom Gaines gave me my start in ceramics."

    The other winners of the competition included John Hopkins of Grand Terrace, California, First Place; Susan Speck of Mission, Kansas, Second Place; and Mei Qun Gu of Yixing, China, Third Place.  Honorable Mention was awarded to Joan Ulrich of Brooklyn, New York; Shelley Shreiber of Denver, Colorado; Shula Paz, Irvine, California; Pat Singley of St. Charles, Missouri; Diana Donaldson of San Clemente, California; Stephen Fabrico of Bloomington, New York; Meryl Ruth of Portland, Maine; and Yi Chiu Tseng of Oswego, New York.