Project Description

In 1986, Silvie Granatelli presented this teapot as a gift to the College Art Collection. It is made of white porcelain and has a thick slip trail design, with a slight speckle in the porcelain. The teapot is initialed on its bottom and the handle is made of bamboo. Granatelli is a potter, but her first love is not the porcelain she works with—but food. She claims her pottery is about food presentation and made with the intention to bring foods to light. She says, “How and what we eat is one of the means by which society creates itself and acts out its aims and functions.” From 1979-82, Granatelli served as a Resident Potter at Berea College. In the year following her residency, she served as an instructor of Ceramics and as Director of the Ceramics Apprenticeship Program at the College. Accompanying the teapot in the collection are four teacups and saucers. The teacups are made entirely of white porcelain and have a slip trail design, matching their teapot companion. The saucers are also made in the same style as the other pieces of the set. Many other works of Granatelli’s are made with similar decoration, using porcelain and slip trailing. Slip trailing, or tube-lining, is a traditional technique of ceramic decoration, often used for artistic purposes rather than mass production. Having made her home in Floyd, VA., Granatelli continues to craft beautiful pieces of pottery and take on new apprentices at her studio.

-Charla Hamilton, Class of 2015

Object Details

Silvie Granatelli, 1947-
1986
20.370a & b
9 5/8" x 7 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Ceramics
Gift of Artist, 1986