Teapot Meditations: The practical poetry of Chris Weaver
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Authors
Fahey, Richard
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Date
2024-06-15
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Creative Work
Ngā Upoko Tukutuku (Māori subject headings)
Keyword
Weaver, Chris (1956-)
ceramics
teapots
exhibitions
Objectspace (Gallery)
New Zealand
ceramics
teapots
exhibitions
Objectspace (Gallery)
New Zealand
ANZSRC Field of Research Code (2020)
Citation
Fahey, R. (Curator). (2024). Teapot Meditations: The practical poetry Of Chris Weaver. [Curatorial exercise] Objectspace - Tāmaki / Objectspace Ōtautahi: Auckland 15th June - 18th August. Christchurch 6th September - 20th October. https://www.objectspace.org.nz/exhibitions/teapot-meditations-the-practical-poetry-of-1/
Abstract
Chris Weaver has plied his trade for the past 30 years from the modest studio he built in 1980 at Kaniere on the outskirts of the remote coastal town of Hokitika. Weaver transcends what it means to be a potter: he has successfully prosecuted a union between the practical and the poetic to become Aotearoa’s foremost designer of luxurious handmade tableware.
Weaver insists on making objects only for practical use. Functionalism is the rubric under which his ‘aesthetics of usefulness’ has taken shape. His approach is to go beyond conventional modes of production that bequeath ceramic objects their familiar formal expression. In assembling examples of his work from three decades, this exhibition contemplates Weaver’s distinctive and unconventional oeuvre.
The basis of Weaver’s formal innovation derives from his reinvention of procedures and tools for making pottery. Since the advent of the pottery wheel, the form of ceramic vessels has customarily been determined by symmetry and its contingencies. The initial development of Weaver’s wares is consistent with this tradition — invariably, they begin with a cylinder thrown on the wheel. This, however, is where his adherence to convention ceases.
With the alacrity of an engineer and a haptic intelligence honed through intimate knowledge of the material affordances of clay, Weaver reconfigures the vessel by compressing, slicing, squashing, incising, faceting or simply flipping them on their sides. These meticulous operations give rise to immaculate form, crisply executed and with utmost fidelity to detail.
Weaver’s ambition is to create aesthetic interventions in quotidian life. He invests utilitarian objects with a character that elevates our experiences of everyday domestic ritual.
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