Tea for One, (1996-97)

Susan Beiner

Glazed Ceramic

Cup & Dish: 4 in H x 7 in x 8 in
Teapot: 12.5 in H x 9 in x 8 in

Bring the tranquility of the coast to your tea table with this enchanting pairing by Susan Beiner. Featuring Memory Box Teapot (1996) and Winged Memory (1997), these two works were not originally created as a set, yet together they evoke a nostalgic underwater world filled with subtle references to shells, sea life, and treasured coastal memories.

Rendered in a cool palette and richly textured surfaces, these early works of Beiner blend functional form with sculptural beauty. Whether displayed as works of art or enjoyed during a quiet afternoon tea, this harmonious duo offers a timeless celebration of nature, memory, and imagination.

Artist Statement

Nature is a persistent wonder which constantly shifts its gaze.

I am inspired by multiplicity in plants; their repeating patterns, variations, shapes, sizes and growth cycles. My plant forms are protruded elements combined with fragmentation, layering, and juxtaposition that define the multiples and create density. I envision how the smallest elements in nature interconnect, creating an ecosystem.

I raise concern about the effects on the fragile ecosystem of humans, animals and plants. My objective is to create an ecological balance between our connection to nature and culture through the materiality of modern craft, as we design an interior landscape from our surroundings.

I utilize assemblage to create sculptural forms that layer upon each other designing modular units to form installation. Through this investigation, I discover new form associations to mount more complex sculptures. I reassemble shapes, attributes, qualities and quantities suggesting an essential connection to our physical space. My interest is fueled by chaos. Intense brilliant color reveals an obviously artificial man-made reality. I appropriate shapes in landscape, merging what is real to what has become artificial. So as a viewer we are challenged by our own perceptions of what is authentic and what is not.

Artist Biography

A Resident Artist at The Clay Studio from 2005 to 2006, Susan Beiner is a ceramic artist and professor in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. Her sculptural installations expose concern about the effects on the fragile ecosystem of humans, animals, and plants. Her objective is to create an ecological balance between the conflict that has arisen between nature and culture.

Beiner has exhibited nationally and internationally, has received numerous awards and residencies and her work is included in diverse and prestigious collections such as The Yixing Ceramics Museum, China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Korea, Princessehof Keramiek Museum, Netherlands, New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan, and the Long Beach Museum of Art, CA to name a few.

She was named Joan R. Lincoln Endowed Professor in Ceramics in 2017. This professorship was created by the Lincoln family in honor of Joan Lincoln's lifelong passion for making, collecting, and supporting ceramic arts.

This piece was donated by the Family of Marge and Phil Kalodner.

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