Springfield Register, Summer, 1999

When it was new, some 20 years ago, Pinch Pottery inaugurated a series of annual shows surveying the teapot form as investigated by important clay artists. It wasn't long, however, before things began to change; this Northampton craft shop became so popular that it was able to vacate its basement location for a glossy Main Street address where it installed an exhibition space, the Ferrin Gallery. Soon, both retail shop and art gallery were gaining international stature, and their teapot survey was growing too big to handle.

The solution was to alter the character of this particular show, limiting its themes and narrowing the categories.

One year, for instance, the classification might be teapots that were wood-fired; another year, narrative teapots.

Now, once again, the show is a general survey. There are a couple of reasons. One is that such an overview commemorates the debut of Pinch Pottery and celebrates its 20th anniversary. The other reason is that the gallery is saying goodbye as it said hello, with the type of annual exhibition that has become it's trademark. Ferrin Gallery is going solo, moving out of Northampton and its home in Pinch Pottery to relocate to New York. (Pinch Pottery will stay here; it will continue to present small scale special exhibitions and will expand its retail business into the space that had been occupied by Ferrin Gallery.)

We congratulate Leslie Ferrin and her colleagues. They really made it work. But we remember many impressive exhibits and we will miss the gallery and exceptional craft art it introduced to our region. We wish them well, with a lump in our throats. And we will look for Ferrin Gallery in cyberspace at www.ferringallery.com.

Covering familiar territory, the current exhibit includes some of the work that only refers to the teapot form, acknowledging it breezily in passing or subverting it completely. But it gives plenty of exposure to traditional vessels as well.

Lisa Mandelkern paid tribute even as she gave her teapot heroic presence, using it as fixed and non-fictional component of a sculptural landscape entitled "Florence." Standing before a pair of trees on a curving, cobble-stone-like base, its sinuous, stylized elements and painted marbleized surface bespeak the style and mood of that Renaissance city.

Bennett Bean built an object whose function is to serve as reference to the history of ceramics, to reflect the firing process in its flame smudged surface and to provide a support for painting. He abstracted the form, flattened its body into an extended rectangle, coated one side with gold leaf and, on the other, painted geometric shapes in bright acrylic hues.

Adrian Arleo sidestepped the traditional teapot form entirely to make what appears to be pure sculpture, balancing a pair of nudes in an act of erotic acrobatics. Aside from its sexual theme, the emphasis here is on unusual carved and mottled surface texture; yet, for some reason, the piece actually functions as a teapot, a factor which somehow enhances its humor.

Other potters maintained conventional form, but concentrated on surface texture. Susan Thayer, for instance, constructed a rectangular body for "After The Rain," then carved and painted its surfaces to create a lush jungle landscape complete with wild animals and a nude figure; she even perched a butterfly beneath the lip of the spout and clustered snails to make the knob of the lid.

Part of the strength of this survey is the inclusion of conventional teapots. Beautifully crafted, pots like those by Kathy Goos and the California team of Browe and Hoyman invoke the timeless standard of achievement in clay.