Texts

There is a painting, "Still Life: Tea Set," by Jean-Etienne Liotard that portrays a beautiful, fragile set of china that is in a great disarray of use. Cups upset, spilling their contents, exhibit a sense of abandon by the users of these very restrained, aristocratic objects. When I saw this painting, I immediately imagined the characters and narrative behind this simple still-life. This awakened me to the potential of arranging things. Previously, I had been concerned exclusively with the making of individual vessels. Now I consider expression both in the vessels and in the relationships between them. In examining formal relationships within each object, and the determination of its place with respect to other objects, I have discovered a metaphor with which to explore the great delicacy and variety of human relationships.

- Jeanne Quinn