By Melody Guyton Butts, Associate Director of Marketing & Communications
Teapots are having a moment. Wildly popular Instagram reels show lumps of clay transformed into stunning vessels within (seemingly) mere seconds. Throughout the summer, teapot enthusiasts are converging on Creedmoor, just 20 minutes north of Durham, for the triennial National Teapot Show. And in Durham Academy visual arts teacher Anne Gregory-Bepler’s classroom studio, Upper Schoolers have been infusing their unique perspectives into their own handcrafted teapots — resulting in pieces that are fanciful, rustic, whimsical and everything in between.
Gregory-Bepler assigned the teapot project to students in her Explorations in Ceramics and Sculpture course, and Morgan Yohn ’26, enrolled in Studio Praxis for Experienced Art Students, was also inspired to take on the challenge. While the teapots could be more conceptual than functional, there were a few requirements: a handle, a body, a lid and a spout.
“One of the big focuses is design,” Gregory-Bepler explained. “How do you create balance so that when you look at the teapot, it looks like the lid, the handle, the spout are proportional? ... We’re not throwing these, like a lot of teapots would be thrown on the potter’s wheel. They’re all hand-built, which is much more challenging.”
Student interest in ceramics has exploded in recent years, prompting Gregory-Bepler to offer a second section of Ceramics and Sculpture each year.
“Unlike, say, drawing or painting, I don’t think they really have preconceived notions about what it should look like as much. So they feel freer,” she said. “And the way I teach, it’s very accepting, so I think they feel a lot more relaxed. And it’s just really different from what they do in their academic classes.”
“It’s always terrifying when it first comes out of the kiln because it’s hard to tell exactly how the glazes will turn out. But finishing this project was really fun, and it was interesting to see how different each one of our designs were. I really enjoyed how open the project was; I got to try new patterns and shapes, and make something with very few guidelines.”
Stella Brown ’28
“When we got this assignment, it was starting to get warm outside, and the flowers were starting to bloom. So, I decided on making some kind of flower teapot with very delicate petals, and the spout and the handle were the leaves of the flower. I loved how this project let me turn something I found joy in into something functional.”
Lylah Camire ’26
“The design of this set was inspired by the process of making the tray. I struggled with cracking clay and unfamiliar techniques, each mistake leading me to something new. When I finished the tray, it led me to consider creating a tea set around it, which became my project. Ultimately, this set showcases the process of working as an artist and experimentation.”
Morgan Yohn ’26
“I like symmetry, and I really wanted to make a teapot that was symmetrical. Instead of choosing a really complicated [design], I wanted to focus on making the best simple teapot I could, with some detail. I’d seen a similar teapot online, so I made it out of clay and put my own spin on it. I really love how the glazes turned out — how the teal looks with the pink — and how the glazes worked with the pattern.”
Kate Holladay ’28
“My teapot was inspired by a coconut, as I wanted to represent a coconut that someone would drink on the beach. To make this idea come to life, I made a basic teapot and added lots of texture to the surface of the teapot to get a hairy coconut look. After glaze firing, the texture was very pronounced, and the color looked accurate, which is something I am proud of.”
