Art, with A Side of Whimsy

Let's talk about teapots for a minute. As hot-water vessels, these commonplace kitchen accessories are often pretty, quaint, grandmotherly — not quirky, fanciful works of art (which makes sense, considering your nana's velvet paintings and doily tendencies — her house isn't exactly full of art-museum material). But at the Craft Alliance (6640 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-725-1177 or www.craftalliance.org), teapots are elevated from kitchen objects to objets d'art that are certainly worthy of the gallery space in which they dwell. Hot Tea, an exhibition of more than 50 artists' multimedia teapot interpretations, showcases pieces that range from the sleek and modern — pots that would look right at home in today's stark stainless-steel kitchens — to the beautifully utilitarian and from the unexpected (Ann Coddington Rast's Offering Teapot features two hands cupped together) to the whimsical — a piece of cake with a fork in it, for instance. Hot Tea opens at the U. City Craft Alliance location with a free reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, January 15, and the show remains on view through Sunday, February 28; the gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Jan. 15. Continues through Feb. 28, 2010