Elizabeth Paley
North Carolina

Wheel-thrown and altered white stoneware, glaze, oxidation fired to cone 6, handwoven cane handle, LED tealight
Functional: no for tea, yes for light
7.25"w x 6.75"l x 9.5"h

About the Teapot
A carved bowl can still hold apples, and a carved vase can still hold dried flowers, but what of the carved teapot? Tea would spill out. Supplemented with a candle, it becomes a container for light– which likewise spills out- but in the spilling, creates something new beyond the pot itself: a plenitude of light made notable only because of the shadows.

About the Artist
Elizabeth Paley spent far too much time in college, earning degrees in physics (BS, University of Illinois), astronomy (MS, University of Arizona), piano performance (BMus, Arizona), and music theory (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) before throwing caution to the wind and becoming an academic expat. In addition to creating pottery in her home studio, she teaches wheel and glaze classes for potters at Claymakers Arts Community (Durham, NC) and science writing for engineers at Duke University. A life-long pianist, she finds working with clay similar to practicing a musical instrument: both processes invite one to develop attention to form and detail, to balance technique with improvisation, and to discover a personal creative voice.

Artist Statement
My carved work explores presence and absence as I slice freehand patterns of holes into the surfaces of plates, bowls, vases, and other vessels. I am fascinated by the paradox that these forms are enriched by adding absence: literal emptiness (holes) supplements figurative emptiness (the undecorated surface) to create something wholly new. This transformation reflects what philosopher Jacques Derrida termed “the logic of the supplement”: The supplement “adds itself, it is a surplus, a plenitude enriching another plenitude, the fullest measure of presence… But the supplement supplements. It adds only to replace… if it fills, it is as if one fills a void… its place is assigned in the structure by the mark of an emptiness” (Of Grammatology, 1967, English translation by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, 1976).

*Teapots that are purchased will remain on display in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition, through September 14, 2026.
After the show closes, teapots will be carefully packed and shipped by September 28, or they may be picked up at the gallery.

National Teapot Show XIII

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Elizabeth Paley - Tealeaf Tealight Teapot