Teaware exhibit Proposal Project

[Aphroditea]

I thought about putting this in the Teaware thread, but was not sure it really belonged there. Moderators are welcome to shuffle this elsewhere if they think it will go better in some other section.

I have been doing a lot of prep research for my upcoming school project. The project is to submit a proposal for a museum exhibit. All the other students in my intake group are creating exhibits for already existing museums, but I asked if I could create an exhibit for the museum I hope to one day be able to open, a tea museum. After some discussion I was given the go ahead.

This is very tricky because I 1)have no actual collections from which to draw from and 2)have no actual space in which to house the museum. The second problem I am overcoming by assuming that the Tea Museum will exsist in the space currently occupied by the Austin Children's Museum (in Austin, Texas). The first problem is a bit trickier, because I have to do some very quick research to see what objects a small and new museum would likely to have acquired and then figure out what connections the museum might have with other people and institutions from which loans could be acquired.

I first had to decide exactly what the focus would be. Ultimately I decided to persue the topic of tea cups. Since this is a LARGE topic I had to narrow it down. I decided to follow cups from raw material to object of use, reverance and collection. To accomplish this I plan to divide the overall topic into three main topics; manufacture, styles, use. Each of these topics contains approximately four subtopics. I have decided to go ahead and be bold and attempt to show objects covering a wide range of time and space, but at the same time keep the exhibit from being too stimulating. If I can pull that off I will have demonstrated a pretty key skill.

I plan on supplementing this object-heavy exhibit with some art of tea cups. I want to incorporate some hands-on elements, audio and video elements and personal stories. I need to carefully consider the overall narrative and then find how the personal narratives will forward the main narrative.

So far, I am created (for my own use) a table/timeline which incorporates time periods and significant tea/tea cup related events for China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Europe, Mongolia....there are also some notes for places like Turkey and Moracco. This has been tedious, but quite enlightening if sometimes baffling. For instance, I have had a hard time tracking down what tea cups existed in Japan pre-Edo. I hope the mysteries might be able to be solved when I can finally get to the library.

The Japanese tea ware so far has been overwhelming for me because there is SO much variety. At least 26 chawan shapes, about 5 yunomi shapes, and I have yet to really look at the senchawan. There are about 52 glaze finishes and styles I have found listed so far.

Some interesting things I have run across are Indian "chullarhs" which are low fired cups that street vendors and tea shop owners serve chai in. The idea is that when you are done with your chai you just throw it on the ground and it shatters and eventually will become mud again. I also love the 'ear cups' from China's Eastern Han dynasty. I also loved the design of a shufu cup from the Song Dynasty that looks like a typical small bowl style tea cup, but it is up on a tall stem.

I have also discovered that archaeologically speaking the first use of tea leaves is in India where about 5000 years ago the leaves were used with other herbs to flavor oils. Also, the first medicinal teas in Chine were like thick soups containing tea leaves that had been packed into myriad shapes (bricks, cubes, spheres...) as well as spices, orange peel and onions! Later they would add salt to the tea, which they seem to have liked thick and bitter.

I am also fascinated by how often in the history of tea, the culture is spread through religion. Monks travelling. Even the first European to encounter tea who was a Portuguese Jesuit Father travelling to China as a missionary.

My research so far is a little all over the place and if I find something which interests me I might follow a tanget. If you have any specific questions about anything I have found, or want to know more about the project or my plans for the exhibit feel free to ask. If you have knowledge of any fascinating tea ware or of a good reference which would aid my research feel free to let me know! The folks on TeaChat have already been so wonderfully helpful!

Much of what I am learning, I will note, I don't necessarily have documented as well as I would like and so my knowledge of things my change and I keep persuing this topic.

[Mrs. Chip]

Wow Aphroditea, quite an endeavor.
I am sure a rather elementary question but, for this project, will you actually be exhibiting the teacups and if so where will you find these cups to exhibit?
What is the time frame for your project to be completed?

This is all so intriguing to me, please keep us posted on your progress.

[betta]

Nice blog, Aphroditea! Interesting project and I'm eager to know the follow-up. I like teacups very much but unfortunately have no idea about teacup styles at different periode. I used to have a look at Gotheborg's website for vintage chinese porcelain ware and history. The website is informative and I hope you can get some info from that link.

[Aphroditea]

Wow Aphroditea, quite an endeavor.
I am sure a rather elementary question but, for this project, will you actually be exhibiting the teacups and if so where will you find these cups to exhibit?
What is the time frame for your project to be completed?

This is all so intriguing to me, please keep us posted on your progress.

MC, I know! The more my notebook fills up the more the big endeavor thing hits home! Sadly, once it is all condensed down into the 4000 word proposal it won't seem quite so momumental. However, I do plan on including an acknowlegements page to talk about the members of TeaChat and all the great help on research they've been!

Wouldn't it be nice if I actually got to take such an exhibit to completion?! But, how would I get ALL of you guys there!! This is just a proposal, which is a semi-standardized written and visual presentation that would be given to a museum's exhibition team.

In real life, museums determine length of a loan by their needs balanced against the needs of the owner.

But, your question is relevant because the loans included in the proposal have to seem plausible. For instance, it would be unlikely that a smallish, new museum in the States would be able to acquire a rare treasure from the China National Tea Museum. Of course....I am awfully charming

[Geekgirl]

Interesting project. Sounds like a lot of work but fascinating.

[TIM]

Have you try a search on auction houses like Christie's or Sotheby's? Sometimes they have surprising details and finds

[jazz88]

I think it's a great idea! Many things now can be virtual which could also include interactivity and participation. I would also imagine some children's corner with gigantic teacups Not very academic, I know ...

[Aphroditea]

I think it's a great idea! Many things now can be virtual which could also include interactivity and participation. I would also imagine some children's corner with gigantic teacups Not very academic, I know ...

I plan on having a table where there will be paper, crayons and rubbing plates that have different teacups on them so the kids can rub and color (more educational than you might think!) while the big folks look around the rest of the exhibit. I am also going to incorporate a touch display where folks can feel stoneware, porcelain, lacquer....
I am thinking about some other options, but those two for sure!

[Chip]

Great, awesome. I wish you the best on this project!

[theteascoop]

I recommend the book "Liquid Jade" partially for its own information and partially because you might find its bibliography helpful. The author is a guest curator for a traveling tea exhibition currently on display at UCLA. Good luck!

[chamekke]

This is a VERY cool project and I look forward to hearing more about it.

You probably already know about Patricia J. Graham's Tea of the Sages: The Art of Sencha, but if not, it may be worth hunting down as a general reference. (If you can't get a copy, let me know and I'll be happy to look things up for you in my own.) I did take a quick peek to see if Graham had anything to say about pre-Edo tea cups, but most of the book concerns Tokugawa and later... and I wouldn't assume that the utensils of Sencha-dou are representative of earlier drinking vessels for steeped tea. IIRC Japanese commoners couldn't typically afford to drink green tea until Meiji, which is why yu-nomi literally means hot water-drink (it wasn't originally used for tea, but for water).

[chamekke]

P.S. Aphroditea, I'm sure you already know about e-Yakimono and its sister site JapanesePottery.com ... but if you have any specific questions about tea vessels that you can't answer in any other way, in a pinch you might try contacting Robert Yellin, the sites' creator.

[Aphroditea]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I have checked out the books and the websites and they have all be very helpful!

I now have another request. I have decided to construct the exhibit as a narrative - the narrative of how a cup goes from raw material to object of use to object of meaning. Within each 'chapter' of this narrative I want to include the voices of the makers and users. One thing that I want to do is create a narrative flow based on questions. Here is an example which is my first brainstorm, but is highly likely to change. What I would like to ask this forum is for ideas of what sort of questions YOU would ask. I would like for the majority of the questions to ultimately be 'community based' as opposed to 'curator based'. So, look through this outline and see if there are questions I have missed or something similar you would like to know. Thanks!!

 Teacups: Why are they worth learning and thinking about? What stories do they tell?
• Manufacture
 Materials
 What materials are used? Why are these materials used?
 How does a potter choose clay?
 What is the difference between various ceramics?
 Construction/fabrication
 How does a potter shape a piece?
 How is porcelain paste made?
 How does a kiln work?
 How do they put a handle on a cup?
 Does this cup have two walls?
• Aesthetics and Design
 East and West
 Why do some cups have handles and others do not?
 How have Asia and the West influenced each others designs?
o Blue and White
o Raku
o For Export
 Capturing Nature
 Why do so many designs depict nature?
 What are other ways artisans have been inspired by nature?
 Abstract or Realistic?
 Is there meaning in these designs?
 Celadon
 Why does celadon come in so many greens and blues?
 Glazed Over - What types of glazes are used and why?
  Size Matters
 Why are some teacups extremely small and others extremely large?
 Something for Everyone
 How many styles of teacup are there?
 My Favorite – artisans’ favorites

• Use
 Customs and Ceremonies
 How is a chawan used?
 Why does my yunomi set have an odd number?
 What does a High Tea service look like?
 What does a Chinese tea service look like?
 Collecting and Heirlooms - why do people choose to collect and pass down teacups? What do these stories say about the familes and collectors?
 When is a teacup not a teacup? – exploring pin cushions, candles, Christmas ornaments, hats, divination and art
 My Favorite – consumer favorites