Crazy Quilt Teapot

This artwork takes its name from the “crazy quilt,” the Victorian textile made from a seemingly random patchwork of scrap cloths. Despite appearances, crazy quilts and Marquis’ teapots are carefully composed. To create the latter, the artist used the murrine technique. He dexterously arranged thin slices of patterned glass, fused the quilt-like design, and then manipulated the material to form a teapot-shape. In 1969, Richard Marquis traveled to Italy on a Fulbright fellowship to pursue glassblowing at the Venini Factory in Murano. There, he was introduced to a variety of Venetian glassmaking methods, including murrine.