Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 125 i Ceramics: Art and Perception

Sydney ceramicist Ebony Russell may be cackling like a witchy godmother in the darkest of fairy tales as she whips up her luscious creations, but there’s challenging thought behind all that dripping, spiky, ice-creamy beauty that she creates. She’s a rule breaker who’s rapidly becoming an icon of playful, questioning womanhood in the realm of ceramics. Her work sparks conversations about women’s bodies, childhood nightmares, piping and icing, jaggedness and softness, siren lures, pricked fingers, blood and holes. And London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A) is more than ready for that conversation – it’s just added her work to its collection. How do her pieces sit amid a collection spanning the great western canon of ceramics? They provoke, challenge, poke out their tongue and raise their finger in…

Robert Brady was born in Reno, Nevada, a gaming city known as “The Biggest Little City in the World”. He took a high school craft class that gave him, “that sense of complete control, authorship, and ownership,” which was “a new and welcome experience”1, as creating gave him a feeling of powerful independence. Brady graduated from high school at 17 and went right on to college. He was encouraged by his high school art teacher not to follow an expected vocation, but rather to continue his passion in art at the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC). During his senior year at CCAC, he spent six months in Mexico with other teachers and students establishing a foreign campus in the small village of Erongaricuaro. This led him to many…

Originally from the Eastern Cape but currently residing in the Gauteng province of South Africa, I work predominantly in clay. I completed the National Diploma in Fine Arts in 2010, a BTech Fine Arts (Ceramics) in 2011, and a Master of Fine Arts (Cum Laude) with a major in Ceramics in 2017, all at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Gqeberha. My birth place is a small Karoo town called Willowmore, and for most of my childhood, I lived with my grandparents in the Baviaanskloof, on a farm in Joachimskraal. The family I grew up with is big and is within a close-knit coloured community, and I have always felt fortunate to be part of such a humble community that lived in mud houses. I often remember these spaces as…

Due to the historical shifting borders of Poland, the story of the rise and fall and rise of its porcelain is also the story of Saxon, Prussian, German and Russian porcelain. Shifting over geographical areas of production and identified as products of countries ruling what is now – since World War I – the republic of Poland. German aristocrats residing in areas such as West Prussia (where the Polish city of Poznań is now, originally called Posen when part of Germany) and Upper Silesia, were the first to form significant collections of Meissen porcelain. This is the type of china first discovered and perfected in the court of Augustus II the Strong, Elector of Saxony (1670-1733), King of Lithuania and Poland, who settled in Dresden and underwrote Europe’s first porcelains…

O' Powa O’ Meng: The Art and Legacy of Jody Folwell at The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, featured 20 works by Jody Folwell (b. 1942), a contemporary potter from Kha’p’o Owingeh (Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico). The exhibition centered Folwell’s practice and situates her within the intersecting artistic contexts of Kha’p’o Owingeh, Native American art, and contemporary American art more broadly. Folwell has revolutionized contemporary Pueblo pottery and Native art by pushing the boundaries of form, content, and design. She was the first Pueblo artist to employ writing and designs as personal, political, and social narratives on her pottery. Widely considered among the most significant and influential clay artists of her generation, O’ Powa O’ Meng (“I came here, I got here, I’m still…

Kashi artists in Pakistan, renowned for their intricate ceramic tile craftsmanship, are increasingly shifting towards clothing design. Faced with economic challenges, limited market access, and shrinking demand for traditional ceramics, they are exploring alternative career paths. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) offers new trade and cultural exchange opportunities, especially in the fields of textiles, which has further encouraged this shift. While these opportunities promise better financial stability for artists, they also present a serious threat to the survival of Kashi tile-making. This article presents a qualitative study based on interviews with the artists, documenting their struggles, hopes, and the growing risk to the ceramic industry. It calls for urgent action from the ceramic community to preserve this craft through cross-disciplinary collaboration with the fashion industry. Without timely intervention, the centuries-old…

Q: Why does my fired glaze have bubbles? When working in ceramics long enough you will eventually encounter some technical defect based on a raw materials composition or firing cycle. Often upon investigation it can reveal interesting aspects of what is taking place within the kiln during the firing. Raw materials can change in organic content, particle size, pH levels, solubility, mineral content or gangue (pronounced “gang”) – a “tramp” material. Sometimes changes occur over a period of time, or in the next batch of material. It is useful to understand the chemical composition of materials and how they influence the melting characteristics in glazes. Some glazes will form bubbles during the firing. Often they rise to the glaze surface, break and disappear in the liquid glaze with the potter…

I. THE LENS OF THE AUTHOR Several years before this one, I was a frequent contributor to journals such as this. But life will change on its own accord, and for the last few years my occupation has been that of caregiver and primary witness to my mother’s descent into insanity. One of the most unsettling things about severe dementia is that the sufferer lives in an uncertain state of limbo. From the outside, it seems the person’s mind is already decomposing, and cannot inform a body that is abnormally accelerating in age, that it is time to go – and so the march towards death is agonizingly slow. Aged and decrepit, punished and suffering, and yet the person so close to death seems innocently infantile – unaware of what’s…

The Portage is a touchstone of the Kiwi summer for me. Every time I can return home for Christmas, I’ll head out west and see it. I’ll never love everything, but I can count on coming away inspired and reinvigorated. This time, the exhibition got me thinking about the point of interpretive text in galleries; how to judge art, and even what ‘ceramics’ is these days. The annual Portage Ceramic Awards exhibition of finalists was held at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery in Titirangi, from 22 November 2024 – 23 February 2025. Entries are usually1 selected from applications with photos, and the whittling down process is all managed by one judge - and this year it was artist Kate Newby. Originally hailing from Te Henga / Bethells Beach (which is…

John Gill, now retired from teaching ceramics at Alfred University, has been faceting form and color since his early days. You might say that he is stuck in the same place, but more positively say that, like Japanese artists, he developed a distinctive idea early on and has spent all the years since then finessing it. In any case, this exhibition in New York’s Chelsea art-gallery neighborhood seemed assured and comfortable in its setting. The major new features were the size of the vessels, the occasional surprising curves amid the angular surface development, and a few lids that were challenges to discern among the patchwork of colors. They ranged from Sake Bottle (2022) – relatively diminutive at 12 inches (30.5 cm) tall, although quite oversize for that titular purpose –…

Not only is art made for aesthetic purposes, but also as a tool to bear witness to social events and construct a collective memory. In this context, representing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza - unfolding before the eyes of the world in the 21st century with television crews and photographers capturing devastating effects on children in real time – ceramicists have both a humanitarian and ethical responsibility. To this end, I examine how ceramic artworks created by various artists represent the pain, massacre, and struggle for survival experienced in Gaza. … various artists represent the pain, massacre, and struggle for survival experienced in Gaza. Mary McKone raises awareness with her installation Gaza: Precious Lives, Stolen Dreams (2024), a work dedicated to the children murdered in Gaza, consisting of 10,000 ceramic…

Atiny pot, no bigger than a pea. In curious amazement I carefully detached the tan spherical clay vessel from underneath the seat of a lawn chair. The pot’s miniscule neck that captured the swelling volume ended in a lip which opened ever so slightly. Ribbons of clay, no bigger than the size of a pencil lead, swirled around the pot like electrons spinning around an atom, evidence of the maker’s marks. I bisque the little jug to better preserve the newest addition to my eclectic pot collection. An artist friend told me it was made by a potter wasp. I imagined a six-legged potter straddling a potter’s wheel, wings pulled back to escape the mess, antenna forward intently focused on the work at hand, cranking out pots. Such an exquisite…

My current feelings are not as solid as I expected them to be as a child; they are still immature. Trying to represent my feelings, the characters in my work unfold as a variety of narratives, which are always staggering and stumbling. Therefore, they look asymmetrical and irregular.– Yoo Jaeyoun Comics began as a means of record-taking and communication, and in the 20th century their cartoons and comic strips gained in popularity with their inclusion in newspapers and magazines. With their combination of graphics and text they had the beneficial function of diluting any political risk that may arise when sensitive issues were raised and commented on, giving them a powerful cultural and political force with the capacity to shift public opinion. Although their influence has waned with the decline…

What if a sculpture could light the room, hold your coat, cradle a houseplant, and invite you to sit – all while blurring the line between art and function? Coleton Lunt’s latest body of work, Living Ceramics, transforms this imaginative idea into reality, merging utility and sculpture into a collection that feels oddly correct or absurdly practical. These pieces are not confined to galleries; they belong in homes, where they shape and are shaped by the lives of their users. Born from Lunt’s own domestic needs, this series reimagines ceramics as a medium that is as functional as it is poetic, as practical as it is profound. In this collection, Lunt examines the enduring relationship between ceramics and utility throughout history and into the present day. While ceramics have played…

Ceramics – one of the world’s oldest artistic media – continues to captivate and evolve. Once primarily functional, the medium has grown into a deeply conceptual and expressive form of visual art. Across time and cultures, it has reflected both material culture and the human condition. Today, as ceramic practices challenge traditional hierarchies between art and craft, the medium has become a powerful site for innovation, critical inquiry, and self-expression. In this vibrant and shifting landscape, Turkish artist Pınar Baklan occupies a distinctive and courageous position. Her work brings together technical excellence, conceptual precision, and an unwavering commitment to artistic integrity. With a practice shaped by cross-cultural experiences, material experimentation, and a philosophical inquiry into human relationships, Baklan offers a compelling case for how ceramics can speak to both timeless…

If I had to make a general statement about the ceramics currently so prominent in New York City, I would cite large scale, bright color and heavy texture as the preferred options. None of those characterize the work of Marie Herwald Hermann in her recent show at Broadway Gallery in the Tribeca arts neighborhood. In the modest-size Project Room in the gallery’s basement, she showed just five works, all dated 2025, two on the floor and three on the walls. A sixth was unfortunately broken and had been removed by the time I saw the show. The works were measured, reductive, subtle in both color and material contrasts. Hermann, who divides her time between Copenhagen and Chicago, presents diminutive vessels in discrete arrangements that suggest that there is some meaning,…

First in a series of medium-based annual invitational shows, Build Me Up, Tear Me Down, Why Don’t You Love Me Babe Like There’s No One Around? (January 25 – May 11, 2025, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, Washington USA) asks numerous questions beyond its tantalizing title. Museum of Northwest Art executive director Stefano Catalani selected a dozen artists from Washington, Oregon and Montana to display works that, seen in the historical continuum of West Coast clay, might be mistaken for a sequel to the recent Seattle Art Museum survey, Poke in the Eye: West Coast Counterculture (Ceramics: Art & Perception #123). Only one artist, Patti Warashina, was included in both exhibitions and is, in the words of Catalani, the “matriarch of Northwest ceramics”. That may be, but it is…

Sculptural works are often defined by the space they occupy in three dimensions, with a particular focus on their relationship to purpose – be it functional, monumental, or decorative. Yet, by occupying physical space, there presents the opportunity to subvert expectations through the use of ‘space’ itself. Negative space, typically associated with two-dimensional media like painting or printmaking, can be a profoundly effective tool in sculpture as well. The artists featured in this exploration harness negative space, turning what they leave unoccupied into an integral and compelling part of their works. The spaces that these artists choose not to occupy ultimately become fundamental focal points for the success of each piece. Junpei Sugie’s The Harvest Moon (1997) offers a masterful example of how negative space can create depth and dynamism.…

In the past few decades, the boundaries of various art forms have become blurred as artists enhance their work by using elements usually found in different media. Ceramics have always focused on the sense of touch, and touch is now playing a significant role in breaking down the barriers that exist between expressive forms. Painters borrow from potters by adding additional dimensions to their canvases, bringing the viewers closer to their work, and giving it a feeling of tangibility. Other artists are using their technical skills in new ways; they are creating unique and personal works of art. The definition of ‘art’ is expanding. This essay presents a brief overview of some contributions made by ceramicists - and the sense of touch – to the contemporary art scene, particularly in…

Keith Schneider’s ceramic figures should come with an advisory: close looking may prompt flashbacks and initiate spontaneous incursions of memory. Schneider uses clay to construct two-and four-legged figures that resemble children’s toys, molding vessel forms into anthropomorphic bodies and building wet clay into elements that mimic toy parts. The stuffed monkeys, dogs, and rabbits, pull-along trucks, and wheeled contraptions that issue from his studio resemble homely, handmade constructions that might have entertained our grandparents, or great-grandparents, as kids. Batteries are definitely not included. Imitating the look of well-loved toys from the early modern era, these figures show what it is to grow old and dilapidated ‘in service’. Advanced age is evoked by artfully simulated signs of use – frayed and faded surfaces, broken and mended appendages. Ceramic figures like Philip…