Registration is now open for the conference Ceramics and Sculpture: Different Disciplines and Shared Concerns taking place on 5 July 2012 in Cardiff at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. More info contact: adutton@cardiffmet.ac.uk Book from website shown below.

• Venue: National Museum of Wales
• Address: Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 3NP.
• Telephone: +44 (0)29 2039 7951
• Web-site: cardiff-school-of-art-and-design.org/conference2012
• Dates: 05 Jul 2012 to: 05 Jul 2012

An indispensable publication for anyone interested in ceramics, The Ceramics Book profiles work by members of The Craft Potters Association, the national body representing studio potters and ceramists, with an artist’s statement and a colour reproduction of their work.

In a conveniently small format, The Ceramics Book provides an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to see examples of the very latest ceramics by established and emerging makers – including Clive Bowen, Takeshi Yasuda, and Louisa Taylor – and for planning visits to potteries and artists’ studios.

The Ceramics Book is published by Ceramic Review, a bi-monthly internationally recognised magazine about ceramic art published since 1970, with critical features on contemporary and historical ceramic art and craft, and practical and technical articles. 

The book includes an Artists by Region directory.

       Price £10 +p&p softback extent pp 344

       Over 300 colour reproductions

       Published February 2012

       ISBN: 978-0-9557732-1-1

      SPECIAL OFFER FOR READERS OF THIS WEBSITE:

      PRICE £9.00 +p&p

     Quote: SPOT9 when ordering to obtain discount

If you would like to order your copy please contact:

Ceramic Review Publishing, 63 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3BF

Tel 020 7183 5583    Email office@ceramicreview.com 

Web www.ceramicreview.com

ARTSPACE at Barn Galleries near Henley on Thames this year celebrates 21 years of showing some of the best work on the contemporary art scene.  A much loved exhibition attracting over 5000 visitors during this two week show,  ARTSPACE offers you top names alongside newcomers to the ceramics world as well as sculpture in the gardens, paintings, ceramics, glass, jewellery and more.

Shown in the unusual rural setting of early 18th century timbered barns and extensive gardens, ARTSPACE always promises a fascinating day out with so much to see.  Now that ARTSPACE is to be biennial, there’s even more reason to be sure to visit in 2012. There are fresh ideas for display and layout, too, this year – make a date to visit and see what you think.  12- 27 May  10 – 5 daily  An Oxfordshire Artweeks event.

Open now!  The silent auction will close at 6pm on 11th of February 2012.The highest bid on each bid item will be deemed that of the successful buyer unless the reserve price has not been reached.

Bid at:   www.fundingthefutureauction.blogspot.com

An auction of contemporary studio ceramics raising funds for the Craft Potters Charitable Trust:

Ian Rylatt is taking part in this event in Houston Heights, Texas.  His teapot won The Memorial Prize, or overall 2nd place!  the show is on until 29 January at : 249B W 19th Street in the Houston Heights. Well done Ian – great to see!! See more of Ian’s work on our website.

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You should check out our

Submission Deadlines page!

There are plenty of possible events/exhibitions to apply for and we are adding new ones, whenever we hear of them, throughout the year.

They are both in Britain:

South Devon Ceramics Festival; London: A Celebration; Craft Open Exhibition 2012 and more….

and elsewhere in the World:

Panorama, Ceramics Market, Switzerland; Argilla Italia 2012; International ceramics market in Hohr-Grenzhausen and more…

Have a look from time to time!

Issue 13 of Interpreting Ceramics is now published online and it contains two articles that focus on aspects of ceramics in Wales.

The first of these is entitled ‘Llanelly Pottery – A Welsh Metonym’. The author, Kathy Talbot, discusses the ways that the pottery manufactured in this South Wales town during the nineteenth and early twentieth century came to stand not just for the town itself, but also for a particular kind of Welsh identity which drew on a strong sense of nostalgia for its past.

The second article by Jennifer Lewis on ‘Gaudy Welsh China’, draws on textual and visual evidence to explore aspects of the history, technology, design, decoration and interpretation of a ware that is also known as ‘Swansea Cottage’. Lewis’ account makes a major contribution to an understanding of a distinctive type of ceramics that is still better known and more widely collected in the USA than in the UK.

The third article in Issue 13 is by Laura Gray and is an exploration of the ways that contemporary ceramicists have made and displayed work in response to what the author calls ‘the distinctive hybrid domestic-museum environment offered by former homes such as Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, High Cross House in Devon and Blackwell Arts and Craft House in the Lake District’. Martina Margetts and Moira Vincentelli have provided book reviews for this issue.

www.interpretingceramics.com

photo credit: www.brooklynrail.org 

The ceramics world lost yet another giant as 2011 came to a close. A little over a month after turning 105, Eva Zeisel, designer of some of the 20th century’s most seductive and iconic objects passed away. Born, Eva Amalia Striker, into a prosperous and assimilated Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary in 1906, she entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at age 17. Eva’s mother encouraged her to enter an apprenticeship with a traditional artisan out of concern for her ability to make a living as a painter. She soon became the first woman member of traditional Hungarian Guild of Chimney Sweeps, Oven Makers, Roof Tilers, Well Diggers & Potters. One year after establishing a studio on her family’s property her work was displayed at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial, where she won an honorable mention. She began designing in the Kispester Factory in Budapest, but soon found work in Germany which promised to engage her in all phases of industrial design and production of ceramic wares. This established Zeisel as the first woman to move ceramic arts into mass production. In 1932, inspired by new artistic and social movements taking place in Russia, she embarked on a vacation which led to expanded opportunities in industrial design. Young Eva took a position helping to modernize Russia’s ceramic industry and traveled throughout the country to coordinate efforts to create a central manufactory. She was soon transferred to Leningrad and then appointed Artistic Director for the Porcelain and Glass Industries for all of Russia. In 1936 she was imprisoned in the NKVD prison for 16 months, accused of plotting against Stalin. Among other things, it was suggested she had hidden swastikas in porcelain designs and hidden guns for an assassination attempt. Close friend Arthur Koestler, who mentioned her in the dedication for his novel Darkness at Noon (1940) drew from Zeisel’s experiences of solitary confinement to formulate his harrowing tale of totalitarian rule in Russia. In her work, Zeisel remained committed to the Bauhaus dictum that the highest form of industry is to mass produce works of art. Yet the aura of the hand, the body and the animal spirit embodied in her designs transcended their means of mechanical reproduction. Incorporating the profiles of belly buttons and baby’s bottoms to invite tactile experience and the open mouths of birds to dispense cream, Zeisel expanded the language of form and function in mass produced wares. Through her life and work, Zeisel not only inspired successive generations of ceramic artists, she also presaged tendencies of hybridization in art, design and craft that have a very 21st century feel.

mugshot of Eva Zeisel

Obituary courtesy of NCECA

The Campaign to Save the Wedgwood Museum received the shocking news that the UNESCO recognised archive of international importance is not held in trust and can be dispersed and sold to meet wholly disproportionate £135m Pension Fund liabilities.

Read the Press release from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) lawyershere. Stoke-upon-Trent MP Hon. Dr Tristram Hunt MP is meeting with Government Ministers on December 20th to discuss the plight of the Museum.

The Battle continues – continued political lobbying is essential: write to your MP to drive home how important this unique collection is to you.

Campaign leader Alison Wedgwood: “We will begin a fund raising campaign in the new year, asking the government for urgent support, and seeking support from the Art Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and as many generous philanthropists as we can cajole. This collection is not leaving Staffordshire without a fight!”


Write to you MP, Join our Supporters roll to declare your support and to be kept up to date with the Campaign: help to Save Wedgwood for the Nation.

I was shocked to hear of this disgusting decision – I presume under the existing law the courts had little option!  I have written to my local MP seeking support and would ask that all who read this article do the same – either to their MP or if outside the UK, Direct to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. David Cameron.

Please also Join the supporters group above.

Here is a copy of my letter:

Dear Nicholas Soames,
I run a major website for ceramic art, www.studiopottery.co.uk with an audience of some 25000 per month, with several hundred ceramic artist members. I have watched the unfolding saga surrounding the Wedgwood Museum with consternation and sadness. In essence, as I understand it, because a few museum staff were linked with the company the whole of the assets of the museum can be claimed and sold for the benefit of the old group pension scheme deficit. This ‘loophole’ in the law has been confirmed by the court this week. 
The result is that this archive of International importance, recognised by UNESCO can now be split up and sold off to meet the group pension fund liabilities.



http://savewedgwood.blogspot.com/2011/12/decision-collection-can-be-dispersed.html



Destruction of this unique collection and archive, which was always intended to be held in trust for perpetuity would be a National DISGRACE.

Both personally and on behalf of Studiopottery.co.uk we seek your support in finding a way that this unique collection can be saved for the nation and for future generations.



Yours sincerely,

Stephen Dee


Founder and Director
Studiopottery.co.uk

Curated in conjunction with Arts and Crafts property, National Trust Standen, De Morgans and the Sea gives visitors the opportunity to explore maritime influences in the work of the De Morgans. The theme of the sea was a major source of inspiration for both William De Morgan’s Arts and Crafts ceramics and his wife Evelyn’s paintings. Medieval galleons manned by sailors on the lookout for giant fish, dolphins and sea monsters form part of William De Morgan’s quirky cast of characters.  Evelyn’s paintings of mythological subjects such as Ariadne (looking more stoical than distraught after being abandoned on the island of Naxos by her lover Theseus) or her depictions of Hans Christian Anderson’s much adored little mermaid reinterpret these classic tales for a new audience.

As well as drawing inspiration from the sea, much of De Morgan’s work was destined to travel the waves themselves, as commissions for the P&O shipping line. The superlative Galleon tile panel, designed for the P&O ship S.S.Malta in 1895, will be exhibited alongside key pieces from the De Morgan collection, including a spectacular moonlight lustre punch bowl depicting fanciful fish which represents the pinnacle of De Morgan’s technical prowess, and a very rare, early seahorse tile whose production techniques mirror the matt quality of Morris and Co. tiles. Among Evelyn’s exhibited works are the nude male figures of Phosphorous and Hesperus, which, imbued with potent sexual symbolism in the form of phallic torches and conch shells, caused scandal and controversy when first exhibited, and the allegorical ‘S.O.S’ with its symbolic sea monsters representing evil and death.

The De Morgan Centre, 38 West Hill, London, SW18 1RX.    Phone: 020 8871 1144

www.demorgan.org.uk