The week’s news in the ceramic art world – May 31, 2023

• There’s only a week left until the opening of the 2023 International Ceramic Art Fair at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. ICAF is a 10-day celebration of some of the most compelling recent ceramic art, featuring works by emerging and established artists from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as online and in-person programming by artists and curators. Alongside the artworks presented at the fair, ICAF 2023 will include a symposium on June 9 and 10, supported by the Raphael Yu Centre of Canadian Ceramics and in collaboration with A-B Projects. Titled Toward Future Bodies, the symposium brings together artists, scholars, and other voices from Canada and internationally to explore the boundaries of our species and our connection to other life forms as expressed through ceramics and clay.

• The 5th International Ceramics Triennial UNICUM opened at the National Museum of Slovenia earlier this month. Congratulations to the winners: Dmitrij Buławka-Fankidejski (Grand Prix), Veljko Zejak (UNICUM Award), Velimir Vukićević (Honorary Award), Catherine Sanke (Young Artist Award), Małgorzata Maternik (Recognition Award), Joanna Opalska-Brzecka (Recognition Award), and Iva Brkić Walter (Recognition Award).

• Congratulations are also in order for Kukuli Velarde, the first-place recipient of The 2023 Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant for ceramic sculpture, and for Eriko Inazaki, the winner of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2023.

• Sturt Pottery, a pioneering pottery center and school for contemporary craft based in Australia, is celebrating its 70th anniversary with Terra Nova – 70 Years of Breaking Ground, an exhibition featuring a remarkable selection of artists who have lived, worked or taught at Sturt Pottery over the decades.

• Baltimore Clayworks, a community-centered ceramics organization, opened the applications for Common Ground, an exhibition that explores the connection between community and nature. They are especially looking for vessels for plants, including but not limited to hanging, wall, and table planters. Applications are due June 12 (for US-based artists).

• Over 90 studio ceramic artists from across the UK, Ireland and France will be selling their work during Potfest Scotland 2023 on June 9-11. Held at the Scone Palace, Perthshire, this is the biggest ceramics event in Scotland, with a range of work on display selected to surprise.

• The Clay Studio (Philadelphia, PA) premieres three exhibitions for Pride Month honoring and highlighting LGBTQIA+ stories: Gone & For Ever, conceived by Alex Stadler and featuring various artists, Pride Pots: Community Conversations by Heather Mae Erickson & Community, and Introspection by The Clay Studio’s Executive Director Jennifer D. Martin. The Clay Studio will host special programming to encourage further engagement and discussion around these exhibitions.

•Our friends at Studio Potter are hiring a new Executive Director to serve as the organization’s leader and chief administrative officer. Applications are due July 1.

• What’s On View: Anne Marie Laureys: Bise is on view at La Verrière (Fondation d’entreprise Hermès), Brussels / Transcendent Clay – Kondo: A Century of Japanese Ceramic Art is on view at Lowe Art Museum, Miami / Wayfinding is on view at Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles / Elizabeth Dunn – Kampurara: Bush Tomato is on view at Sabbia Gallery, Sydney / Chris Wolston: Flower Power is on view at The Future Perfect, New York / Nitsa Meletopoulos: Stones smell good when you cuddle them is on view at La Tolerie, Clermont-Ferrand / Brigitte Pénicaud: rêves éveillés is on view at Kunstforum Solothurn, Solothurn / Orly Montag: Piece of Land is on view at Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv / Tom Norris: Also Rises is on view at JGM Gallery, London