The week’s news in the ceramic art world – June 5, 2024

• Submissions are now open for the upcoming Australian Ceramics Triennale Conference, WEDGE, to be held in Walyalup (Fremantle), Western Australia, in October 2025. WEDGE aims to bring together leading practitioners, researchers and enthusiasts in the field of ceramics to explore and exchange ideas, techniques, and innovations. The conference will provide a platform for interdisciplinary discussions, foster collaboration and enhance relationships in the global ceramics community. Applications are due August 1, 2024.

• “When you arrive at Peter Freeman Inc Gallery in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, I ask the viewer to please leave your preconceptions of ceramic art at the door. This group exhibition of ceramics titled “Made in Cologne” is different for several reasons. If you are not familiar with these artists, it is because they are visual artists whose work may not typically be found in the field of ceramics. What is consistent amongst all of them is that they have come to the Niels Dietrich Workshop in Cologne, Germany, first and foremost to discuss ideas and then collaborate to produce work by an experienced team of professional craftsmen and technicians.” Read Doug Navarra’s notable review of the Made in Cologne exhibition at Peter Freeman Inc, New York.

• Galerie Lulla (Los Angeles) currently hosts FOR THE LOVE OF CLAY, a fantastic group exhibition supporting the Barnsdall Junior Art Center’s Ceramics Studio. This exhibition brings together a diverse collection of Los Angeles artists who focus on ceramics, offering a window into contemporary explorations of the medium, from traditional functional objects to the conceptual and experimental. Proceeds from artwork sales will support the ceramic studios and classes at the Barnsdall Junior Art Center.

• Read Derek Larsen’s article about Kasumi Ueba’s recent exhibition at Gallery Utsuwakan, Kyoto: Born and raised in Kyoto, ceramic artist Kasumi Ueba spent her youth immersed in the traditional arts of Japan. As a young girl, she would sneak into her Grandfather’s studio to watch him hand paint Yuzen-style kimono with traditional patterns. His hand-bound rice paper sketchbooks, filled with elaborate pattern designs and ideas, scattered about for her to investigate. Today, Kasumi creates ceramic objects that are a radical and imaginative contemporary extension of the Kyoto pottery style overflowing with Miyabi beauty.

• (un)Known Territories, the 5th Officine Saffi Award exhibition is now on view at Fondazione Officine Saffi’s new location in Milan, Italy. Congratulations to this year’s award winner, Javier Bravo de Rueda. In the jury’s words, de Rueda’s work “reveals an extraordinary ability to capture the potential of ceramics through an unprecedented use of terracotta, which is meant as an architectural device, a pictorial surface, and a sculpture at the same time.”

• The Kiln Rooms (London) is hosting a summer show this weekend, showcasing the works of over 80 artists and designers working with ceramics. This is a great opportunity to see a wide range of handmade work, meet the makers, and see the studios where the work was made. Entry is free.

• The first edition of the ceramic art fair cerARTmic is taking place this weekend at Palacio Santa Bárbara in Madrid, Spain. The fair will feature fourteen galleries, offer ceramic workshops, and present several prestigious acquisition prizes from renowned Spanish art collections.

• Speaking of international events, make sure to check our Ceramics Calendar. There are now 30 current and upcoming events listed. If you’re visiting any of them and are interested in writing a review, feel free to reach out.

• Limoges Enchères Auction House is hosting an exceptional auction of contemporary ceramics and glassware from a private collection on June 13 and 14, 2024. At the heart of this auction lies an extraordinary private collection, assembled with passion and expertise over more than forty years by a couple of collectors who wish to remain anonymous. Far from being a mere collection of objects, it represents a true work of art in itself, tracing without a word, piece by piece, a subjective, loving, and profoundly just history of the creation of ceramics and glassware from the 1950s to the present day.

• Congratulations to the winners of the 42nd edition of the Concurs International de Ceràmica de l’Alcora (Spain): Javier Perandones (first prize), Daniel Cavey (second prize), and Rafael Jiménez Chacón (honorable mention).

• The Department of Art at Pacific University (Forest Grove, OR) invites applications for an instructor of ceramics beginning Fall 2024.

• What’s On View: Ibrahim Said: From Thebes to Cairo is on view at Yossi Milo, New York / Marianne Nielsen: Leaf, stem, twig is on view at HB381 Gallery, New York / Timothée Humbert: Parade is on view at Florian Daguet-Bresson, Paris / Ole Jensen: Simple Clayware is on view at Peach Corner Gallery, Copenhagen / Turi Heisselberg Pedersen: Right before our eyes is on view at Galerie de l’Ancienne Poste, Toucy / Nguyễn Duy Mạnh and Trương Công Tùng: Untamed Souls is on view at Galerie BAQ, Paris / Jeffery Sun Young Park: Dokkaebi Revelry is on view at Stroll Garden, Los Angeles / Jihye Han and Yeonsoo Kim: Dancing with Flowers at Lucy Lacoste Gallery, Concord / Catrin Howell: Mystical sculptures is on view at Terra Delft Gallery, Delft / Jane Yang-D’Haene: Beauty Lies Within at Make Hauser & Wirth, Somerset / Jane Yang-D’Haene: In Memory Of Memory is on view at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami