The week’s news in the ceramic art world – June 4, 2025

⭐ Applications are open for CERCO, the XIX International Prize for Contemporary Ceramics, until June 22. The competition is open to all contemporary artists, emerging or established, individuals or members of collectives. Without thematic restrictions, it is one of the longest-running ceramic awards, showcasing the evolution and trends in contemporary ceramics. Thirty works will be selected for exhibition at the Aragón Crafts Center in Zaragoza (Spain) from September to November 2025. Prizes include the €6,000 CERCO Award.

👉 Applications for the Kikuchi Biennale XI Ceramic Competition are open until the end of June. The biennale exhibition will take place at the Kikuchi Kanjitsu Memorial Tomo Museum, Tokyo, between December 13, 2025 and March 22, 2026. Several prizes will be awarded, including a Grand Prize worth ~$14,000. Application fee: ~$42.

🔥 The June Steingart Art Gallery at Laney College (Oakland, CA) is accepting submissions for Stoked: Wood Fired Ceramics, a national juried exhibition dedicated to the fiery art of wood-fired ceramics. This exhibition aims to bring together the most compelling examples of this age-old ceramic technique nationwide. Submission deadline: June 30, 2025.

🎥 The third edition of the Manises International Ceramics Film Festival (CICEMA) will take place from November 21 to 23 at the Germanias Auditorium in Manises, Spain. Organized in one of Spain’s historic ceramics cities, CICEMA has become a key event in Europe dedicated to films about ceramics. Last year’s edition received over 60 submissions from 18 countries and attracted an audience of around 1,000. Applications are open to filmmakers working with ceramics-related themes.

👌 Three exceptional exhibitions are on view through June 29 at The Clay Studio, Philadelphia. In Another Way of Knowing, Jeanne Blissett Robertson explores the Arctic’s fragile ecosystems through sculpture and science. In holy.body, Michael Biello reflects on queer intimacy, spirituality, and performance. Small Favors 2025 celebrates its 19th edition with nearly 400 small-scale works that showcase big ideas and diverse material approaches.

☀️ Artists based in Australia are invited to apply to this year’s Shelley Simpson Ceramics Prize. Now in its fifth year, the prize is open to all Australian ceramicists and awards innovative, sustainable and emerging talent with a $10,000 fund to support and accelerate their practice. This year, for the first time, the selected finalists will be celebrated in a four-week exhibition hosted at Craft Victoria. Applications are due June 30.

🌿 Marking ten years of community and craft, The Kiln Rooms Festival takes place June 5–8 across two Peckham studios (London). The event features the Members Show with works by 80–100 emerging ceramicists, live demos, talks, and a community clay project with Clayground Collective. Visitors can also view Master Sketches, a charity exhibition of original drawings by leading ceramic artists. Free and open to all, the festival offers a rare chance to explore studios, meet makers, and support FiredUp4, a charity expanding access to ceramics.

⛩️ Experience Japan’s rich ceramic traditions firsthand with Trip2Japan, led by Sheri Leigh O’Connor. These immersive tours, Ceramics, Sushi, and Sightseeing, take participants to historic pottery towns, artist studios, museums, and cultural sites. Alongside unforgettable landscapes and cuisine, travelers explore the legacy of Japanese ceramics that has shaped studio pottery worldwide.

📍 Several exciting ceramics events are taking place in the coming weeks. cerARTmic Madrid (June 5-8) brings contemporary ceramics to the Spanish capital with an international fair. On June 7-8, Festival de la céramique à Nantes is taking place in Nantes, France, and on June 8-9, the Ceramic Market Andenne returns to Andenne, Belgium, showcasing a fantastic selection of ceramic artists. The Höhr-Grenzhausen Ceramics Market will gather artists and visitors in Germany’s historic ceramics hub between June 14 and 15.