Articles

In 2025, Ceramic Art Andenne enters a new chapter under the name Perspectives Festival, a title that reflects a deepened commitment to highlight contemporary ceramic art practices. Conceived as a triennial, this year's festival brings together over one hundred artists from around the world in eight exhibitions across Andenne, Belgium. This year's edition stands out for its strong program and...

History: A Legacy in Motion. Alfred Ceramic Art 1900-2025 is on view at the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum at Alfred University, New York May 8 - December 14, 2025 One hundred and twenty-five years ago Charles Fergus Binns was invited to become the first director of a new initiative at Alfred University, the New York School of Clay-Working and Ceramics....

By Unu Sohn There is the illusion that coming of age is a singular occurrence in a person’s lifetime. We each supposedly transition from child to adult and join a collective of fully developed, grown people capable of regularly changing the duvet cover and filing taxes. We know who the right person to marry is and how to cook a...

By Joshua G. Stein Objecthood is complicated. At first, we might assume that we easily know how to draw the profile of a tree. Maybe we understand that in the interest of time we might not be able to outline every single branch, every single leaf, or every single root, but with enough time we imagine we can trace this...

Part I. Introduction In a time when the fragility of our planet is more evident than ever, clay offers a medium for reflection and inquiry. Curated by Julia Ellen Lancaster, The Whole World in Our Hands brings together six women sculptors who work with clay to explore themes of ecology, material histories, and human responsibility. Timed to coincide with Earth...

By Tontouristen Kollektiv A contemporary and popular idea about clay and ceramics is of a romantic character. It is associated with slow movement, the field of small-scale business, handmade juxtaposed to industrial, therapeutic, and healing: a justified way to navigate in this time of heavy materialistic and commercial reality. Clay is also mistaken to be sustainable, harmless, and 'pure' –...

By Cammy Climaco By the time Covid protocols were over in 2021, Ceramics was at its height of popularity. More and more fine artists were using it as a medium, Instagram had created a community of ceramics gazing, and Seth Rogan built a home studio. When the Clay Pop show, curated by Alia Dahl (née Williams), opened at Jeffrey Deitch...

By Rita Mikučionytė I believe the acronym TARP, chosen by the organisers of last year’s ceramic art biennial, is a thoughtful and forward-looking decision. It reflects both the multi-layered nature of the event and the inevitable creative diversity brought by its forty-four participants. Naturally, I cannot fully address all twelve key concepts proposed by the ARKA Gallery and the Section...

By Nancy M. Servis “The point of art is not to make maps but to adventure.”Jim Ede, in Laura Freeman, Ways of Life: Jim Ede and the Kettle’s Yard Artists (London: Jonathan Cape, 2023), 240.Jim Ede The nature of collecting can be described as an impulsive urge, a planned strategy, or a cultural wayfinding. Whether by museums or individuals, collecting...

By Anne-Brit Soma Reienes and Per Ditlef Fredriksen Who or what is the source of creativity when working with clay? In this essay we reflect on the outcomes of a collaboration between a ceramic artist engaging in performative pedagogy and an archaeologist working with contemporary material knowledges. Seeking a common conceptual ground, we explore the unruly outcomes of creativity in...

By Benjamin Evans To say that the theme of “duality” is at the core of Li Hongwei’s elegant body of sculpture is, at best, an understatement. Here is a partial list of some of the binary oppositions at play in his work: Old vs. new, East vs. West, hand-made vs. industrial, delicate vs. strong, Yin vs. Yang, functional vessel vs....

By Unu Sohn The black dog of depression, peace doves, a house on fire are all symbols you can find upon visiting the exhibition Narratives In Clay at County Hall Pottery, on view from January 28 through March 9, 2025. This group show features a collection of sculptures and vases by Eun-ha Paek, Katy Stubbs, Kaye Blegvad, Isabel Greenberg, Charlie...

By Jennifer Zwilling The three solo exhibitions currently on view at The Clay Studio present work by current and recent Resident Artists. The aesthetics of the three exhibitions are quite disparate. Josephine Mette Larsen's work is precise, nearly monochromatic, and meditative. Yinsik Yoo's figural procession across a large pedestal evokes a feeling of evolution of a human being over time,...

By Katherina Perlongo In the middle of Berlin's historic city center, not far from Alexanderplatz—one of the city's most famous landmarks, tourist attractions, and transport hubs—we find Klosterruine, located at Klosterstraße 73a. The ruins of the former Franciscan monastery are one of the oldest preserved buildings in Berlin and seem to have fallen out of time. It is one of...

By Katherine Ross In Tracing Ways, artists E. Saffronia Downing and Rosemary Holliday Hall embrace a collaborative approach to materiality, exploring themes of place-making and site-specificity. Using clay, found objects, and collected traces, their installation maps the relationships between makers, matter, and the environment. This review by Katherine Ross examines how the artists reimagine material as a vessel for presence,...

By Cammi Climaco While I’ve followed Takuro Kuwata on Instagram for the past seven years, I’ve only seen his work floating by on a glowing two-inch by two-inch screen. Seeing his show Together Shiyoze! (Let’s Get Together!) at Salon 94, through February 15th, was a bit of a parasocial experience. I was confidently familiar with Kuwata’s work, so much so,...

By Andrea Müller-Fincker The second edition of the international art fair for contemporary ceramics took place at Tour&Taxis in Brussels from January 22nd to 26th, 2025. The Gare Maritime area, which represents an extraordinary combination of historic industrial architecture from the beginning of the 20th century, offered a unique exhibition experience in the heart of Europe. As the only art...

By Ann Marais The first South African Clay Awards exhibition, held at Rust-en-Vrede Gallery and Clay Museum in Durbanville, outside Cape Town, from November to December 2024, marked a significant milestone for South African ceramics. It followed the gallery's accreditation as an affiliate member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC). The IAC formally endorsed the exhibition with this accreditation,...

Ceramics Now announces a new Call for Papers In honoring our commitment to showing the evolving trends and concepts that shape contemporary ceramics, Ceramics Now is pleased to announce a new call for papers. We invite thought-provoking essays, comprehensive exhibition reviews, and features that address significant movements or major events in the field. We particularly encourage essays that examine current...

By Doug Navarra From the outset, I found Mai-Thu Perret's work in the exhibition titled "Underworld" at the David Kordansky Gallery in NYC to be deeply challenging, which immediately drew me to it. This challenge arises from multiple factors: the work is interdisciplinary and conceptual, departing from traditional notions of ceramics while also offering a fluidity of meaning that invites...