The week’s news in the ceramic art world – February 7, 2023

1⃣ The International Ceramics Festival Mino, Japan, opened its applications for the 2024 International Ceramics Competition Mino. The competition theme is The Future of Ceramics. Entries should go beyond traditional concepts in an imaginative and inspired way – one that opens the door to the future of ceramics. Entry categories: Ceramic Arts and Ceramics Design. Application period: February 1, 2023 – January 31, 2024.

2⃣ The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics, in cooperation with the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, just announced an open call for the MARTINSONS AWARD 2023 International Ceramics Competition under the 4th Latvia Ceramics Biennale 2023. The event attracts artists worldwide and seeks to develop and promote contemporary ceramics in Latvia and the Baltics. This year’s theme: Troubled Waters. Applications are due May 25, 2023.

🔥 The Bruckner Foundation (Geneve) is accepting applications for their Bursary for the encouragement of ceramics creation. The Bursary is intended for ceramists, artists, and designers who can show proof of independent and in-depth practice and experience in ceramics. The successful applicant will be offered a 2-3 months residency in the workshops of the Bruckner Foundation in Carouge, Switzerland, along with free accommodation and financial support (CHF2,000). Applications are due March 5, 2023.

✊🏿 Clay Art Center (NY) is celebrating Black History Month with programming highlighting Black Ceramic Artists with an online invitational exhibition, “The Sustaining Presence: Stalwarts of African American Contemporary Clay,” guest curated by Syd Carpenter, with ceramic artists from across the US. View the online exhibition and join a virtual artist talk moderated by Syd Carpenter tomorrow at 7 PM ET.

✌️ Yuliya Makliuk invites artists to Terracotta Warriors: Personal Stories of Ceramic Artists vs. War, a webinar about resilience with Ivan Hryhorchuk, Nadiia Otriazha, and Ehrel Tool. Hear how these ceramicists found unique ways to make a stand for freedom, and learn how ceramics can be used to transform grief, reduce suffering, and build peace. The event will take place on Friday at 6 PM GMT. Registration is free.

🌷 Messums, an arts center celebrating the creative endeavor, presents its Spring Ceramics Season: a program of exhibitions and events that seek to showcase the richness and breadth of the medium, profiling several significant contemporary practitioners and focusing particularly on the importance of the journey of making. To mark this season, a symposium will be held at Messums Wiltshire on April 1. Preview the exhibition schedule and learn more about the symposium.

📙 Cracked Pot (Latah Books), a book by ceramic artist and writer Vince Montague, will be launched later this month. “When Vince Montague’s wife perishes in a tragic car accident, he is plunged into a world of grief. After weeks of loneliness and despair, he begins to explore his wife’s pottery studio in the wild hills of Northern California, teaching himself to mix clay, throw a pot, fire a kiln, trim, and glaze. Just as his grief is ebbing and his future in clay looks bright, a wildfire advances upon his studio and threatens to destroy everything he has created.” Pre-order the book on Bookshop.org (US) or Amazon (World).

📍 CERCCO, the Center for Experimentation and Realisation in Contemporary Ceramics of the Geneva University of Art and Design, invites applications for two 2-month residencies. The center offers multiple technological resources, including a printer equipped with the Ceramic-Laser-Copy System and access to the rapid prototyping workshop: fitted with a five-axis-CNC milling machine, a 3D prototyping printer, and a laser cutting machine. The call is open to artists who wish to work on a specific project (producing works for an exhibition, development of a design project, research with ceramic materials, etc.). Applications are due March 17, 2023.

👏 Congratulations to the 70 artists who got selected for the 62nd Faenza Prize! The competition winners will be announced on June 30, and the works will be on view at the MIC Faenza from July 1 through October 30. Find more competitions and other events in our 2023 calendar.

🔍 What’s On View: Jonathan Baldock: we are flowers of one garden is on view at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London / Ceramic Signals is on view at Keramiekcentrum Tiendschuur, Tegelen / Phantasm is on view at LaiSun Keane, Boston / Anima Roos and Coline Rosoux: About Identity is on view at Valcke Art Gallery, Ghent / Nesrin During: The Elements is on view at Terra Delft Gallery, Delft / Alain Vernis is on view at Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels / Susan Beiner: Two Natures is on view at New Taipei Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan / Judy Pfaff: Smokkfiskur – a tale runs is on view at the Museum of New Art (MONA), Portsmouth / Galerie NeC, Paris, presents Audrey Ballacchino: Bouquet final and Benoît Pouplard: Flux and flow / Juan Ortí opens this week at Modern Shapes Gallery, Antwerp / Northern Lights: Three Generations of Danish Potters is on view at Oxford Ceramics Gallery, Oxford / Out Of The Fire is on view at Love Texas Art, Fort Worth