The week’s news in the ceramic art world – May 17, 2023

• Our friends at Studio Potter opened the applications for their Grants for Apprenticeship Program (GAP) for US-based artists. This award is important to artists because it provides financial support, recognition, validation, professional development, non-traditional academic opportunities, access to new audiences, and the freedom and flexibility to pursue a creative vision. Applications are due June 1, 2023. This year, five separate teams will each be awarded $15,000.

• From September 23 to November 5, the British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) Festival returns to Stoke-on-Trent for six weeks of exhibitions, installations and events shown against the backdrop of the city’s industrial heritage. From spotlighting the UK’s leading ceramicists to introducing work by international artists and fresh new talent, the BCB Festival is a celebration of the creative potential of clay for storytelling, playfulness, risk-taking and activism.

• The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw, Poland, invites artists to apply to the 9th International Tea Bowl Competition 2023. This year’s edition is dedicated to the memory of Maciej Kasperski. Applications are due June 1, 2023.

• The deadline to apply for the 30th Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art “Mediterraneo” (Grottaglie, Italy) has been extended until May 21, 2023. I’ll be a jury member for this edition along with Ciro D’Alo (Mayor of the City of Grottaglie), Claudia Casali (Director of MIC Faenza), and Marco Maria Polloniato (Curator of the competition).

• The International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary, recently updated their summer and fall courses. Here are some of the courses: Lithophane with Ilona Romule, Naked Raku with Alistair Danhieux, Creative Mouldmaking with Simon Zsolt Jozséf and Saggar and Smoke Alternative Firings with Patty Wouters, among others.

• Ferrin Contemporary is hosting a virtual lunch hour with exhibiting artist Linda Sikora (ceramic artist and Alfred University faculty member) as she sits down with local potter Mark Shapiro and curator Leslie Ferrin to discuss her current exhibition DARKENING GROUND. Join this engaging artist talk on May 24 at noon EST.•

• Yuliya Makliuk invites you to Responsible Clay: Dig, Buy or Make from Waste?, a free webinar on sustainable clay sourcing. Yuliya Makliuk, Sara Howard, and Anastasiia Tomashivska will try to answer how we make sure our passion for clay doesn’t harm landscapes and local people, as well as the global climate. The webinar will be held online on May 19 at 9 am GMT.

• The Buongiorno Ceramica! festival is happening later this week in 45 ceramics cities across Italy. The event is organized by the Italian Association of Ceramic Cities – AiCC and includes performances, workshops, exhibitions, artist tours, and more.

• Medalta (Medicine Hat, Alberta) is hiring a Residency Coordinator / The Leach Pottery (St. Ives, Cornwall) is looking for an Apprentice Potter

• What’s On View: Margareta Daepp: Simply Radical is on view at Ariana Museum, Geneva / EKWC@Princessehof: Keeley Haftner – Carbon Copies is on view at the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics, Leeuwarden / Shingu Sayakao: Flowers – Expressing the Movement of Lives is on view at Keiko Art International (online) / Sharif Bey: Ancestral Vestiges is on view at Belger Crane Yard Studios, Kansas City / Judd Schiffman is on view at Testudo (online) / Cosmogony: Aster Cassel and Nathalie Charrié is on view at La Grange Dîmière, Villages du Lac de Paladru / Tim Andrews: Linear – Non Linear is on view at Contemporary Ceramics, London / Robin Vermeersch: Om de hoek. Ceramic Sculptures is on view at Valcke Art Gallery, Ghent / Hattori Makiko & Akashi Ryōtarō: Coming to Life – Vernal Expressions in Clay is on view at Joan B Mirviss, New York / Making in Between: Queer Clay is on view at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA / Crossroads: James Evans, Rafa Perez, Monika Debus, Jongjin Park is on view at Galerie du Don, Le Fel / Jose Solon Perfecto: Etudes In Survival at Aphro at The Alley, Karrivin Plaza, Makati City