The week’s news in the ceramic art world – April 26, 2023

• Spring is a very busy time for everyone. Remember to submit your application in time for the following ceramic competitions, with deadlines in May or early June. See the calendar of events for more details, and maybe we’ll have a chance to meet during one of them.

The Cheongju International Craft Competition 2023 will take place in Cheongju, South Korea, between September 1 – October 15. Applications are due May 7
The 21st International Ceramics Biennial of Esplugues Angelina Alós will take place in Esplugues, near Barcelona, Spain, between July 21 and January 24. Applications are due May 7
The 30th Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art “Mediterraneo” will take place in Grottaglie, Italy, between June 24 and September 10. Applications are due May 14
The Martinsons Award 2023 within the 4th Latvia Ceramics Biennale will take place in Daugavpils, Latvia, between September 8 and February 18. Applications are due May 25
The 18th International Ceramics Competition CERCO 2023 will take place in Zaragoza, SPAIN, between September and November. Applications are due June 11

• Applications for British Ceramics Biennial Fresh 2023 are now open for UK-based artists. The Fresh exhibition celebrates and promotes emerging talent in contemporary ceramics in the UK and Ireland, providing a platform for artists to inspire and challenge. Twenty-five exhibitors will be selected, and four Fresh Talent Awards will be given to extraordinary emerging talent. Applications deadline: June 11.

• The 36th California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Arts (CCACA 2023), organized by the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts, will take place at the end of this week, April 28-29. Conceived by the need for dialogue and direct interaction between artists and students, CCACA 2023 brings a spectacular ceramic sculpture event to Davis, CA, with demonstrations, lectures, shows, and face-to-face meetings with distinguished ceramic sculptors. Local gallery exhibitions and over 30 college shows will bring the year’s best work within easy reach.

• I recently came across some really interesting articles that I think you might enjoy:

The first is an article about Judy Chartrand written by Amy Gogarty: Describing her as one of their “in-depth collected artists,” the rennie museum writes: “Chartrand’s work is boldly assertive and humorous, often attacking issues of racism and post-colonial relations. Rather than focusing on the victimization of marginalized individuals, Chartrand flips the script and creates work that spotlights the privileged life lived in ignorance, shielded from day-to-day racism and poverty.” Many thanks to Debra Sloan for sending this to me.
The second one is an article about Simone Leigh—TIME recently listed her as one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. “I wanted to be anything but an artist. I thought I was asking for a life of poverty and strife, which I had already had enough of . . . But one thing I did know was ceramics. And I couldn’t stop making things.” If you can’t access the paywalled article, search for its title on Google and click on the first or second link.
The third one is a collection of photographs by Phil Crow documenting the last bottle ovens and kilns of the Potteries. At the height of the pottery industry, thousands of bottle ovens dominated the skyline of Stoke-on-Trent; before the outbreak of war in 1939, more than 2000 had been documented. The Clean Air Act of 1956 began the end of these iconic buildings. Currently, 47 bottle-shaped structures remain.

• The American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) recently announced their five artists in residence for 2023–2024: Natalia Arbelaez, Claudia V. Solórzano, Paige O’Toole, Jolie Ngo, and Luke Shalan. The Artist in Residence program at the AMOCA Ceramics Studio provides time, space, and support for emerging, mid-career, and established artists to continue and expand their creative work. Congratulations!

• Clayground, a vibrant ceramics community studio in Berlin, invites you to join their Spring Sale later this week. Join the celebration, meet the resident ceramists, and discover their work.

• The Ceramics Program at the Office for the Arts at Harvard recently opened registration for their summer courses. Over 15 courses are scheduled for this summer, including Uncommon Grounds: Expressive Ceramic Sculpture, Confronting and Developing Stories Through Ceramic Surfaces, Explore Soda, Form and Function: Introduction to Slabs, Molds and Multiples, and many more.

• Studio Ceramics (by Alun Graves), a major catalog for 20th-century and contemporary British ceramics, is now available to pre-order on Bookshop.org (US) or Amazon (world). Alun Graves provides all lovers of ceramics with historical context, documenting the medium’s shift into an expressive, sometimes interventionist, art form. A visual chronology and subsequent A–Z of artists feature illustrated biographical entries on almost 300 major British ceramists.

• What’s On View: Fantastic Forms is on view at Bundanon Art Museum, New South Wales, Australia / Masaomi Yasunaga: 石拾いからの発見 – discoveries from picking up stones is on view at Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles / Small Favors 2023, Gone & For Ever, and Pride Pots: Community Conversations will open this week at The Clay Studio, Philadelphia / Insiders: Julie Cockburn online presentation is on view at Flowers Gallery, London / Arina Ailincăi: A Choir of Angels is on view at Galateea Contemporary Art, Bucharest / Ioan Iosif: Ceramic Objects opens this week at Kunstverein Greven, Greven / Linda Sikora: Darkening Ground is on view at Ferrin Contemporary, North Adams / Janny Baek: The Pleasure of Growth is on view at Culture Object, New York / Ioana Maria Sisea: The Adventures of Bear Lache and His Friends is on view at Rosenfeld, London