88 - A contemporary ceramics exhibition in Namur, Belgium

Ceramics Now Weekly #88 features a presentation of Alive & Unfolding at Le Delta (Namur, Belgium), three other articles, the week's news in the ceramics world, and new artists.

May 13, 2025

Hello! Welcome to the 88th edition of Ceramics Now Weekly. This is Vasi Hirdo, the founding editor of Ceramics Now.

I hope you are doing well today 👋

Before we begin, I wanted to share two important updates:
• Don't miss the May 2025 issue of Ceramics Now Magazine, which features the vibrant, narrative-driven work of Eun-Ha Paek on the cover. In over 100 pages, the issue brings together essays, profiles, and exhibitions that reflect the evolving language of contemporary ceramics. Ceramics Now members get instant access to the magazine. Learn more about subscriptions and join our community if you haven't already.
• We started offering institutional subscriptions to Ceramics Now Magazine for universities, libraries, and museums. These include digital access to all our issues and flexible access options. If you work at a university, college, or museum, consider contacting your library to request a subscription.

Let's see what's new.

Alive & Unfolding contemporary ceramics exhibition

I'm delighted to invite you to the opening of Alive & Unfolding, an exhibition I'm curating, on Saturday, May 17, at 6:30 pm at le Delta in Namur, Belgium.

Alive & Unfolding is a contemporary ceramics exhibition featuring the works of twenty-two artists from fourteen countries. Curated by Vasi Hirdo, the founder of Ceramics Now, the exhibition is organized by le Delta as part of the Perspective Festival of Ceramic Art Andenne, and will be on view between May 17 and August 17, 2025.

Alive & Unfolding is an exploration of contemporary ceramics, where each artwork emerges as an extension of the artist's experience, telling a story that speaks to deeper emotional and existential dimensions. The exhibition presents a vibrant collection of sculptures that challenge the boundaries between the figurative and the abstract, inviting viewers into a poetic world where human, animal, and cryptic forms come alive.

Featuring: Jasmin Anoschkin (FI), Natalia Arbelaez (US), Emily Yong Beck (US), Eric Croes (BE), Claire Curneen (UK), Sien Godderis (BE), Faye Hadfield (UK), Mahala Hill (AU), Myung-Joo Kim (KR), Ahryun Lee (KR), Claire Lindner (FR), Hélène Loussier (FR), Martin Neubert (DE), Irene Nordli (NO), Sayaka Oishi (JP), SunYoung Park (KR), Paolo Porelli (IT), Elsa Sahal (FR), Bente Skjøttgaard (DK), Carl Richard Söderström (SE), Johan Tahon (BE), Anne Wenzel (NL)

The Whole World In Our Hands at The Stephen Lawrence Gallery

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 Overshoot Day, the exhibition challenges viewers to consider the intersections between art, environment, and the fragility of our natural world. Through their work, these artists reveal the material's capacity to hold time, industrial traces, personal narratives, and the imprints of both natural and human histories, turning it into a space for conversation about our relationship with the earth.

Read an introduction and interviews with the artists, conducted by Vasi Hirdo.

Translate: L'Ofici Ceramista – Two artists, a defunct factory, a museum and an archive

By Brigit Connolly

In 2022, Anne-Laure Cano and Jim Gladwin – two artists who work with clay – began working together towards an exhibition at the Museu d'Esplugues in response to, or translating from, the historical remains of the Pujol I Bausis (La Rajoleta) ceramics factory near Barcelona and its extensive archive.

Brigit Connolly interviewed the artists to discuss the ideas behind the project, the complexities of working across time and language, and how the factory's legacy shaped their creative process.

Tontouristen Kollektiv: What can be found in the gap between the different clay narratives?

In this essay published in Ceramics Now, Tontouristen Kollektiv explores the complex realities behind clay extraction. Through fieldwork, performance, and video works in Germany's Westerwald region, the artist collective confronts the gap between the romanticized perception of clay and its industrial, ecological, and political realities. Their research-based practice raises questions about material origins, sustainability, and the future of ceramics in an era of resource depletion and environmental change.

New featured artists in Ceramics Now

The week’s news in the ceramic world

📍 Belgium's largest cultural event dedicated to contemporary ceramics starts later this week. For its 17th edition, Ceramic Art Andenne presents the Perspectives Festival, reflecting the event's depth, its evolution into an ambitious project, and its openness to new possibilities and collaborations.

At the Andenne Cultural Centre: Authentic (open international competition), Talisman (thematic international competition), and Germany - guest country;
At the Maison des Associations: Fusion of Visions (exhibition by Benelux members of the IAC - International Academy of Ceramics);
At the Espace muséal d'Andenne – Phare: Temps Feutré (solo exhibition by featured Belgian artist Nathalie Doyen) and Connexions (in collaboration with Ceramic Brussels fair);
At Le Delta Namur: Alive & Unfolding contemporary ceramics exhibition (curated by Vasi Hirdo, founder of Ceramics Now).

🏆 Applications are open for the 4th Blanc de Chine International Ceramic Art Award (China). Held every two years, ICAA aims to bring together the world's outstanding ceramic artists and rethink, define, and extend the dimensions and depth of ceramic art through innovative white porcelain works. Several prizes will be awarded, including a First Prize worth €50,000. The application deadline is July 31. The exhibition will take place in January 2026.

👉 Artists and curators from across the US and worldwide are invited to apply for NCECA's 2026 Exhibitions. Submissions are now open for the NCECA Annual Exhibition: Absence Takes Form, the 2026 NCECA Juried Student Exhibition, and Featured Exhibition proposals in conjunction with Volumes, NCECA's 2026 conference in Detroit, Michigan. The first deadlines are coming up in June.

🥣 Applications are now open for the 10th International Tea Bowl Competition 2025, part of the Festival of High Temperatures at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw, Poland. Open to ceramic artists worldwide, the competition invites submissions that engage with this year's theme: Ichi-go ichi-e (一期一会) – "One time, one meeting." The application deadline is May 31.

☀️ Arts Mansfield invites artists based in Australia and New Zealand to apply for the 2025 Klytie Pate Ceramics Award. Now in its fifth year, the award honors the legacy of one of Australia's most influential ceramicists, Klytie Pate, and carries a biennial prize of 10,000 AUD. The exhibition will take place between September 19 and October 6, 2025. Applications are due June 27.

⭐ The 2025 edition of Ceramic Art London has just wrapped up. Firmly established as a leading platform for ceramic art, the event draws around 6,000 visitors from over 30 countries each year. With more than 120 exhibitors from across the UK and beyond, it stands out for its direct focus on the makers themselves, offering a lively, hands-on celebration of global creativity and craftsmanship. The talks programme was a particular highlight.

Maak is presenting two parallel auctions—Contemporary Ceramics and Contemporary Craft—during London Craft Week (May 10–15, 2025), featuring over 200 works from the esteemed collection of Marc and Diane Grainer, passionate collectors and patrons of contemporary craft. The auctions will also include key works from other notable collections, offering a diverse selection of significant contemporary pieces.

🗼 The Révélations Biennial, a major event in the field of art and design, returns for its seventh edition at Grand Palais in Paris. This international event will be held from 21 to 25 May 2025 and will bring together almost 500 designers from some thirty countries, presenting a diversity of exceptional skills in ceramics, glass, textiles, wood, metal, and other materials.

Do you have news that you’d like to share with the world? Let us know—reply to this email.

Exhibitions

Discover these ceramic exhibitions that were recently featured in Ceramics Now.

🔍 What's on View

A selection of ceramic exhibitions currently on view around the world.

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