98 - A retrospective dedicated to Gordon Baldwin's practice
Ceramics Now Weekly #98 features three exhibition reviews: Gordon Baldwin at Officine Saffi, Johan Creten at Alfonso Artiaco, and Lindsey Mendick at Jupiter+, and the week's news in the ceramics world
Hello! Welcome to the 98th 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’d like to thank you for all your messages and emails! We turned 15 this year and celebrated with the release of a special 15-Year Anniversary Edition.
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This is likely the last update we’ll send this year, and I wanted to offer a heartfelt thank you for reading Ceramics Now. We wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and a fabulous new year! 🌿
Let’s see what’s new.
Little hard clouds becoming vessels: the sculptural poetry of Gordon Baldwin
By Alessandra Lami
At the core of Gordon Baldwin’s practice lies a tireless curiosity: among the most original voices in modern British ceramics, the artist was able to transform a traditional language into a territory of formal and poetic experimentation. After his demise in May 2025, Baldwin leaves behind a vast body of work. His practice is nourished by a continuous dialogue with art history, especially that of the later twentieth century. In a life spent between teaching – at Eton College as well as Goldsmiths College and the Royal College of Art – and artistic research, Baldwin began experimenting by directing his practice toward works with a functional character, until shaping the traits of a fully autonomous sculptural investigation that reveals him as a multifaceted artist, capable of weaving sculpture, drawing, poetry and music into a single coherent vision.
The exhibition Little Hard Clouds Becoming Vessels, held at Fondazione Officine Saffi and organised in collaboration with Kunstverein in Hamburg and Corvi–Mora, London, presents itself as a retrospective dedicated to Baldwin’s rich practice.
Johan Creten’s Tremore Essenziale at Alfonso Artiaco
By Lori-Ann Touchette
“Tremore Essenziale” at the Alfonso Artiaco Gallery in Naples represents the Belgian artist’s return to Italy after his masterful exhibition at the Villa Medici in Rome in 2020-21. A more intimate and personal vision is created at the Neapolitan gallery as opposed to the Villa Medici show that provided a retrospective of Creten’s sculptural production from the 1980s onwards. Whereas Villa Medici’s “Peccati” was conceived by the artist as a gift to the eternal city, this show is a homage to Naples, the city of tremors par excellence.
A poem written by the artist serves as a billet-doux to Naples, overshadowed by the silhouette of Vesuvius, whose historic eruptions are so often paired with earthquakes, starting with the tremors that preceded the most famous eruption of the volcano in 79 AD. Creten relates these tremors to the fragility of clay and the creative process, but also to the fear that comes from confronting taboos.
Lindsey Mendick – Growing Pains: You Couldn’t Pay Me to Go Back
By Beth Williamson
Housed in a disused estate agent in Reform Street at the heart of Dundee, Lindsey Mendick’s new installation Growing Pains: You Couldn’t Pay Me to Go Back catches the eye and interest of passersby young and old. In this former retail unit, reimagined as an immersive multi-sensory artwork, the creative use of public space enables the opening of dialogue and issues an invitation, to young people in particular, to imagine themselves as artists. Crucially, Jupiter+ runs a bespoke learning programme in the high street too, providing opportunities to develop critical thinking, collaboration, creative activism and self-development.
[...] Mendick revisits her teenage years through ceramics and film. In so doing, she creates a space for today’s teenagers to talk about what is important to them, about their fears and emotions, hopes and dreams.
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The week’s news in the ceramic world
👌 Yingge Ceramics Museum (Taiwan) invites artists, curators, and collectives to submit exhibition proposals for its 2027 exhibition program. Seeking solo, group, and curatorial projects, the Museum offers a professional platform for contemporary ceramic practice and international exchange, with exhibitions taking place in two of its galleries. The open call runs until January 31, 2026, with selected projects announced in March 2026.
👉 As part of the 6th International Ceramics Triennial UNICUM 2026, Center Rog (Ljubljana) has launched a dedicated open call for the exhibition Ceramic Form and Function: Beyond Use. Distinct from the Triennial’s artistic ceramics program, this exhibition focuses on functional and design ceramics that rethink use, form, and everyday living, from tableware and lighting to architectural and sculptural objects. Ceramic artists and designers worldwide are invited to apply. Applications are due January 7, 2026.
⭐ Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Offenbach is inviting applications for RESIDENCY 5.0: exploring porcelain, an international residency program hosted at the historic Höechster Porzellan-Manufaktur in Frankfurt, Germany. Aimed at artists and designers with strong experience in ceramics, the four-month residency (April 15 – August 15, 2026) supports experimental research in porcelain. Four selected residents will receive a studio, accommodation, a €1,000 monthly stipend, production support, and access to advanced facilities. Applications are open to international applicants until January 5, 2026.
⏳ Several deadlines to submit work for ceramic competitions and fairs are approaching in the coming weeks. Applications close soon for the Jingdezhen International Ceramic Art Biennale 2026 (December 25, 2025), the Austrian Pottery Market 2026 and the Carouge International Ceramics Competition 2026 (both December 31, 2025), followed in January by the Biennale of Contemporary Keramics in Greece (January 10), the International Ceramics Days Oldenburg (January 11), Argillà Italia (January 12), Terralha – European Ceramic Festival (January 15), and the Höhr-Grenzhausen Ceramics Market (January 18). Discover all these events in our 2026 Calendar.
🍁 Artists based in Canada are invited to apply for the 2026 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics, a national award supporting emerging ceramic artists. Presented by the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery in partnership with the Keith and Winifred Shantz Fund for the Arts, the award is open to artists with 5-10 years of professional practice. The winner receives $10,000, with additional prizes for a runner-up and finalists, and inclusion in a 2026 group exhibition at the gallery. Applications are due January 25, 2026.
💡 A-B Projects is offering New Wave Scholarships for students and recent graduates that cover enrollment in their monthly Studio Sessions for 2026. Studio Sessions are an online platform where an intimate group of artists gather weekly for 4 weeks under the guidance of a lead artist to discuss specific ideas and experiment with how those ideas can take form in clay. Upcoming sessions: Kelly Devitt in January, Berenice Hernández in February, and Nathan Lynch in March.
📙 Book recommendation: Shaping Global Masterpieces. Published by the International Academy of Ceramics, the book brings together reflections and works by 35 artists from 21 countries, offering insight into contemporary ceramic practices worldwide. Through reflections, creative processes, and technical information, the book celebrates artistic excellence while reflecting the Academy’s mission to foster dialogue, exchange, and international collaboration in ceramics.
🎓 Ceramics Jobs Board:
Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA) is hiring an Assistant Professor of Ceramics
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Lincoln, NE) is hiring an Assistant Professor of Ceramics
University of New Mexico (Gallup, NM) is hiring an Assistant Professor of Ceramics
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.
Celia Vásquez Yui: Indigenous Futurism at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami
Nils Erik Gjerdevik: Spaces of Possibilities at CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art Denmark, Middelfart
Chris Rijk: Sex, drugs and earthenware at Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem and Chris Rijksmuseum at Museum W, Weert
Julianna Zwierciadlowska-Rhymer: Guilty Pleasures at the Saskatchewan Craft Council, Saskatoon
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