Discover Ceramics
An interactive educational visitor enhancement from the Craft Potters Association Available at no cost from summer 2018
Discover Ceramics A short-term interactive pop-up installed for one to three days designed to increase understanding and appreciation for ceramics as material, craft and art.
available late summer and autumn 2018
In brief What is it? A pop-up roadshow, combining display, demonstration, handling and talks covering all aspects of ceramics – history, science, technique, applications. It is fully staffed and resourced and designed to be installed over 1-3 days, either indoor or outdoor, designed to appeal to all ages. Why now?
Who is producing it? The Craft Potters Association of Great Britain was founded in 1958 to represent professional studio ceramists, and more widely the craft of pottery and ceramics as a whole. We now represent some 400 professional ceramists across the UK working in everything from abstract sculpture to functional tableware. We also produce Ceramic Art London, the UK’s largest ceramic event.
“Pottery is the new yoga!” declared ‘Vogue’ in January 2017. Ceramics is undergoing a surge of interest: a rise in participation, a popular BBC TV show, attendance at events and wider media interest. Across the country evening classes are booked back for months. At the same time, few people know much about this material: why it behaves as it does, and how difficult it is to master. This project aims to inform, expand and retain a new audience and deepen their engagement with ceramics to help secure the future of the craft. Contemporary china clay mining, Little John’s pit, Cornwall
Where will it take place? Discover Ceramics is available to major museum partners around the UK with low barriers to entry and a broad audience for whom ceramics represents a significant part of their permanent collection and exhibits. Its flexibility means can fit in and around permanent and scheduled exhibitions and displays or in a discrete open space, inside or outside. What is required to host it?
Abstract scultpure by Aneta Regel
Discover Ceramics will be fully resourced and funded at source. It is offered at no cost to partners. It comes with its own transport, set-up and take-down crew, explainers, demonstrators, and speakers
Picasso in his ceramics studio
In detail Opportunity Ceramics is undergoing a surge of interest: a rise in participation, a popular reality TV show, attendance at events and wider media interest. Attendance at Ceramic Art London 2017 (one of the UK’s largest ceramic events) was up 50% with unprecedented press interest and 62% of attendees coming for the first time. Across the country evening classes are booked back for months and the East London “gym-style” shared studio space Turning Earth recently doubled its capacity to cope with demand.
Need While there is increased interest, few people know much about this material: why it behaves as it does, and how difficult it is to master. This project aims to inform, expand and retain a new audience and deepen their engagement with ceramics to help secure the future of the craft. Ceramists live unusual lives, often working in isolation, often in rural locations. This event brings them face to face with an increasingly curious public.
This 35,000 year old human industry speaks strongly to people in 2017 • It is physical where so much of life is digital • It is textural and three dimensional and cannot be replicated on a screen • It is difficult, taking time to get good results and there is no “undo” button • It is accidental: while the makers may strive to be in control of the process, in many cases the kiln contributes its own accidents, happy or unhappy • It fuses body and mind in an activity which is challenging but fun Claire Twomey installing Manifest: 10,000 hours in York
Objectives • Break down barriers and inhibitions around the craft • Increase understanding of and appreciation for ceramics among participants • Deepen and prolong engagement with ceramics • Deepen and prolong engagement with partner venues • Enlarge and retain a new audience, both for ceramics and for partners • Increase understanding of the material science behind ceramics • Build the market for ceramists to sell their work • Provide a legacy for this work to continue into the future Audience People who do not necessarily know anything about or have any involvement in ceramics but may be likely to. They might be: museum and gallery visitors, craft show attendees, car boot sale aficionados, creative hobbyists, interior design fans, antiques buyers, history buffs, budding scientists.
10th century bowl, Nishapur, Iran
Legacy Intangible: expanded and more informed audience, wider profile and appreciation for the craft, text produced and archival research undertaken for the project Tangible: website, publication, schools’ information pack
The content Discover Ceramics can be adapted to suit your circumstances because it is: Modular Scalable Adaptable Transportable Shallow to deep Modular: the different elements of the show can be displayed together or split apart and spread out Scalable: not all parts of the project need to be installed at all venues; partners can include elements that work for them or are relevant to permanent collections. Adaptable: can be displayed indoor or outdoor, in open spaces or closed rooms, can incorporate auditoria and available facilities Transportable: compact and transportable, it comes with its own team and crew, demanding little from partners Shallow to Deep: the audience can engage as much as or as little as they want: from a quick glance walking past a display to a half day with talks and hands on participation
Lisa Hammond at her wheel in Greenwich
Components • • • • • • • • •
Static displays – exhibition panels Static displays - video Interactive display - tablets Object displays Handling table Live making demonstrations Talks Supporting website National marketing campaign
Suggested topics Displays: • Specially commissioned text and images concerning: • Brief history ceramics through time, from earliest origins, to Iraq, Mexico, Japan, Korea, China, Netherlands, Staffordshire etc. • Special pull outs on: Böttger and the secret of porcelain; Zen Buddhism and wabi-sabi • History of studio pottery in the UK with a special section on the CPA • Clay’s 2D molecular structure • Different types of clay • Building techniques • Slips and glazes • Firing: what happens in the kiln, different types of kiln, raku etc. Videos: • Kilns: anagama, Fred Olsen and site specific kilns, video of a woodfiring (e.g. Nic Collins), raku • Experimental ceramics: installation artists, Keith Harrison, Alexandra Engelfriet etc. • Raw material: mining clay, Stoke etc. – intro by Mark Miodownik • Building methods - coil, slab, throwing • Portraits of makers, especially including lifestyle elements Handling: • Ceramic objects • Key minerals and raw materials associated with ceramics and ceramic glazes • Wet, leather hard, bisque and fired clay of different types
Demonstrations: Max 20 mins and repeating at specified times, like a Punch & Judy show • Throwing • Coiling and handbuilding • Moulding Talks: • Living as a ceramist in 2018 • Brief history of British studio pottery • Intercultural dialogue between East and West • The science of ceramics • Experimental ceramics – pushing the material Website: • Map of national activity • Details of individual events – dates, venues, booking if applicable • Videos as featured in the exhibition • Material prepared for exhibition panels presented interactively Publications: • A beginners guide to ceramics (free or extremely low priced depending on funding) • Understanding Ceramics informational poster distributed free to UK primary schools
To find out more about hosting Discover Ceramics please contact: Toby Brundin Craft Potters Association of Great Britain 63 Great Russell Street, LONDON, WC1B 3BF Telephone: 020 3137 0750 tobybrundin@ceramicreview.com www.craftpotters.com