In the PROFILES section: 7 ceramic artists from Germany, Australia, Slovenia, UK, US. Coverage of EXHIBITIONS and EVENTS in China, Switzerland, Denmark, USA, Romania, Netherlands, Pakistan. In the section ARTIST JOURNAL, we present Fosca Boggi (Italy) and Miyamoto Ruriko (Japan). And we also have interviews with artists IN STUDIO as well as listings of Dates, Courses, Seminars and Markets.
NEWS
PROFILES
Oliver Neu – Germany
Sandy Lockwood – Australia
Alicia Schuster – Germany
Nataša Sedej – Slovenia
Simone Krug-Springsguth – Germany
Bonsai – Eddie Curtis – UK
Ebony Russell – Australia
Julia Ellen Lancaster – UK
EXHIBITIONS / EVENTS
Artists‘ Residency – Longquan – China
All About Ceramics – Zürich – Switzerland
Nils Erik Gjerdevik – Middelfart – Denmark
Linda Lighton – Overland Park – USA
5th Inter. Ceramics Symposium, Jimbolia – Romania
Sino-German Ceramics Meeting – Guangxi – China
DutChawan – Amsterdam – Netherlands
VESSEL I SCULPTURE 4 – Leipzig – Germany
The Burgshop at the Magazin – Cologne/Halle – Germany
Ceramics & Travel – Pakistan II
BOOKS
New literature
ARTIST JOURNAL
Fosca Boggi (Italy) – Miyamoto Ruriko (Japan) – Ting-Ju Shao
IN STUDIO
Ernest Aryee – Evelyne Schoenmann– Interview / Developing Skills
DATES / Exhibitions / Galleries / Museums
COURSES / SEMINARS / MARKETS
ADVERTISEMENTS
PREVIEW
YOUNG TALENTS Award Winner in Iznang
The international Young Talents competition, held at the Iznang ceramics market on Lake Constance, once again garnered worldwide attention in 2025. One hundred and thirteen young talents from 19 nations participated. Ultimately, 22 exhibited works competed in Iznang for the prize money of 3,000, once again donated by the kiln manufacturer Rohde.The theme of the competition, IN MOTION, was perfectly suited to the craft of working with clay. The four-member jury selected the work of Alicia Schuster, one of the youngest participants. She won with her striking dynamic piece, A Fight.
The winning piece makes use of organic forms. Two differently curved, dynamically shaped rings are intertwined, their inner surfaces concave, their outer surfaces convex. An elaborate, fine dotted decoration of engobe, evenly spaced with a slip trailer, covers all surfaces, the inner and outer surfaces of the rings coloured beige and dark blue. With her interactive work, Schuster aims to depict “the dynamic structure of a relationship” while maintaining its own individuality. The formal communication between the rings can be adjusted and, depending on how they are arranged, made either dynamic or harmonious. The connection between the rings, however, remains constant.
(Arthur Mehlstäubler)
Alicia Schuster
For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the Japanese art of bonsai but I was always reluctant to commit myself to the dedicated attention that they require to flourish. Over the past few years my interest has become more intense, more focussed and I began to investigate the relationship between these purposely dwarfed trees and the containers in which they lived, pots that must successfully provide an essential “life support” system in such a restricted small environment. The most successful union is achieved when the aesthetic intentions of the grower are realised – fundamentally this requires a convincing marriage of pot with tree. A simple and long-held Japanese aesthetic requires that the pot should not visually overwhelm the tree, but instead the bonsai artist should seek a balance where the tree can be presented harmoniously with the container. Whilst this definition seems simple, this aesthetic is somewhat open to a subjective interpretation, a subjectivity that allows the bonsai potter to creatively produce works that respond sympathetically to the tree.
Early Developments of the Bonsai
I became intrigued as to why and when the fascination of growing tiny containerised trees began. Evidence shows us that the pursuit of miniaturising trees began as a means to concentrate the potent strength of the natural elements.
(Eddie Curtis)
Lithic stoneware bonsai container by Eddie Curtis, 35 x 25 x 8 cm
Monika Gass talks to Ebony Russell
We met in Jingdezhen… What does Jingdezhen mean to you? Does the award you got influence your work?
Winning a prize in Jingdezhen was deeply meaningful because of the weight of history embedded in that place. It’s a city where porcelain is not simply a material but a way of life, and to be recognised there – as an emerging ceramic artist – felt especially significant. Having my technique and practice acknowledged on a global stage, in the place where porcelain was first developed, gave me a strong sense of contri-buting something new to an ancient and ongoing ceramic continuum.
I’m continually excited by the way my career in ceramics has allowed me to travel internationally and pursue research as a form of lived experience. Being able to encounter artworks I’ve studied for decades – previously known only through books and libraries – has been incredibly enriching. Travelling reinforces how culturally specific ceramic traditions can be, while also highlighting how the material connects us across time and geography, giving me confidence to pursue a deeply personal and idiosyncratic practice in dialogue with history.
Ebony Russell
Working between London and the South-East coast of the UK, I would describe my ceramic practice as something that unfolds through a continual dialogue with material and place. Clay, rock, glaze, glass and gathered minerals form the foundation of my work, not just as substances to manipulate but as collaborators with their own histories, behaviours and agency. Much of what I make begins in the landscape: its architecture, its geology, its ecosystems and the traces of human presence embedded within them. These influences subtly shape the visual language of each piece, guiding how forms emerge over time.
My approach is intuitive and tactile. I collect fragments, waste clay from other makers, minerals and, more recently, discarded glass, and let them suggest a direction. The process combines physical labour with what I often think of as material automatism: a mode of working in which texture, weight and responsiveness lead the way, surfacing unconscious associations, imagined pasts and possible futures. The work grows less from a desire to control and more from a practice of listening, adjusting myself to what the materials carry and what they propose.
Discarded clay is reclaimed, glazes are remade and recycled and the overlooked or broken becomes a point of departure. This ethos aligns with an idea I return to often: the notion of a soft world, a way of making that resists extractive thinking and instead prioritises coexistence.
Julia Ellen Lancaster
The historic Romanian town of Jimbolia is trying to re-establish the region’s lost connection with ceramics. The city’s residents may not be fully aware of the importance of this international gathering. However, a small and dedicated ceramics community in Jimbolia hosts an event that brings ceramic artists together. This event, which was held for the fifth time in June 2025, gave Jimbolia a cultural route where industrial and contemporary ceramics intersect in the long term. Jimbolia was once one of the important industrial centres of the Banat Region. The city’s 19th-century brick factory provided a livelihood for the local population. Over time, with the closure of the factory, the valuable clay deposits were gradually forgotten. Sadly, even the clay used in the symposium today is sourced from abroad. That is why the International Jimbolia Ceramics Symposium is more than just an artistic event – it is an initiative that revives the city’s industrial heritage and seeks to restore its connection with the earth.
The theme of the fifth year of the International Jimbolia Ceramics Symposium was Experimental Burnings. Artists from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Hong Kong included Márta Jakobovits, Suzanne Au Ho Lam, Inna Rogova, Natalia Korchemkina, Angelica Chici, Theophil Soltesz, Muhammet Emir Tasdemir and Tugçe Makarnacı.
Reflections and the Organic
Structure of the 5th Symposium
One of the most striking aspects of the symposium was the opportunity it provided artists to create amidst history. Working inside and in the garden of the Stefan Jäger Museum was not just about occupying a physical space but also about engaging with the multicultural heritage of the Banat region.
(Tugçe Makarnacı)
Preparation for the exhibition
EXHIBITIONS:
1 – 15 March, Teaclub Moychay, Rozengracht 92H,
1016 NG Amsterdam, Netherlands Open daily 11 – 20 h www.moychay.nl
11 – 28 June, Pop-Up on the farm of Tineke van Gils, Rijksstraatweg 16
2636 AX Schipluiden, Netherlands Open Thu – Sun, 13 -17 h and by appointment www.tinekevangils.com
The Asian ceremonial matcha tea bowl, the chawan, was long known in the West almost exclusively to ceramists and collectors of Japanese art. But since tea drinking has experienced a remarkable revival here and green matcha powder has become popular, the chawan is slowly finding its way to a wider audience. In line with this trend, I invited thirty Dutch ceramists to each create three to five chawan-inspired artworks for an exhibition that started during the Amsterdam Tea Festival in January 2026 and continues in March at Teaclub Moychay Amsterdam and in June at our farm near Delft.
The ceremonial chawan
The bowl, a basic shape in clay, is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for many artists, a constant challenge. The Dutch poet Gerrit Kouwenaar put it this way: “Creators have a hard time; they must make something that has already been made a thousand times for the first time.” Among bowls, the chawan is even more than just a bowl. It is a handcrafted and therefore narrative object of use and art, imbued with spiritual meaning. Irregularities inherent in the craftsmanship are celebrated as embodiments of wabi-sabi, the beauty of transience and imperfection.
(Tineke van Gils)
Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk, Grumpy Monsters, earthenware, 2025 photo – artist
German and International Ceramics since 1946
GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts
Leipzig, Germany
8 November 2025 – 4 October 2026
Clay has been used throughout human history for both utilitarian and figurative purposes. For thousands of years, vessels and sculptures have thus formed pairs, existing dualistically side by side and simultaneously interpenetrating each other.
The exhibition at the GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig – the fourth in a series launched in 2008 – begins in the mid-20th century and is dedicated to studio ceramics, that is, the highly sophisticated ceramics of individual artists.
While their work is generally based on strong craftsmanship and technical skills, their approach is predestined to transcend the boundaries into the realm of fine art.
As with the previous exhibitions, the current show draws exclusively on the Grassi’s own collection, which has grown by approximately 2,500 items since the last presentation in 2018.
The museum has once again benefited primarily from private collectors, whose passion for collecting often leads them to find a final home for their collections in museums, frequently due to age. The love, energy, effort, systematic approach and quality selection embodied in every good private collection are enhanced when the best pieces come together in a museum’s collection, forming an enhanced, balanced whole.
At the Grassi Museum, the collections of Christa and Ulrich Philippi, Herta and Hansjörg Koch, Gisela Freudenberg, Detlev Siemssen and Werner Filz-Siemssen, Rosemarie Willems, Petra Verbene, Ed Budelman, and Ingrid and Wilfried Vetter – to name just a few – have contributed to this.
Large Sculptural Bowl, Dieter Crumbiegel, 1977, stoneware, thrown, assembled, several layers of glaze Donated by Prof Dr Rainer Kahsnitz, Berlin, 2025
Fosca BOGGI – Italy
In childhood, it felt so natural to pick up soil from the riverbank or playground, mix it with water and casually mould it into an animal or figure. We even crafted various toys ourselves, brimming with unbridled imagination.
Fosca Boggi (1961) was born in Faenza, Italy – a city renowned for its ceramics. She describes ceramics as something entirely natural to her. Boggi graduated from the G. Balardini National Ceramics Institute in Faenza, Italy, an institution that has nurtured many distinguished ceramic artists. She has a passion for collecting toys, particularly vintage pieces from the 1960s and 1970s. The artist shares that she often scours flea markets for nearly-forgotten toys from her childhood.
Miyamoto Ruriko – Japan
The work of Miyamoto (b. 1963) has consistently maintained a close relationship with human spirituality. Her recently new series, A Tale of Touching Hands, eight dark brown pedestals are installed in the exhibition space, each supporting a sculpture of a book and hands polished to a marble-like smoothness. Some hands appear to be in the act of turning pages; others emerge across the book’s gutter, spreading outward like wings. Upon closer tactile examination, certain fingers extending from the pages are revealed to transform into serpent heads, suggesting layered meanings of knowledge, temptation, and metamorphosis.
(Ting-Ju SHAO)
Fosca BOGGI – Italy
Miyamoto Ruriko Japan
Ernest, how did your journey into ceramics begin, and what drew you to clay as your primary medium?
The secondary school I attended, Achimota School, played a pivotal role in the teaching of Art in Ghana. In the first three years one had the option of choosing a different medium for Art class. I chose woodwork the first year, modelling with clay the second year and textiles/weaving the third. Although I did not take pottery, I came to know the teacher and he made quite an impression on me. For the last two years of secondary school, I decided to study pottery as one of my Ordinary Level Examination subjects.
You live in America, but you work both in the USA and in Ghana. How do you divide your time between the two continents?
Over the past 12 years I have travelled to Ghana almost every year on some project or program that I coordinate regardless of where I am physically located. Several years prior to this I spent a considerable amount of time going back and forth between Ghana and the United States. I still have family there and my art draws heavily from the culture. My focus is not solely on my art but rather on the traditional practice across media.
(Evelyne Schoenmann)
Ernest Aryee
