In the PROFILES section: 6 ceramic artists from USA, Germany, USA, UK / Spain. Coverage of EXHIBITIONS and EVENTS in Portugal, USA, Turkey, Taiwan, Germany, Italy. In the section ARTIST JOURNAL, we present Kyungmin Park and Ronit Baranga. And we also have interviews with artists IN STUDIO as well as listings of Dates, Courses, Seminars and Markets.
NEWS
PROFILES
Maria Porges – USA
Babette Wiezorek – Germany
Lorraine Shemesh – USA
Armin Skirde – Germany
Nicholas Arroyave-Portela – UK / Spain
Töpferei Jung – Germany
EXHIBITIONS / EVENTS
International Azulejos – Caldas da Reinha – Portugal
A Journey with Lustre – International
Californian Ceramics in Context – Claremont – USA
Memory of Tradition – Japan / Turkey – Bolu – Turkey
Taiwan Ceramics Biennale 2024 – Yingge – Taiwan
Markus Rusch – Landshut – Germany
Jugendstil & Art Deco at the MIC – Faenza – Italy
Empty Bowls – Wichita Falls – USA
BOOKS
New literature
ARTIST JOURNAL
Kyungmin Park (South Korea) and Ronit Baranga (Israel) – Ting-Ju Shao
IN STUDIO
Sirin Koçak – Evelyne Schoenmann– Interview / Developing Skills
DATES / Exhibitions / Galleries / Museums
COURSES / SEMINARS / MARKETS
ADVERTISEMENTS
PREVIEW
Over more than three decades, every series of pieces I have made has been part of a long thought about a recurring set of ideas. There have been some constants: time, the false dichotomy of art and science, the idea of home, things lost and found. The earliest work reflects a scrappy, distinctly San Francisco Bay Area aesthetic, followed by a desire to make things that were as beautiful as possible so that people would look at these objects until they saw the (important!) messages they carried. Now, I just make things that I want to see in the world, things that seem like they should be here already.
For me, vessels have pretty much always functioned as gendered stand-ins. As often humorous as they are ele-gant, they serve as surrogates, making their way across the minefield of childhood (both my own, and my daughters’). This is intentional. By animating the inanimate, making jokes as I go about addressing what isn’t funny, I have tried to foreground the struggle of being a woman; of being seen. Now in my seventies, I find this has become more complicated than ever. Older men are seen as powerful, as important leaders. Older women rarely receive the same kind of automatic support and admiration.
Maria Porges
Babette Wiezorek’s works combine history and the future on a multidimensional level. They reflect the joy in experimentation and fascination with technological progress as much as they do the handling of traditional materials and their aesthetic properties. Ceramics, as one of the oldest materials historically worked by humans, forms a particularly exciting interface of transformation.
Knowing about processes proves to be an essential element in the work of the trained art historian and product designer, who founded the Additive Addicted studio in Berlin in 2017. Wiezorek combines a knowledge of the manual techniques of forming and decorating ceramics, which she learned at an early age, with the affordances of additive, digitally supported 3D printing processes.
“There is a need to look closely at how the material, the digital aspects and the technical environment relate to one another. In the interaction of these various actors, a process emerges that ultimately leads to a certain form”, says the designer. She particularly appreciates the sensual qualities inherent in ceramic materials and which are also inherent in the logic of complex, digital processes themselves.
(Andrea Müller-Fincker)
Babette Wiezorek
In 2024, Gerald Peters Gallery of New York City presented Lorraine Shemesh’s ceramics and paintings in a thought-provoking solo exhibition that reminded me of the first time I met the artist. In 1994, peering into a classroom during my lecture at a Parson’s School of Design ceramics class, Lorraine Shemesh was a distraction. She was not my student, so I asked her if she wanted to join us. After no audible response, I finally added, “Are you in or out?” She emphatically replied, “I’m in!”
I did not know that Shemesh was a painter represented by the Allan Stone Gallery of New York City. Allan Stone Gallery represented Wayne Thiebaud, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Robert Arneson, and other famous artists. In addition to her artist’s practice, Lorraine had had an academic teaching career at Rhode Island School of Design and Amherst College. Abandoning a successful academic career, Lorraine moved to New York City – determined to become a full-time artist. Lorraine was drawn to the artwork at Allan Stone’s gallery, so she metaphorically camped on the gallery doorstep until Mr. Stone looked at her work. One stratagem of her campaign was to send Mr. Stone a letter on which she covered the entire envelope surface with illusionistic paintings of stamps. When she finally secured her interview with Stone, the secretary gave her encouragement and a thumbs up gesture. Stone worked with Shemesh for many years mentoring the artist, cultivating an audience, and greatly increasing the value of her art. By the time we met at Parsons, Shemesh was at the peak of her Allan Stone years.
(Marc Leuthold)
Lorraine Shemesh
Armin Skirde was born in Würzburg in 1958, the son of a carpenter and a seamstress. In 1979 he passed his school leaving exams, specialising in mathematics and biology. After that he actually wanted to study biology. Admission restrictions made this plan difficult and so ceramics came into his sights. The ceramics course in Höhr-Grenzhausen also corresponded to his interest in scientific contexts so that he ultimately turned down the offer from Würzburg University, which had offered him a place to study biology through a lottery system.
Armin was interested in direct contact with clay. He became a guest student in Ernst Stauber‘s pottery in order to get a through grounding in throwing on the potters’ wheels. Other ceramics students such as Thomas Näthe, Uli Witzmann and Therese Jänsch supported this. The internship that Skirde later got at Helmut Müller’s pottery opened up for him the wold of organic forms and the precise, meticulous working method. And much more – far beyond pottery on the potter’s wheel.
Skirde developed his ceramic horizons parallel to his studies, not only honing his throwing skills but also learning a lot from Helmut Müller, who was a master in chess and an expert on fungi, among other things.
His graduation in 1984 as a ceramics engineer FH overlapped for a few more months: community service, internships and diploma thesis, – during which he continued to use the Müller workshop, but also got a guest place at the technical school for ceramic design.
(Monika Gass)
Armin Skirde
A Living Tradition
Lustre is a living tradition, much like a river that ebbs and flows – sometimes seemingly disappearing, only to reappear at a distant point. Yet, it is always carried forward by the unseen forces of creativity and imagination. And like a river that stalls, with its waters slowing and stagnating, lustre too may pause, awaiting the right circumstances to break is restrictions and flow freely once again. Its origins trace back to the Islamic world in the 9th century, with knowledge passed from region to region. It entered Europe through Al-Andalus (modern-day southern Spain) and later found its way into Renaissance Italy. Though sometimes in decline, forgotten, or out of favour, then seemingly being “rediscovered” elsewhere – often through the migration of potters fleeing turmoil, persecution, or simply seeking a better life. This transmission of past knowledge not only preserved the tradition but also allowed for a fusion of native creativity, leading to new flourishes of imaginative expression. As with any technique, lustre becomes stale without that continual renewal fuelled by emotional conviction and life.
(John Kuczwal)
John Kuczwal
A Journey Among Traditions
On the Trail of Cultural Heritage: 13 November – 7 December 2024
This exhibition was organized to celebrate the centennial of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Turkey in 2024. It started from the idea of Prof. Melahat Altundag, BAIBÜ Faculty of Fine Arts, Ceramics, Bolu, Turkey, and Prof. Yoshinori Akazawa, Kyoto, Japan, helped to invite Japanese artists to the exhibition, to donate cups and to provide the Japanese translation. He had carefully chosen artists who have knowledge of the Japanese tea ceremony, have a past connection to Turkey, and have a spirit of service. The opening of the exhibition was attended by the rector, vice rectors, academic staff, students and local authorities, and approximately 700-1000 visitors came! The impact on the students was so positive. They got to know a different culture and the important feature of this culture, the interpretation of the cups by artists. And ceramic artists from Hungary also came to visit the ceramics department and to see Memory of Tradition.
Senem Aker Ensari, the curator, said, “This exhibition includes ceramic cups used in Turkish coffee culture and Japanese tea culture and was planned with the important purpose of preserving cultural heritage and passing it on to future generations.
Coffee Mug by Yoshinori Akazawa
Since 2004, the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum has hosted the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale. The Taiwan Ceramics Biennale has advanced the brand image of Yingge and itself through international call for artists and curators, platform for displaying artwork, and related education and promotion events (e.g. symposiums, artist-in-residence programmes and demonstrations). All of the Biennale’s finalists and winners and their works of art have been highly valued and received great attention in the international realm of ceramic art. So far there have been more than 3000 entrants taking part in the competitions and exhibitions. While the Biennale is regarded as a display medium that presents current trends in contemporary ceramic art and provides new directions for ceramic art observation, artists are also being tested on how to embody their ideas and innovations. No matter what, a work of art – modern or traditional – will present its own contemporary form. The boundary between traditional utilitarian wares and artwork may also express a simple yet exquisite aesthetic style.
2024 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale accepted submissions from 1 March to 31 August 2023, and received a total of 1,216 applications from 66 countries, 5 continents. The number of applications surpassed the last competition by 484 submissions, breaking the historic record of the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale since its inception in 2004. The competition featured top ceramic artists from around the world, making it exceptionally competitive domestically.
Grand prize, Masayuki Sato, Japan – Shell nest 22-05
Kyungmin Park – South Korea
The facial expressions of Kyungmin Park’s (*1985) figures are characterized by dramatic tension. Their vivacious postures resemble those of anime characters, yet even in their stillness, their joy, anger, grief and happiness are deeply contagious. Park humorously and cheerfully conveys their stories and emotions to the viewers. In Meltdown, for example, the heads of three girls, ingeniously combined with panda-like ears and dark circles around their eyes, press against each other, melting and contorting like scoops of ice cream. In Frustration, some of the girls frown and scream, others purse their lips, while some cover their ears and shout in accusation.
Ronit Baranga – Israel
Anyone who encounters Ronit Baranga’s (*1973) works is deeply impressed by them. The artist is not concerned with the usability of the vessels, nor with how pleasing and functional they are. The basic shapes of everyday vessels or dishware are not her subjects. She uses plates, bowls or cups merely as a medium. Upon closer inspection, fingers emerge from within them, holding an open mouth with lips and a slightly protruding tongue. A woman is surrounded by precariously piled porcelain tableware that nearly topples over. Inside the cups are mouths with protruding tongues, while crawling fingers appear at their bottoms. The terrifying sight challenges the viewer’s visual perception.
(Ting-Ju SHAO)
Kyungmin Park – South Korea
Ronit Baranga – Israel
Sirin, at the beginning I like to ask my guests about their training and ceramics background.
Firstly, I completed my associate degree at Izmir Ege University Ege Vocational School, Department of Ceramics, then I completed my Bachelor’s degree at Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Ceramic and Glass Design, and again at Dokuz Eylül University, Institute of Fine Arts, Department of Ceramic and Glass Design, Master’s degree and Proficiency in Art. During my Master’s degree, I was an Erasmus student at Bratislava AFAD Academy of Fine Arts and Design. These covered the years 1998-2014. Before and after my PhD education, I prioritized international ceramic art events. I had the opportunity to work with many artists from around the world. This gave me the opportunity to get to know the world of ceramics better and it enabled me to position myself in it.
What does your work as a lecturer at Usak University involve?
I have been working as a lecturer at Usak University Faculty of Fine Arts in Turkey since 2010. Currently, as an Associate Professor, I am the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Head of the Ceramics Department. I give theoretical and practical courses to our undergraduate, graduate and proficiency in art students. I work as a member of the Board of Directors of the Leather, Textile and Ceramic Design Application and Research Centre and the Graduate Education Institute at the university.
(Evelyne Schoenmann)
Sirin Koçak
