Lasting Impression

Lasting Impressions: Impressions which convey diverse sensual-aesthetic experiences, impressions where form, idea and meaning converge – all of which pay tribute to the extraordinary role ceramics can play in dealing with complex challenges of our contemporary society. This exhibition highlights the cutting-edge breadth of ceramics as a design discipline and an art practice in the expanded field of today’s material culture.

An official partner event of the London Design Festival, the exhibition takes place in the highly atmospheric setting of the brick arches of the Crypt Gallery under the 19th Century St Pancras Church 18-22 September. Showcased is an array of personal narratives that suggest new perspectives and ideas, as well as new ways of thinking and modes of action. Drawing on both their own experiences and discipline-based knowledge in their fields of practice, the exhibiting Ceramics graduates from Central Saint Martin’s 2019 BA and MA degree programmes use the lens of ceramics to consider issues of identity, heritage culture, politics, sustainability, emotional expression, and human-object interaction.

By experimenting with the structural, physical and tactile properties of ceramics, the sixteen emerging artists and designers on show create works that invigorate traditional techniques, thereby expanding and trying to transform what is “given” in terms of contemporary craftsmanship. Here, innovative design thinking is applied across a variety of types of ceramics within different states of permanence ranging from wet raw clay to low bisque ware and high fired porcelain.

Viewers get the chance to interact with and learn directly from multi-dimensional forms of ceramic expression that are inspired by different cross-cultural backgrounds and signature storytelling styles. While some works seek to transform sensuality and personal immediacy into representation, others carry messages of awareness and mindfulness, endeavouring to disrupt normative patterns of thought and behaviour.

Through different techniques like agateware, slip-casting, throwing, turning, hand and slab building, as well as stop frame clay animation, the cohort of creative practitioners demonstrates the capacity of ceramics to materialise relevant topics ranging from the personal level to society and the environment. A journey through cutting-edge tableware, product design, craft pottery and clay activism will not only show the realm of possibilities that the discipline of ceramics presents, but it will also provide a background for understanding ceramics as more than mere utility or decoration, but instead also a tool for meaningful action - a beautiful and effective agent of change.

Lasting Impressions will feature a ‘workshop maker space’ where exhibiting artists will create and demonstrate their working processes. Visitors are invited to join the sessions on a drop-in basis.

@LastingImpressions_Ceramics #LastingImpressions_Ceramics

EWELINA BARTKOWSKA

ewelina.ucraft.net @ewe_space space.ewelina@gmail.com

I am a ceramic maker and a clay activist who creates performative, publicly engaged work. As a former actress I enjoy the impact of sharing experiences that can be found in the immediacy and sensuality of working with clay. I believe in the transformative power of raw materials and the benefits of meditative time spent on making together. My practice embraces sustainable processes; I choose to once-fire to minimize my carbon footprint and have become an alternative kiln builder as a way to link place and community.

Sensual Way Of Knowing is a body of work exploring the complex relationship between humans and nature in the age of Anthropocene*. I take a performative approach, working together with clay to make and then destroy the vessels as a metaphor for humanity’s influence on Earth. Thrown on the potter’s wheel, pushed to its breaking point, I employ my body as well as discarded material to become the tools for demolition. I have also set up and co-run the Sustainable Anthropocene Cooperative, leading clay workshops to build healthy ecosystems in local communities.

*Anthropocene is the current era where human intervention has tipped the Earth’s balanced ecosystem from harmony into crisis.”

VALERIA BURGOS

valeriaburgos.m@gmail.com @valenderr

With a background in craft, my interest in ceramics began while interning at a small Japanese pottery studio in New York. I found a kind of haven in clay. Deciding to further my career in ceramics I came to London to complete my BA at Central Saint Martins. As a designer, my work usually translates as tableware that highlights the subtleties of everyday life and telling the most intimate stories of who we are. Employing traditionally industrial techniques fused with the knowledge of a crafts potter I combine fine detail in the forms with the familiarity of clay as a material.

Dug-up is tableware that addresses the disconnection we have with the natural materials around us and demonstrates inherent beauty in archaic technology. We live in a constant cycle of consumption which is reflective of our desires resulting in an excess of objects in our everyday lives. The objects demonstrate the beauty of simple forms paired with a simple function that quiets the noise of everyday life allowing for a moment to recollect and ignite a reconnection with the materials around us.

LORNE BURRELL

@lornart lorne.burrell@hotmail.com lorne-burrell.squarespace.com 07980747123

Iam a British Sculptor living in London. I spent some of my early childhood with my grandparents in Jamaica. I returned to the UK in my early teens, where I was educated. It was not until later that I discovered that I had an interest in the arts, and began working in clay making some sculptures. I obtained a place on a ceramics course at the City Lit, and in 2008 gained an Art Foundation diploma there. I have exhibited in shows at the City Lit and had sculpture accepted at The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. I have also showed several pieces at the Smokehouse Gallery, London, and one or two other exhibitions, such as the RHS, and the Pangolin Gallery.

Ihave a passion for the natural environment and for planetary conservation, and most of my work is inspired and informed by this. I feel I have a spiritual connection with the Earth, and need to communicate this. I have, therefore, been working on a large body of sculptural works in ceramic and mixed media expressing my deep and overwhelming concern for the future of our planet in this age of climate change, and my frustration at the universal unwillingness of the political classes to take any meaningful action. People are very confused by all the conflicting information which the media flood them with, myself included, and I express this confusion in an abstract way, hoping that it may connect and focus ideas. This involves a large amount of experimentation with materials and forms, and I enjoy the occasional failures as well as the successes, as this drives on the creative processes.

SHANE CHEN

qop07291560@icloud.com @nuukceramic_london

Igrew up in Taiwan, where the religious environment is characterised by tremendous diversity and tolerance. It allowed me to be exposed to a variety of folklore traditions and legends from different religions. My work is influenced by various spiritual practices from Shamanism and Buddhism to Oneness. I am particularly interested in exploring the relationship between the material world and the spiritual realm.

My piece is an interactive instlation. The viewer is invited into a shrine representing rebirth. I want the viewer to enter my installation and experience a shift in their perception of their life and society’s expectations. Inside the shrine there is a sculpture, which is an all knowing, all powerful divine being surrounded by ritualistic objects. The viewer is invited to sacrifice a human experience to this being, maybe an emotion or interaction, in return for a wish. This symbolises the emotions, experiences and interactions made for material gain, for achieving success in society’s eyes. The audience is also encouraged to interact with the ritual devices in the shrine so that they can practice oneness. There’s no anger toward anyone or anything because everyone and everything is Spirit. This Spirit is Oneness, our source of being. By relaxing into the oneness we discover the meaning of life and where we came from. Without having to leave our body. In the ritual of death we get closer to experiencing our original nature. More peace and purpose flows through us.

AIMEE CHILDS

madebyaimeechilds@gmail.com madebyaimeechilds.co.uk @madebyaimeex

Ihave come to identify myself as a ceramic artist/ designer during my 3 years studying ceramic design at Central St Martins. Throughout all of my projects I have always produced pieces with colour being the main focus. I’m intrigued by how colour can be interpreted differently in glaze and the experimental side of it. My glaze pallets consist of different hues of pastels, adding a subtleness to my work. I like the accuracy of working with plaster forms that I slip cast to add a consistency to my products. I make simple but effective shapes that showcase the ceramic material and its glaze while keeping it fun and playful.

The Little Things is all about values we have in life. I am focusing on two specific ones which are jewellery and colour. We can sometimes second guess how important colour is in our lives and can be perceived as a little thing. Jewellery on the other hand is of high value,such as family heirlooms accessories and gifts that are sentimental to an individual. With these two little things I wanted to combine them together to compliment one another’s values, by doing this I am creating a series of jewellery holders with some sets that are multi functional. The pieces are going to have the touch of an elegant glaze empowering the jewellery to be shown at its best.

CLOTILDE CHIROL

clotilde.chirol.perrain@gmail.com +33678568339 @ccclay_ www.clotildechirol.ucraft.net

Born and raised in Paris, I started ceramic classes when I was 6 years old and never stopped. I studied Art & Design in High School, and then moved to London to study ceramics at Central Saint Martins.

When I arrived in London, I found myself observing tube passengers on the Victoria Line. A friend once told me how rude it was to look at people on public transport and how uncomfortable it makes her feel. Londoners tend to avoid the gaze of others, even running away from it. My project is a response to this «ban». I have observed the people that share a part of my daily life and celebrate them. I try to make every moment important, even those that seem insignificant. I celebrate every person even those we do not remember.

My work takes you on my journey through other people's lives with sculptures and paintings that express my vision of the city. I start by drawing from observation, then illustrate onto the clay, finally, I sculpt them. Each of these steps influences my final sculptures into a more personal response to the people around me.

The Victoria Line is a melting pot of great diversity that represents London. This diversity is represented through the different clay bodies used in my work.

MERVE KASRAT

cmervekasrat@hotmail.com +44 7884393153 /+009 5382022959 @merve_kasrat mervekasrat.com

Merve is a Turkish ceramic artist who is interested in opening up conversations, by using ceramics as a platform to make and convey messages. Her work researches into ceramic materials and reflects her interest in human behaviour. She elaborates this by taking inspiration from ornamental forms and languages, altering them for symbolic reasons to create objects redirected towards a more contemporary visual identity that humorously play with our perceptions.

“Out of Order” takes form of two recognisable typologies, of hand- built ceramic amphora vases and the human form as another type of vessel with similarities to the descriptive anatomy of a ceramic vessel. These pieces were made with potters in Menemen, located in Aegean region of Turkey with the areas local red clay. This holds significance as the production of amphorae in this region dates back to ancient times as a result of the areas widespread fishery and wine production.

Research for the context of these ceramics looks into ideas of ‘unexpected’ and ‘visual perceptions’ disrupting our understanding of the two recognisable forms, through scale, proportion and hybridity. Humorous yet no longer easily recognisable forms become more abstract and less categorisable. Whilst looking at them, we can imagine more than a single perspective and try to guess they most look like - rather than simply trying to identify what they are.

This work aims to subversively disrupt our patterns of thought, creating doubt about our assumptions of the world.

MINYUAN GAO

agaomy@gmail.com @a.gaominyuan

Born in China and moved to the UK many years ago. Studying Ceramic Design at Central Saint Martins I am strongly influenced by Chinese culture and history, and how that translates into modern contemporary

Lian’ is a collection of lotus flower designs handcrafted into a set of delicate porcelain forms comprising of an incense holder and a vessel.

The lotus flower symbolises purity, spontaneity and beauty, as it grows out of the mud to bloom. The lotus is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism and its blossoms are considered precious, often placed as a seat for the Buddha.

ALISON BOND

alisonjbond@icloud.com @alisonsorganics

As a ceramicist with a background in biodynamic growing, I am interested in the process of making as part of a creative approach to sustainable living and how working with clay helps people to connect to the natural environment, encouraging them to think about the reality of overusing materials. Resourcefulness is key, doing more with less, and cherishing the handmade for its human input and emotional aspects.

Alison considers how making things by hand can be part of a creative approach to sustainable living, with craft as a way of connecting people to the natural environment and the reality of the overuse of materials.

Inspired by the regenerative methods of biodynamic farming and with an eye on the circular economy, her work looks at the importance of resourcefulness, doing more with less and cherishing the handmade for its human input and emotional aspects.

This collection is from the earth: red clay, thrown on the wheel, turned, handled, splashed with hot wax, dipped and dribbled with slip before a sketch of sgraffito and a flash of colour. Glazed, fired and ready for use, the pieces are handcrafted with care.

KARL FAVELL

karlfavell.com @karl_favell 07944021242

Karl is a British tableware designer, striving to increase awareness and support to the a vast array of plant based foods which exist as alternatives to a chosen few that make up the majority of the world’s staple food sources. He donates 10% of his profits to the crop trust that support the world’s crops and biodiversity. He works through concept into material integrating his research through using symbolisms in his tableware’s form and surface aesthetics.

“Route to Roots” is a collection of handmade tableware steered by brining attention to the origins of where our food comes from, in order to connect and understand its true value. This collection focuses on the diversity of crops specifically the humble potato, by bringing attention to its first cultivators and its origins which is the native landscape of Moray, in Peru.

It refers to this with its surface technique, agateware ;by layering coloured clay, which allows infinite and unique surfaces to appear each time that gives a sentiment of the landscape. This insight for the making process focuses on the resemblance between clay and crop and the immense possibilities that comes with it, depending on the ways you treat it.

The collection donates %10 of profits to Crop Trust, dedicated to responding to the declining foundation of our food and its diversity, offering clients to take part in this cause.

KAISHA MCCGREGOR

kaishamcgregor@gmail.com @kaishartdesign kaishamcgregor.co.uk

Born in Britain of a Guyanese/British origin my work is strongly influenced by my multicultural background. As an emerging artist, I have a keen interest in highlighting the inequalities people face everyday, within my work. I have refined my work to focus on the internalised sexism of women and more specifically women of colour. From my three years of studying ceramics design I have discovered that my work is more than just clay. I use the clay body as a medium to showcase my messages in a familiar format such as the humble plate or mug. Looking at topics such as The Gender Pay Gap and Prejudice In The Media I have discovered information that otherwise I would have dismissed. My aim of producing this work is to get as many people as possible to see what is going on around them and to talk about it without feeling as if it is a taboo topic.

My project is a collection of ‘altered’ royal china that aims to shed new light on the darker side of British history and social inequality in this country. Although these pieces of vintage china were made to commemorate past royal celebrations, my act of redecorating and re purposing aims to subvert their original royalist message. My aim is to remind viewers of the often forgotten and shameful history of our ruling elites who have exploited, colonised and subjugated in order to achieve and maintain their status and wealth. Having recently married Prince Harry and become The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle’s place as a powerful and iconic woman of colour within this Royal family is both celebrated and examined in this work, highlighting the continuing racism and sexism that she is being subjected to.

JO PEARL

jo@jopearl.com www.jopearl.com @jopearlceramics

Itrained in ceramics at Central St Martins in my 40’s following a professional life that has encompassed current affairs TV and architectural PR. Although a world away from my new practice of making sculptural ceramics, these previous careers have an influence, often adding a political and campaigning dimension to my work.

As a ceramic sculptor, my work is predominantly focused on the human figure and concerns that reflect on the human condition. The materiality of clay is informing this conversation, further amplified by using lens-based media and placement. I have adopted stop-frame animation to breathe life into the figures, and bring a new perspective to portraiture, beyond purely capturing a likeness. Slowing down time, I am giving permission to stare.

Clay’s tactile plasticity is also fundamental to my practice, celebrating its ability to record human touch and emotional gestural mark making. Eco logical considerations as well as the meaning I want to convey, inform whether I choose to fire or not, often leaving the work raw, under glass domes, or captured digitally.

LEANNE VIERA COMMINS

@leanneaurora_ leannevieiracommins@gmail.com www.leannevieiracommins.com

Iam passionate about accessibility in art – which is why I choose to make both large and small scale works as well as teaching visual arts. I have been teaching and assisting art classes and workshops for several years and believe in its benefits to both children and adults as a cathartic and rewarding subject. It’s important to me to ensure students are enjoying the process whilst also learning and progressing with their own artistic endeavours.

There is a hidden chaos unfolding within the ecosystem right on our doorstep, here in the UK. Our Vanishing Food Chain focuses on the easily forgotten but important subject of endangered plants, insects and invertebrates in the UK - of which 307 have become extinct since the 1800s. This decline has a knock-on effect on other species higher up the food chain and our ecosystem as a whole. In turn this affects us as people too, as insects and invertebrates offer essential services to our ecosystem such as pollination and decomposition. We need to understand the impact of our actions, take responsibility and make changes to restore and protect our wildlife. Intensification of agriculture, urbanisation, climate change and loss of habitat are some of the leading threats to our plants and insects, with 97% of wildflower meadows disappearing since the 1930s. My hand-built forms, from large urns to everyday playful objects, are made to display the beauty of the UK’s endangered and lost species of wildflowers, insects and invertebrates while putting into perspective the scale and consequences of their rapid decline.

Thank you to the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity and the Natural History Museum for allowing me to photograph their entomology collection.

Exhibition Location: The Crypt Gallery Under St Pancras Road, Euston Road Entrance on Dukes Road, NW1 2BA

Exhibition Opening Hours: Private View and Kings Cross Design District Late Night opening 18th Sept 5-9pm Thursday and Friday 19-20th Sept 1-7pm Saturday 21st September 12-6pm Sunday 22 September 12-4pm