In October this year a landmark exhibition will open at the National Museum
of Ireland, Collins Barracks entitled Not Just Pots: Irish Ceramics of
the 21st Century. This is the first time an exhibition on the subject
of Irish contemporary ceramics will take place in the National Museum,
drawing on the museum's own collection as well as showcasing loan material
from some of Ireland's leading ceramic artists. The exhibition will include
works by approximately twenty-four artists. The display is significant,
as last year the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) and the Crafts Council
of Ireland (CCOI) established a joint purchase scheme whereby acquisitions
of applied arts (across all media) will be made on an annual basis. Indeed
this may be seen in part as the NMI returning to its roots, as during
the early days of the organisation (late 19th/early 20th century) contemporary
collecting of decorative arts formed an integral part of acquisition policy.
The past four years have witnessed a concerted effort to acquire contemporary
material both under this scheme, and funds permitting, within the National
Museum's own remit for those artists whose works cannot be termed 'craft'.
In order to contextualise the current high esteem in which Irish ceramics
is held, the exhibition will look back to the 20th-century precursors
to the modern day movement.
Four works by Kathleen Cox (1904-1972) will be included (see Irish Arts
Review Yearbook 1996), ranging from a plaster bust (1933), to relatively
recent accessions by the NMI of two figures, dating from the early 1930s,
entitled A Woman Carrying Something and The Fruit Seller. Both are of
glazed earthenware. The quality achieved in these works is due to Cox's
pioneering use in Ireland of an electric pottery kiln, which anticipated
many technical accomplishments by her compatriots later that same century.
Other significant precursors to the current movement were Peter Brennan,
Grattan Freyer, John ffrench and Sonja Landweer. Indeed, the latter two
continue to push the boundaries of what constitutes ceramic art. Peter
Brennan's major achievement lies in having laid the foundations of the
NCAD Ceramics Department. As a sculptor Brennan was ideally positioned
to bridge the divide between fine and applied arts.
The Freyer piece is of a platter from the Terrybaun Pottery, 1955, with
sgraffito decoration of fish, starfish, crab, squid and scallop (Fig 9).
Grattan Freyer, an academic with a background in science and history,
was unable to take up a lectureship with the British Consul due to the
Second World War, and so re-directed his studies to ceramics, working
for a year under Bernard Leach and setting up Terrybaun in 1949/1950.
The works of both John ffrench and Sonja Landweer are held in high regard
and the unique quality of Irish ceramics today, would simply not have
occurred without their involvement. In ffrench's case one can trace the
history of the movement from the Ring Ceramic Studio in Kilkenny, to Arklow
Studio Pottery and beyond. His is partly a story of the application of
art within an industrial setting while maintaining a coherent artistic
oeuvre. Sonja Landweer came to Ireland from the Netherlands in 1965, and
through the encouragement of Paul Hogan, developed prototypedesign and
glaze research in the Kilkenny Design Workshops. Renowned during the 1970s
for her batik bowls, two vessels will be shown in the exhibition of multi-layered
iron and nickel glazes from 1981 (Fig 10). One piece was donated to the
NMI collection in honour of David Hendrick whose gallery on St Stephen's
Green regularly exhibited her work from 1962 until 1981.
Following these pioneers are the new works by contemporary ceramic artists
including: Cormac Boydell, Helena Brennan, Pat Connor, recent NCAD masters
graduate Isobel Egan, 2004 Crafts Council of Ireland/National Museum of
Ireland joint purchase Sara Flynn, Vivienne Foley, Deirdre McLoughlin,
Peter Meanley, Robert Monaghan, Michael Moore, Patrick O'Hara, Marcus
O'Mahony, Henry Pim, Neil Read, Ann Marie Robinson, Katharine West and
Lisa Young (Fig 1).
Cormac Boydell will be represented by two pieces in the exhibition; a
vase from 1989 of hand-built rough textured coarse terracotta and a recent
characteristically colourful work (Fig 7). Due to his background as a
geologist, and having been brought up in a home environment, which used
ceramics by ffrench and Landweer on a daily basis, Boydell is the embodiment
of the 20th-century lineage.
Pat Connor's work stems from a firm intellectual understanding of the
process of making ceramics. Based at Schull in Co Cork since 1971, his
oeuvre tends to the expressionistic, combining the techniques of throwing,
pressing and modelling. Also represented by two works in the exhibition,
the NMI's stoneware figure of a lady from 1981 and the recent Meditation
(Fig 3)
Two works in the National Museum's collection represent Vivienne Foley's
time based at Whitegate, Co Clare. She has since returned to London where
she continues towork in porcelain inspired by historical Chinese ceramics,
particularly fine Song Dynasty (10th to 13th centuries) Ru, Jun and Guan
wares. Although Foley is admired for her classical modelling (Fig 11),
since the 1990s she has developed a new silhouette whereby the necks of
vases are no longer strictly symmetrical in profile, but off-centre as
are the mouths.
Deirdre McLoughlin represents the Irish-educated talent that has been
most successful internationally, winning the prestigious Westerwald Prize,
Hohr-Grenzhausen, Germany in 2004. The NMI's previous acquisition of her
work along with that of this year's We Are Too will be shown. The Westerwald
Waldpreis 2004 Keramik Europas jury statement reads as follows: 'there
is the elegance of the material component, of the exquisite technique
which also corresponds to the language of ideas: finest marble seems to
have been used rather than clay, warmth and skin-like surfaces are to
be found where unglazed surface defines spatial volume. Unpretentiously,
nonsense is made of the ceramic discussion about vessel and sculpture'.
Peter Meanley (former Reader, University of Ulster, School of Art and
Design) will be represented by one of his self-titled Spouted pouring
vessels (Fig 4). Indeed the aspect of pouring forms an integral part of
the designing process. Sometimes inspiration springs from a study of the
past, such as the Cadogan or a 17th-century Chinese wine ewer that enables
the liquid to be introduced through the base. Meanley's art form is represented
in the collections of amongst others, the Victoria & Albert Museum
and the International Museum of Ceramic Art in Teramo, Italy. During his
last years with the University of Ulster he undertook groundbreaking research
into insulated kilns for salt and soda firing. Also from the University
of Ulster is Michael Moore the current Reader in Fine and Applied Art
Ceramics. He will be represented in the exhibition by recent NMI accessioned
work that is indicative of his artist's statement: 'I work only with clay
and its natural fired colour, usually white or red. These pieces are rarely
stained or glazed as the area of investigation is abstract clay form.
I seek wherever possible to pare back clutter, confusion and distraction
to reveal a simple, yet challenging form, therefore elements such as surface
decoration are non-existent…' His works are represented in such collections
as the Icheon World Ceramic Exposition Foundation, Korea and the National
Museum, Prague.
The work of Patrick O'Hara has been highlighted recently in this publication
(see Irish Arts Review, Winter 2004). His sculpture Chimanimani (Fig 2)
will represent him in the show, being 'one of the most ceramically complex
structures he has ever worked on'. It is based on field research from
the mountain pools between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. O'Hara is admired
as a sculptor in porcelain of endangered wildlife species from the continents
of Africa, America, Asia and Europe, and noted for his anatomical and
botanical accuracy.
Neil Read is head of the Ceramics, Glass and Metals department at NCAD.
Unlike the artists mentioned above, his education was based in ceramics
and stained glass at the Edinburgh College of Art. He holds the Chair
of the Irish Contemporary Ceramics group, which has staged two significant
exhibitions since 1997. Working with the raku method for several years,
Read has combined controlled form, texture and colour in his art, enhanced
by the immediate and risky nature of the process. Read has also produced
his own gas-fired raku kilns to assist in the manufacture of his large
flat pieces (Fig 6).
Ann Marie Robinson's ceramics imbue the functional with a sense of humour,
splash of colour and accessibility. Her graphic teapot designs are particularly
sought after and this exhibition will include an equally lively punchbowl
(Fig 5). Her own words illustrate passion for the medium: 'I love the
challenge particularly of making teapots, getting everything to balance
properly, spout, lid and handle and then to spend hours hand decorating
with luscious velvets and lustres…'
The overall aim of the exhibition is to encourage public awareness of
ceramic as an artistic form of expression, whether in the more traditional
craft/applied art context such as the work of Marcus O'Mahony of Glencairn
Pottery (Fig 8) or that of fine art sculpture exemplified by Henry Pim
or Katharine West. Indeed the latter form of expression was formally recognised
by the inclusion of Landweer, McLoughlin and West in the recent RHA annual
exhibition. Yet in terms of the National Museum of Ireland's remit as
the institutional collector and interpreter of the material culture of
a nation, these distinctions as to function are somewhat irrelevant. The
primary value for future generations will be the visual strength of Irish
ceramics in all its utilitarian and decorative formats.
Audrey Whitty is Assistant Keeper, Art and Industrial
Division, National Museum of Ireland.'Not Just Pots: Irish Ceramics of
the 21st Century' at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks,
Dublin from 5 October 2005 to January 2006.