Chairman’s Statement

In 1995 a meeting between Henry Pim, Neil Read, Katharine West and Lisa Young at The National College of Art and Design in Dublin resulted in the formation of Irish Contemporary Ceramics.

Irish Contemporary Ceramics is now in its eleventh year and this is its third touring exhibition. The number of exhibitors have steadily increased over the years from twenty in 1997 to thirty in 2000 and now thirty four in 2006. Submission is open to all those who satisfy the membership criteria and inclusion in exhibitions is decided on by an independent curator. What results from this selection process is a snapshot of what is currently being done by the membership. This membership comes from a  wide range of different backgrounds the self taught, the formally taught, the self employed artist, the educationalist, the painterly, the decorative, the sculptural, the two dimensional, the three dimensional, the figurative and the abstract, the northern and the southern, the Irish in Ireland, the emigrant, the immigrant, the established and the recent graduate. What brings them together is clay.

Clay has been formed into functional objects for centuries in every corner of the world and its use to produce art has been a feature of civilisations from China to South America, from the Middle East to Europe. It is a truly international material of great versatility. This third touring exhibition by Irish Contemporary Ceramics displays this variety by presenting a jurored selection of the most recent work by some of the foremost practitioners from Ireland.

Exhibitions require advanced planning, extended negotiation and considerable commitment on behalf of a small group of people, a sequence of shows demands the same all the more so and I wish to thank those who have given freely of their time to ensure that Irish Contemporary Ceramics have yet another successful tour.

Neil C Read

Chair of Irish Contemporary Ceramics.

Press Release:

Irish Contemporary Ceramics at Limerick City Art Gallery
January-February 2006.

In January, Limerick City Art Gallery is the opening venue for the third national tour organised by Irish Contemporary Ceramics, and since Limerick hosted both of the two previous national tours, this is now the third time that Irish Contemporary Ceramics has come to town.

Formed 10 years ago,this group exists in order to bring together the  best ceramic work made by artists who are either born Irish, or who live and work here, and the intention, is to present a snapshot of current practice.

Ceramists employ a huge vocabulary of form, from cool precision to sensuous fluency. The colour pallette runs from muted to brash, and the mood, from sombre to festive.