BLURRING THE LINES CERAMICS IN A FLUID STATE

Abhay Sardesai has been the Editor of ART India, South Asia’s leading visual arts magazine for the last 21 years. He has edited around 75 volumes of the prestigious magazine. Under his Editorship, ART India has acquired a Culture Studies orientation and become the most important and consistent platform for independent art criticism in India.

Abhay has taught Aesthetics and Criticism in various pedagogic and museum spaces. He has also been the Chair of Humanities at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute and the Director of the Writing Across the City project at PUKAR. He has lectured and presented papers at various prestigious universities in the world and has an abiding interest in pedagogy and popular culture. He recently curated Bibliopolis, a show exploring the inner lives of books, at the David Sassoon Library in Mumbai.

Abhay writes in English and translates from Marathi, Konkani and Hindi.

Andrew Burton is Professor of Fine Art at Newcastle University. His art practice situates ceramics, sculpture and installation in relation to historic sites, landscape and architecture and is based in an experimental approach to material and process, often combining materials traditionally associated with sculpture with other materials of a more ephemeral nature. He works collaboratively with artisans and traditional craft workers making work that occupies a territory between art, craft and the functional objects. He has been artist resident at the Bundanon Trust (New South Wales), Korea Ceramic Foundation, Sanskriti Foundation (New Delhi), Makerere University and the European Ceramic Work Centre NL.

Darien Arikoski-Johnson’s work is recognized internationally through awarded grants, exhibitions, and residencies. In 2012 he was awarded the Emerging Artist Award through NCECA, he has received multiple grants including one from the Danish Cultural Ministry to complete a residency and exhibition opportunity through C.R.E.T.A. Rome. A-Johnson’s work was awarded the Gold Prize in the Korean International Ceramics Biennale 2021 and in 2023 his work was featured in the 62nd Faenza Prize – International Competition of Contemporary Art Ceramics. A-Johnson resides in Atlanta, Georgia and is an Associate Professor at Georgia State University. his work is represented by Alan Avery Art Company.

Dr. David Jones was awarded his PhD by Manchester Metropolitan University. His undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Literature was awarded by Warwick University. He was a Senior Academic in the Ceramics Department at Wolverhampton University for thirty years. He is the elected representative on the global Council of the IAC representing the UK, Ireland and Benelux countries, and an elected Fellow of the Crafts Potter Association. His work is represented in many international collections and he has curated and juried international exhibitions. He has presented many papers at international conferences; he is the author of two books that examine the meaning of clay and firing.

Elaine Henry is a well-known Editor/Publisher of Ceramics: Art & Perception. With a BFA and MFA, she taught at Emporia State University in Kansas, acting as Department Chair from 2000–2007. She was President of NCECA 2002–2004 and is now a Fellow and Honorary Member of that organization. She is a past president and lifetime member of the International Ceramics Magazine Editors Association. Published, exhibited and collected worldwide, she is a Council member of the International Academy of Ceramics. In 2020, she earned an MA in English at the University of Wyoming, focusing on critical writing.

The Hermannsburg Potters are a dedicated group of Western Aranda (Australian Aboriginal) artists creating vibrant handmade ceramic pots that express their collective and individually lived experiences in their distinct Country. The Potters practice from their studio in the small community of Ntaria/Hermannsburg, in the remote central desert region of Australia.

Through ceramics, the Potters sculpt and paint their visual histories and contemporary settings, speaking to Western Aranda cultural beliefs and traditions and the present-day experiences of Indigenous peoples in Australia.

Hayley Coulthard is an artist, art worker and current Chair of Hermannsburg Potters. She has been working with clay for 15 years and has exhibited widely across Australia and internationally. Rona Rubuntja is a founding member of Hermannsburg Potters where she has practiced for over 30 years. Rona is deaf and uses art to share stories from her life. She is renowned for her vibrant, humorous work and technical skill.

Kanika Anand is the Senior Curator at Contemporary Calgary, Canada, and Curatorial Team Member of the Indian Ceramics Triennale.

She holds a Master’s degree in Art History from the National Museum Institute, India, has been curatorial fellow at the Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France (2012-13) and fellow at the Global Cultural Leadership Programme, organised by the European Cultural Foundation (2018).
She has over 16 years of experience across curatorial, managerial and editorial roles across North America, Europe and India, and her curatorial approach hinges on articulating the relevance of socio-cultural practices, and their function as a reflection of contemporary times.

Dr Kristine Michael is a ceramic artist, curator, arts educator and art historian/writer based in New Delhi. Her recent curatorial exhibitions in 2023 include Multiple Realities, Voices in Contemporary Indian Ceramics (ClayArch Gimhae Museum South Korea) Immersive Infinities (Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi) The Hourglass: Pouring The Past Into the Future- Contemporary Glass (The Glassmakers Club New Delhi). Her essays on Indian ceramics have been published widely and her thesis on the study of 19th century ceramics from colonial art schools in India is to be published in 2024. She is Co-Editor of Mrin Magazine, the only bi-annual magazine of ceramic art in India. She is a speaker at the Jaipur Art Week 2024 on the Albert Hall Museum collection of 19th Century ceramics.

Artist, curator, writer, Madhvi Subrahmanian trained at the Golden Bridge Pottery, Pondicherry and has a MFA  from SMU, Dallas, TX. Madhvi has been on art-residencies in Japan, China, Korea, Thailand and the US. Her sculptures and installations can be seen in several private and public collections such as Bangalore airport-T2, India Heritage centre Singapore, Shigaraki Ceramic Sculptural Park, Japan, and the Fule Museum in Fuping, China.  She has shown at several biennales and museums around the world and her upcoming projects includes a public art work for a subway station in Singapore. Madhvi is a co-founder and co-curator of Indian Ceramics Triennale and an advisory board member of Hampi Art Labs. She shows with Gallery Chemould Prescott Road in Mumbai.

Neelima Hasija is a principal designer and faculty member at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India. She specialises in ceramic & glass. Her keen interest in material culture, system design, and sustainability related issues has sensitised her to view design context through an empathic lens. Her decades of research and practice with the craft communities and MSME hubs, aided by the DST, Gov. of India, has simultaneously translated into new opportunities for the makers, design graduates as well as design education in the country. She is an expert member on the consultative group of the Geographical Indications Registry, India, while representing member, advisory panel, CGCRI and GC panel, CDGI. She is the co-editor of "Indian Crafts in a Globalising World", and an author of the Marg magazine article "A Desi Bauhaus: The Development of a Modernist Idiom of Ceramics".

Neha Kudchadkar is a visual and performing artist. She is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, and the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda. She was a student at the Golden Bridge Pottery. Neha is a recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship and the Junior Fellowship, Government of India. Neha has participated in residencies and shown her work in several exhibitions in India and abroad. Neha is co-founder of beej, a performing arts initiative in Mumbai, co-curator and working committee member of the Indian Ceramics Triennale and co-founder of The Innovation Champions’ Club, an innovation and design thinking platform for children.

Dr. Pheroza J. Godrej is an art-historian and a Ph.D. in Ancient Indian Culture.
She founded the Cymroza Art Gallery and has authored various publications and curated highly acclaimed exhibitions for leading national and international Museums. She is Chairperson of the Museum Society of Mumbai.
Dr. Godrej is Trustee of Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Director of Asia Society India Centre and on the Advisory Executive Board of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology (ATREE) and the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation.

Dr Godrej is on the Board of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development International Advisory Council and supports the Cornelia Sorabji Scholarship at Somerville College, Oxford.
She is the Chairperson of the Godrej Archives Council and Advisor, Godrej Mangroves Cell.

Dr Raj Kubba is a practicing dermatologist besides being a ceramics collector. He has been collecting contemporary studio ceramics for the past fifty years. His ceramics collection is informed by his living (and working) in the UK, Denmark, Canada, and the USA, and by his travels through Japan, Korea, and many other countries. Dr Kubba's ceramics collection has appeared in Art India, La revue de la Ceramique et du Verre (France), Marg, and Arts Illustrated. Dr Kubba has served as a trustee of the Delhi Blue Pottery Trust. He has lectured on “Living with Ceramics”. He is interested in ceramics terroir; both physical & cultural.

Shashank Nimkar is the founder of Earth Tatva and is a multi-award winning designer who practises circular design through industrial design, animation and policy framing. He is recognized as a circular economy pioneer by Ellen MacArthur Foundation and has been felicitated with some prestigious awards at Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival and James Dyson Award, among others. His work has been featured in more than two dozen national and international respected publications like Forbes, UNDP, and events like the Global Grad Show where 100 best graduation projects from around the world are exhibited in Dubai every year.

Susan Beiner lives and works in Phoenix, AZ where she is Joan R. Lincoln Endowed Professor at Arizona State University. Beiner’s art practice spans room size installations integrating landscape with environmental issues in ceramics to achieve opulent effects.

Beiner’s ceramic work has been exhibited at Limogues Foundation, France, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, The Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Korea, and the Princessehof Keramiekmuseum, Netherlands to name a few. Her work is included in numerous collections including the The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Museum of Ceramics in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, and the Yixing Ceramics Museum, China as well as other permanent and private collections. In 2020, she received the grand prize at the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale held at the Yingge Ceramics Museum, New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Demonstration:
I will discuss referencing nature in my work and translating experiences into various forms. I respond to the environment by looking at form, color and texture and this influences how I design an object. My work has consistently utilized multiples to create density, fragmentation, and complication to attract the viewer into the space. For this demonstration, I will utilize the vessel form, coiling and sprig molding to discuss layering and encrusting surface.

I like to think that the art work may be used to stimulate emotion and intellect, to evoke memories, thoughts moods and feelings.

Vanmala Jain is a Mumbai-based ceramic designer. She is an alumni of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. She later did her industrial training and learned about mass production in a factory setup at Palam Pottery, Delhi and an internship studying the Blue Pottery of Jaipur with Padmashri Kripal Singhji Shekhavat.

Vanmala’s outlook was shaped by her experience with the Social Work and Research Centre at Tilonia, Rajasthan. That grounding, both in craft and more importantly, in concern and care for the craftspeople of India, was the key influence in establishing the Kuprkabi Ceramic Design Studio and Kuprkabi Foundation.