Ceramics is one of the most vibrant and engaging fields of contemporary British art. This lavishly illustrated book reviews the work of twenty-two artists and celebrates their contribution to its rich landscape. Written from a collector's point of view, it explores what contemporary ceramic objects can mean, what emotions they evoke and how artists draw upon different facets of the art and crafts worlds in their work. A vital visual and critical resource, Contemporary British Ceramics showcases British ceramics as a compelling interdisciplinary practice, attuned to the contemporary world. Featuring more than 280 images, it encourages readers to look beneath the surface, to discover the vibrant contribution that British ceramics makes to the broad field of contemporary art.

In Britain today the output of excellent ceramics seems more eclectic than elsewhere. This stylish and wide-ranging survey comprises examples of clay art by one hundred major artists, covering the period from the late 1980s through 2009. Drawn from the Diane and Marc Grainer Collection, it includes works by Allison Britton, Edmund de Waal, Kate Malone, Grayson Perry, Julian Stair, Steve Dixon, and Nick Arroyave-Portela, among others. The selection balances functional objects and sculpture; hand-built, thrown, and molded techniques; varieties of scale and color; and cerebral and emotional content. All the ceramics here are rooted in the materiality of clay. The properties of the raw material, from its soft, malleable texture to the alchemy of slips and glazes, are at the core of the artists' passion. And, as the text reveals, the younger generation is moving into new directions of art practice. Published in association with the Mint Museum Exhibition Schedule: Mint Museum Uptown, Charlotte, NC (10/01/10 - 03/13/11)

An in-depth study of 24 artists, their work and studios. Almost a mini biography on many of the most prominent andexciting artists around.

This book investigates how British contemporary artists who work with clay have managed, in the space of a single generation, to take ceramics from niche-interest craft to the pristine territories of the contemporary art gallery. This development has been accompanied (and perhaps propelled) by the kind of critical discussion usually reserved for the 'higher' discipline of sculpture. Ceramics is now encountering and colliding with sculpture, both formally and intellectually. Laura Gray examines what this means for the old hierarchies between art and craft, the identity of the potter, and the character of a discipline tied to a specific material but wanting to participate in critical discussions that extend far beyond clay.

This detailed and comprehensive survey charts the entire history of British studio ceramics from the emergence of modern ceramics from the Victorian factories around 1900 to the wide variety of extraordinary work being produced today. All the best-known potters such as Leach, Hamada, Cardew, Rie, and Coper are examined in depth in terms of their different areas of interest and influence. An extensive appendix gives information on 200 leading makers with their identifying marks and cross-references with a list of museums where their work can be seen. Lavishly illustrated throughout with some 250 color photographs, this is a book for the collector needing in-depth information or for those who just want an introduction to this important and beautiful work.

For nearly a century British potters have invigorated traditional ceramic forms by developing or reinventing techniques, materials, and means of display. Things of Beauty Growing explores major typologies of the vessel--such as bowl, vase, and charger--that have defined studio ceramics since the early 20th century. It places British studio pottery within the context of objects from Europe, Japan, and Korea and presents essays by an international team of scholars and experts. The book highlights the objects themselves, including new works by Adam Buick, Halima Cassell, and Nao Matsunago, featured alongside works by William Staite Murray, Lucie Rie, Edmund de Waal, and others, many published here for the first time. Rounding out the beautifully illustrated volume is an interview with renowned collector John Driscoll and approximately fifty illustrated short biographies of significant makers. Published in association with the Yale Center for British Art and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Exhibition Schedule: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (09/14/17-12/03/17) The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (03/20/18-06/18/18)

By foregrounding the overlaps between sculpture and the decorative, this volume of essays offers a model for a more integrated form of art history writing. Through distinct case studies, from a seventeenth-century Danish altarpiece to contemporary British ceramics, it brings to centre stage makers, objects, concepts and spaces that have been marginalized by the enforcement of boundaries within art and design discourse. These essays challenge the classed, raced and gendered categories that have structured the histories and languages of art and its making. Sculpture and the Decorative in Britain and Europe is essential reading for anyone interested in the history and practice of sculpture and the decorative arts and the methodologies of art history.

No longer considered merely decorative, ceramic art has broken free from the dusty display cases to which it was once relegated and is now taking centre stage in contemporary galleries. Although often integrating traditional modelling, firing and glazing techniques into their output, the 90 artists featured here invite us to look at ceramics in a different way. Whether creating monumental installations or intricate miniatures, imaginary beasts or life-size human figures, they subtly blur the borders between art and craft, sometimes conceiving witty or unnerving twists on traditional ceramic forms, sometimes using cutting-edge technology, conceptual thinking and new platforms to push the boundaries of clay and broaden its appeal. Packed with works that are questioning and provocative, disturbing and seductive, this is an exciting overview of a booming field.

A global survey of 100 of today's most important clay and ceramic artists, chosen by leading art world professionals. Vitamin C celebrates the revival of clay as a material for contemporary visual artists, featuring a wide range of global talent as selected by the world's leading curators, critics, and art professionals. Clay and ceramics have in recent years been elevated from craft to high art material, with the resulting artworks being coveted by collectors and exhibited in museums around the world. Packed with illustrations, Vitamin C is a vibrant and incredibly timely survey - the first of its kind. Artists include: Caroline Achaintre, Ai Weiwei, Aaron Angell, Edmund de Waal, Theaster Gates, Marisa Merz, Ron Nagle, Gabriel Orozco, Grayson Perry, Sterling Ruby, Thomas Schütte, Richard Slee, Clare Twomey, Jesse Wine, and Betty Woodman. Nominators include: Pablo Leon de la Barra, Iwona Blazwick, Mary Ceruti, Dan Fox, Jens Hoffmann, Christine Macel, James Meyer, Jed Morse, Beatrix Ruf, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Nancy Spector, Sheena Wagstaff, and Jonathan Watkins.

Ceramics is one of the most vibrant and engaging fields of contemporary British art. This lavishly illustrated book reviews the work of twenty-two artists and celebrates their contribution to its rich landscape. Written from a collector's point of view, it explores what contemporary ceramic objects can mean, what emotions they evoke and how artists draw upon different facets of the art and crafts worlds in their work. A vital visual and critical resource, Contemporary British Ceramics showcases British ceramics as a compelling interdisciplinary practice, attuned to the contemporary world. Featuring more than 280 images, it encourages readers to look beneath the surface, to discover the vibrant contribution that British ceramics makes to the broad field of contemporary art.