The word "ceramics" comes from the Greek word "keramos", meaning "clay". The art of ceramics dates back to Prehistory and quickly became very popular, and is a tradition that continues to this day.Many sculptors in the History of Art have used this material to create their works, such as George E. Ohr, Maria Martinez, and Joan Miro.
Nowadays, new technologies have transformed the certain aspects in the productionof ceramics, but many traditional techniques have remained as the backbone of this craft.
Toeing the line between, art, craft and design, contemporary ceramicists offer new perspectives-- in this article, The Artling showcase 10ceramic artists that are working to fuse art and design in their pieces.
Natan Moss
Function Follows Form Vase by Natan Moss
In this series titled, "Function Follows Form", American Designer Natan Mossisplaying with manipulating traditional ceramic forms in a series that re-imagines Louis Sullivan's famous maxim "Form Follows Function."Natan's philosophy is to make simple, elegant pieces that explore the duality between art and functionality. Though Natan finds inspiration from many places, Japan, Scandinavia and the 1960's Italy has been particularly influential. Natan Moss Ceramics focuses mainly on decorative sculpture and high-end art furniture while.
Victoria Yakusha
KUMANEC Set of Vases by Victoria Yakusha
Victoria Yakushais a Ukrainian architect, interior and product designer, the founder of Yakusha Design studio, author of the collection of furniture and décor design FAINA Design, owner of the design lecture hall Ya Vsesvit, Kyiv and Ukrainian design residences FAINA House.
KUMANEC (“kumanec” in Ukrainian- ceramic figured vessel) set of vases, weaving the old into the new, is characterized bytraditional festive pottery with a hole-bagel in the middle transformed into modern interior decoration, that has the power to unite people around. The vase construction and material are most suitable for dried flowers without water for them. The KUMANEC set of vases consists of 5 items.
Kelsie Rudolph
Round Checker Vase by Kelsie Rudolph
This ceramic vase, designed by Kelsie Rudolph, is hand-built by coil and hand-painted with satin-matte glazes.
Kelsie searches for commonalities across cultural and social systems exemplified by the way that people relate to objects in various architectural spaces. Colors are often associated with various emotions in many cultures. Kelsieplays with these perceptions, creating surfaces with tints and tones in a color family as well as swatch-like samples of a singular color.
Liz Quan
Bloom Midnight by Liz Quan
Designed by Liz Quan, this porcelain flowerform came about through the making process. Each 'petal' is unique and collectively they nest elegantly together. It's mounted on white oak stained with a deep midnight color. Liz is intrigued by the strength of multiples: separate pieces are united to create a cohesive new individual form. The abstract expression and formal qualities of hersculptures work together to evoke a personal feeling and unique connection with the engaged viewer.
Liz has been an Art Director in the publishing industry for over 25 years. In 2005, she moved to Boulder, Colorado from New York City to pursue a post-baccalaureate in ceramics at the University of Colorado. Since then, she continues to work as a graphic designer and artist her ceramic studio in Boulder.
Kairo Kusamoto
Visualization of human "hands" - crush/repair antique china vase - by Kairo Kusamoto
In this design object, Chinese antiques, which seem to already have some value, are intentionally shredded and restored with gold splices by Japanese Designer Kairo Kusamoto. By the seemingly meaningless handwork, he attempted to “visualize” the human “hands” that would have been originally includedand to create an expression with the “hands” that appeared in the vase.
Ruan Hoffmann
UNTITLED VASE II by Ruan Hoffmann
This piece byRuan Hoffmann is a ceramic earthenware decorated with colored porcelain slip, underglaze, and gold luster.
Using ceramic earthenware as his preferred medium, Ruan Hoffmann chooses familiar objects such as plates, containers, and tiles as his canvases, however, the resulting works are not presented as homey pieces emanating from the domestic sphere but as wilful, irregular and misshapen forms on which the artist’s unedited observations on life’s experiences flow in constant, noisy glimpses of thought.
Alistair Danhieux
Large Vase by Alistair Danhieux
This ceramic work by Alistair Danhieux is a large stoneware jar with a porcelain surface, hand-painted with oxides before the final firing. The motif is inspired by ethnic patterns, ranging from traditional mandalas to cultural tattoo. Painting is done freehand, and the motifs are the results of hours spent drawing. Simple, contemporary forms with hand-painted black on white motifs perfectfor indoors or outdoors.
Tracy Wilkinson
Ghost Totem by Tracy Wilkinson
This ceramic work byartist Tracy Wilkinsonis a matte white hand-built sculpture inspired by primitive totems. Tracy explores different kinds of material throughout her artisanal works, characterized by organic shapes and uneven glazes making her pottery beautifully rustic.Tracyis a British artist, living and working in the Mount Washington area of Los Angeles.
Nicholas Bernard
Basket Vessel by Nicholas Bernard
This ceramic work by Nicholas Bernard is a wheel thrown white stoneware. Avariety of layered glazes are gas-fired in reduction to cone 10 or 2350F.Nicholas'swork as a professional has always been low fire earthenware. For many years, his Raku pots were shown nationally. The influences are scattered from the Southwest, Africa, and Japan to the cultures of the Mediterranean.
Karen Lee
Untitled (Macaroni for Every Being) by Karen Lee
Untitled (Macaroni for Every Being) by Karen Lee attempts to find new systems that oscillate between our known human understanding of them and that of the objects’ experience of inhabiting those structures. Some of these structural design experiments explore the ‘in-betweenness’ of objects in terms of their value as both functional furniture and as objects that can possess their own agency. With the end applications ranging from tabletopvessels to full-scale ambiguous forms that could potentially be a low table, all objects utilize a mixture of traditional materials wood and ceramic.
Check out more ceramic works here, available on The Artling!
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