Claire Blakey of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery reports:
On Monday 25th March 2013 the Ceramics Network joined forces with the Northern Ceramic Society
for a visit to an exhibition of contemporary ceramics at the Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge. Despite the very un-spring like temperatures, there were 15
participants, from as far away as York and Bath. There was a good mixture of
museum professionals, collectors, academics and enthusiasts. The exhibition, China's White Gold, is visually stunning
and as most of the work was made especially for it, an amazing opportunity to
see what potters in Jingdezhen are producing. This varies from ware made in
traditional styles to pieces which are consciously contemporary in style and
execution.
It includes a section on pieces which are reproductions of antique
porcelain, shown alongside pieces from the Fitzwilliam's collection as
comparatives. It also showcases work by international artists working in
Jingdezhen: Felicity Aylieff, Takeshi Yasuda and Caroline Cheng.
One of the
star pieces is a vase (Happy and
Glorious) made by students of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute to mark Her
Majesty the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. This is decorated with auspicious symbols,
including a dragon, lotus flowers and cranes.
The visit was made much more informative by the insights and observations of Victoria Avery and Tao-Tao Chang of the Fitzwilliam, who very kindly organised this. Our grateful thanks to them.
We are hoping to plan a ceramics study day at the Fitzwilliam in the near future so keep an eye out for it!
The visit was made much more informative by the insights and observations of Victoria Avery and Tao-Tao Chang of the Fitzwilliam, who very kindly organised this. Our grateful thanks to them.
We are hoping to plan a ceramics study day at the Fitzwilliam in the near future so keep an eye out for it!
Images from the exhibition shown here ©Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
