From Claire Blakey, Arts Curator, Potteries Museum & Art Gallery:
On 17th April
2015 the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, hosted the Ahead of the Curve: New china from China symposium.
The symposium focused on
contemporary Chinese ceramics and glass and was organised in conjunction with
the exhibition of the same title currently on display at The Potteries Museum
& Art Gallery until the 31st May.
The aim of
both the exhibition and the symposium was to showcase exciting developments
over the last decade in Chinese studio glass and ceramics. Studio glass making
departments have only emerged in Chinese universities since 2000, whilst in the
field of contemporary ceramics, a wave of new graduates are challenging the
boundaries of their field.
Funding for
the project, which has been over four years in the making, has been supplied by
Arts Council England through Grants for the Arts, with grants for research
visits to China from The British Council and The Art Fund.
We were able
to bring together an exciting group of speakers, including three who had come
to the UK to speak at the symposium. Glass artist Shelly Xue and potter Wan
Liya both have work on display in Ahead
of the Curve.
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| Shelly Xue, Angel is Waiting 9, 2014, glass © the artist |
 |
Wan Liya, Birds Twitter and Fragrance Flowers, 2010,
porcelain © the artist
|
Both spoke
about their work and careers at the symposium and Shelly Xue also gave an
insight into the glass departments in Chinese universities. The keynote speaker
was Shannon Guo, co-curator of the exhibition, curator of twocities gallery in Shanghai (the partner
gallery for the exhibition) and Associate Professor of the Fine Arts College of
Shanghai University, who gave an insight into the world of contemporary Chinese
craft.
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| Visiting the Dudson Museum with Wan Liya and Shannon Guo. |
The symposium
also featured talks from:
Helen Brown, co-curator of the exhibition, on
shared concerns between British and Chinese artists
Ying Tan,
curator at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, on the works of
Liu Jianhua.
Rachel
Marsden, specialist in transcultural curating and Chinese/Asian contemporary
culture, Coordinator (Research Assistant) at the Centre for Chinese
Contemporary Art (CCVA) and Lecturer in MA Contemporary Curatorial Practice at
the University of Lincoln, on China's new museums - an architecture of design.
Andrew Brewerton, Principal,
Plymouth College of Art, Honorary Professor of Fine Art, Shanghai University,
former Subject Leader in Glass, University of Wolverhampton, on contemporary
Chinese glass art.
An introduction to the
exhibition by Claire Blakey (co-curator and Arts Curator, The Potteries Museum
& Art Gallery), Kate Newnham (co-curator and Senior Curator, Visual Arts, Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives) and
Project Assistant Alexandra Nachescu.
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| Panel discussion © Rachel Marsden |
For a full
description of the day, please click HERE>
