Susie O’Byrne is a studio holder at the Glasgow Ceramics Studio in WASPS, where I also have my space. The piece you can see below is roughly life size, or about 50cm tall. It is painstakingly built up out of small patches of individually printed paper porcelain sheets. The work is hung in the kiln during firing to retain it’s incredible grace of form. It is an anthropomorphic piece, inspired by dreams and images which populate the subconscious, and informed by nature study in Africa.

Susan O’Byrne, Cheetah, 2008

This amazing sculpture is on exhibition at the Aberdeen Art Gallery, in Aberdeen, Scotland until the 31st of May, as part of the Aberdeen Artists’ Society seventy-fourth exhibition of Painting, Sculpture, Drawing, Photography, Architecture, Video, DVD, Design and Craft. If you would like to see it for yourself, information on gallery address and opening hours is here.

Next weekend, on Saturday 10th (10am - 5pm) and Sunday 11th (11am - 4pm) May, I’m involved in a group exhibition and sale with some other artists from the WASPS artists’ studios in Glasgow, where I’m a studio holder. Our group is called Parade Artists (WASPS studios are located on the corner of Alexandra Parade) and encompasses a range of media, including painting, photography, printmaking, jewelery, textiles, ceramics and glass. The sale will take place in the large front entrance gallery space of the 77 Hanson Street building, alongside the cafe, which is also open on weekends. I’ve made some lovely swirling porcelain bowls for the occasion. Linda McGill, Stuart Grant, Sue Wong and Elinor Caie from the Glasgow Ceramics Studio are also participating. So come along and have a browse if you happen to be in Glasgow. Hope to see you there!

Linda Davy, hand built porcelain, terra sigillata 

Opening night reception: Wednesday 5th March, 6pm

If you happen to find yourself in sunny Canberra, Australia, this week, please join the artists, Linda Davy (Graduate Diploma) and Margaret Carlin (Master of Visual Art) for the opening night reception of their graduating exhibition!

This exhibition is the third in the series of the graduate season 2008. It will be held at the ANU School of Art Gallery. The Gallery is located on the ground floor of the ANU School of Art, just next to the cafe, on Ellery Crescent, Acton, ACT, 2601.

If you don’t manage to make it for the drinks and festivities, the exhibition will continue until Friday 14th March, and the opening hours are: Tue-Fri 10.30 - 5pm, Saturdays Noon - 5pm or by appointment, closed public holidays. Phone: 02 6125 5841.

Hope to see you there!

Linda Davy, hand built porcelain, terra sigillata 

My supervisor, and the head of the Ceramics Department at the ANU School of Art, Janet DeBoos, has just had some of her work included in a beautiful new publication from Lark Books: “Masters: Porcelain: Major Works by Leading Ceramists”. Here is a link to it on Amazon UK.

Considering the grim news about the imminent proposed closure of the GSA Ceramics Department - the fate of which is to be decided at a Board of Studies meeting this Monday 18th February, I’ve decided to highlight some of the excellent undergraduate talent currently coming out of the Glasgow School of Art ceramics program.

If this program closes, there will be no undergraduate ceramics courses at university level available for study in either of the major cities in Scotland. What will this mean for Scottish ceramic art and Scottish culture as a whole? Can such a small country afford to turn it’s back on contemporary artists? Will future generations of artists be lost to England or abroad elsewhere? Will Scotland lose that avenue for social commentary and creative expression?

Ester Svensson, 4th year honors student, in her space at GSA

This is some of the most interesting, original and innovative work that I’ve seen to date. Ester is a young artist who is interested in multiculturalism, myth and storytelling. To view Ester’s work - click here.

Furthermore, Ester took a year off her university studies last year and traveled to Afghanistan, where she worked for the Turquise Mountain Foundation. The Foundation is involved with helping to restore historic sites and keep traditional craft skills from disappearing, providing employment and income for families recovering from the devastation of war.  Ester worked with Afghani potters in a cultural exchange of knowledge and skill for a full year, visiting ceramics restoration workshops and a ceramics school. To view the incredibly beautiful photographs of ancient and rarely before seen ceramic art from her journeys click here.

Irene Bell, Turf Cart, 2007 (Detail), slipcast earthenware with underglaze drawing

I’ve added a new album of work by Irene Bell. Irene is a part-time lecturer in ceramics at the Glasgow School of Art. She also lectures first year Design students in the Core Studies program.

Bell draws inspiration from the undulations and sweeps of manipulated landscapes, in particular, golf courses and topiary. She specializes in freehand tonal drawing on raw clay, and the compositional relationship of image to form. Her compositions border on the dangerous transition between working and not-working, between eye pleasing, harmonious success and graphic disaster.

She also has a keen interest in the interaction between stationary objects and those in motion. Portions of each image appearing static, while others in the same composition appear to move. To view Irene Bell’s work, please click here.

A very small portion of the intricately carved ceiling of Roslyn Chapel, about 20 mins drive South of Edinburgh. There is a theory that the little boxes coming down from the ceiling represent musical notes. Each box has a pattern carved into it, which happens to be identical to the pattern which is formed by loose grains of sand, if they are placed on a piece of metal which makes that particular note.

Firstly, I would like to say a HUGE thank you to my husband, Campbell Brown and my brother, Filip Radlinski, who took it upon themselves over the last few weeks to devote much of their spare time in order to wrestle with and tame the technology behind this blog and website, including spending hours waiting in a telephone queue to speak to my hosting company.

Writing here is all very fun and easy but when it comes to things like backups, software updates or migrating to a new platform… (that’s nothing to do with trains, shoes or birds), dns pointers, etc, it’s all just a whole lot of incomprehensible gobblygook to me - or however that may be spelled, but you get the idea.

The website hopefully doesn’t look any different, but it’s all brand spanking new and shiny in the background, I assure you, and I NEVER would have been able to tackle it by my lonesome.

However, if you do come across a link that no longer works, please email me and let me know, so that I can fix it. There conceivably could be a few that have slipped through the very fine teeth of the virtual comb we used. AND if you have book marked any part of this blog or my gallery pages, it might be a good idea to make a new bookmark, as your old one may no longer work.

As a result of the changes I haven’t been able to make any updates to the site for a while - even though I’ve been here, and working hard in the studio (with a little break for the festive season, I must admit).

John Maguire, 2001. Tall Vase in studio courtyard. Thrown stoneware with cobalt wood ash glaze and white slip.

So apart from loud and wild Christmas parties, three day long Hogmanay (New Year’s) celebrations and my madly feverish preparation for my trip and forthcoming WIP in Oz, I’d like to announce that the first thing I’ve tackled this year website-wise is a new album full of images from John Maguire’s portfolio. Click here to view them.

Bill Brown, “24 (22:00)”, 2005, Stoneware with silk screen enamel transfer, 45 x 30cm

I’ve added a new album of work by Bill Brown, who is head of Ceramic Design at the Glasgow School of Art. Click here to view the images.

Although many single images of his work, spanning a lengthy career, can be found in various books, catalogs and international collections, I believe that this is a unique collection of images. It encompasses at least a decade of creative practice and he has very kindly allowed me to make them available online to share with everyone.

For me, Bill Brown’s work is an expression of a wonderful quirky sense of humour and intelligent observation of contemporary life, culture, the media and advertising, coupled with a mastery of industrial ceramic production techniques which include mould making and printing on clay.

The silk screen enamel printing technique used in his work is known as decals in some other parts of the world. Bill Brown screen prints his own full colour decals using on glaze enamels, after putting his photographs and graphic works through a digital colour separation process in Photoshop.

The piece displayed above is from the series “24″. It’s based on the idea of taking one photograph per hour to document a continuous 24 hour period in the life of the artist. This particular one includes a photograph taken at 10pm, of Charing Cross, a busy intersection in Glasgow City center, not far from the Glasgow School of Art.

I’ve just added some new photos of John Maguire’s work in progress to my photo album. Click here to view them. John is a sessional lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art and is about to start teaching a throwing block with the 2nd year students.

Helen Morken, Mobius I and Mobius V, 2007

Mobius III, Helen’s lovely and clever work, inspired by the drawings of M.C. Escher, is pictured in the Review Gallery pages of the recently released November/December issue of Ceramic Review magazine. Helen is a 3rd year student in the Distance Part Time BA Ceramic Design course at the GSA.