Nation’s Top Ceramic Awards Entries Criticised

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Nation’s Top Ceramic Awards Entries Criticised by Judge

The country’s most prestigious ceramic awards may have received a record number of entries this year, but the internationally selected judge gives many entrants a ‘can do better mark’ and questions the lack of serious tertiary ceramic education in New Zealand as a means for artists to learn.

Almost 200 works were submitted by ceramic artists nationwide into The Portage Ceramic Awards this year. These are important Awards in the arts community administered by Lopdell House Gallery, and with a cash prize of $12,000 to the premier winner, they are a known barometer identifying our finest ceramic artists.

The winner of this award, up to six Merit Award winners and The John Green Waitakere City Artist Award will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on Thursday 15 October.

Renowned US ceramicist and 2009 Portage Ceramic Awards judge, Scott Chamberlin says given the standing of the Awards to the community there is an explicit need for it to be a site where artists strive for excellence.

‘The very best works in these Awards could compete anywhere in the world with confidence. It is the overall quality of the artwork entered that surprises and concerns me.

‘I’ve spoken to many enthusiasts in the New Zealand ceramic community and there seems to be unanimous agreement that works need to be more contemporary; for the artists to take more risks.’

There is currently only one tertiary provider (Otago University) which provides a dedicated course in ceramics. This, says Chamberlin could be why there is not more excellent work.

‘Ceramic tertiary education in this country has very nearly been abandoned. Serious programmes for ceramic artists to advance their studio practice and broaden their knowledge are extremely limited.

‘It is clear from the entries that not only are there already some excellent ceramic artists in New Zealand, but there are a number more with great potential.

‘I encourage the larger contemporary art community to support these artists. Ceramic artists should be better advocates for high quality work practices in studios and tertiary institutions.

‘Be activist artists; Engage in critical discourse and get rid of the concept that seems to exist in New Zealand that ceramics is a slightly insignificant art genre.’

There will be fewer exhibiting pieces from the Awards this year, but Chamberlin says those that are selected will worthy prize contenders, and works of high quality.

The 2009 Portage Ceramic Awards exhibition can be viewed at Lopdell House Gallery from 16 October.

Editor’s notes

Scott Chamberlin biographical profile

Scott Chamberlin is currently a Visiting Professor and Artist in Residence at UNITEC, Auckland.

Scott Chamberlin was born in Orange County California in 1948. He earned a BA degree from San Francisco State University and an MFA from Alfred University. He taught in London at the Camberwell School of Art in the late 70s, early 80s and in 1993. He currently is a Professor in the Department of Art & Art Hitory and teaches in the Ceramic Graduate Program, one of the top ten in the US. His solo exhibitions include galleries in London, Portugal and the Dordrecht Museum and the European Ceramic Work Centre in the Netherlands. His works has been shown in the US at the Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco, The Nancy Margolis Gallery in New York and the Kiang Gallery in Atlanta.

Chamberlin has participated in significant group exhibitions in the US at the Everson Museum, Syracuse in New York, in numerous exhibitions at the Denver Art Museum the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and at a three person exhibition at the Aspen Art Museum.

His work is in permanent collections at the Dordrecht Museum and the Museum Het Kruit Huis/EKWC in the Netherlands; the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York; and the Denver Art Museum.

He has been awarded two National Endowment for Arts Fellowships and, in 2001, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for Individual Artists.

Scott Chamberlin’s exhibition "fertile matters" is on at Snowhite Gallery, UNITEC until October 19. He will be showing work in the vault at Objectspace, Ponsonby, Auckland from 2nd to 31st of October.

ENDS

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