Research Task: Ceramic Artists

For this research task, I had to look into and make notes on several ceramic artists and then look at contemporary ceramic artists and understand what visual language is applied, and how it engages with the audience.

Laura Carlin was the first artists' work that I looked into and when I looked at her artwork, the ceramics had an illustrative style painted on them, and the perspective was similar to how the Egyptians used to draw; the designs are charming (especially the ceramic tiles with the animals), they're fun and eye-catching, it feels carefree and simplistically drawn and the style resembles that of a watercolour drawing but through her own direction.

With Cosmo China is a company that represent many artists, each of them producing mugs, plates, teapots, etc. and doing so with their own style and topic-- some with animals, foods, abstract lines and patterns, Each artists has something unique to bring to the table, that differs themselves from one another. I especially like these styles since my last pottery experience had a result like there's.

Viola Frey has also worked in other areas of art, her involvement with ceramics differed from Laura Carlin and Cosmo China by creating large ceramic sculptures of people with vibrant drawings on top of them. Her work has unusual colour choices, they're vibrant and clash but in a really appealing way. Her work is predominately people but because the colour is so outstanding it grabs you, pulls you in and shows you some extraordinary in the ordinary.

Richard Notkin uses ceramics to create highly detailed mini-tiles and dynamic sculptures, his topics ranges a lot to scenes, humans up-close, people, buildings, objects-- anything. The ceramics that drew me the most was the mini-tiles, they are so incredibly detailed and textures which was even more enhanced by the light direction that made it feel more real. His other ceramics that he produces are detailed and unusual structures, mixing life and sci fi together, and in some cases producing a little scene.

Howard Kottler also produced some unusual ceramics but through the illustrations that were painted on the ceramics (unlike Notkin's ceramics that were etchings), the style pokes fun at other traditional artworks/insignia; his other ceramics are more abstract personal designs, made rather than produced onto a ceramic. The painted ceramics that he produces are simplistic with the amount of space, so it draws your eyes instantly to the detailed illustrations.

An artist that came to mind was Grayson Perry when thinking about ceramics, Perry's work has a lot of messages of either (or included together) identity, political and/or cultural messages-- and their topics are a bit tongue-and-cheek; regardless Perry wants the viewer to simply enjoy their work as is and to not read deeply into their work. The ceramics have a lot of interesting textures and I believe that comes with how their illustrations on the piece effects it.

Patty Warashina work really drew me for their amusing ceramics, producing the human format in satirical ways and with some really interesting colour and drawing design choices-- the design are very light and colourful; showing human behaviours in a dramatically proportionate bodies.

Other contemporary artists follow a theme of create a lot of fluidity of the ceramic process and a little spin their style through the glazing processes, some designs have hardly any glazing and let the shape of the design speak for itself. Whereas other use a lot of abstraction to glaze, whether its dots, lines, motifs of nature, people or shapes.

Ceramics, I found, allows the viewer to explore the design and unveil a story in their own time, allowing interaction between the piece and the viewer. For pieces with a lot going on, the viewer can find more things to look for the longer the see it or the more they return back to the piece.

Visual language in ceramics comes in two ways, the way the design has physically been molded and the way a potentially design has been painted on. From my own understanding on painting on ceramics is that glazing is unpredictable, you're unsure how the product would end up looking like since colours before their fired in a kiln doesn't represent what it initially looks like. Creating an experience not just for the viewer to see but for the artists as well.

Taking notes and looking at the variety of ceramic works gets me really excited at the thought of possibly doing this for my assignment, I really like the thought of having your artwork on a physical object rather than a canvas or a piece of paper. With the artists that were introduced in the brief, I really leaned more to Richard Notkin with the beautiful 3D etchings that I've seen similar to at the V&A museum where I saw jewelry that was etched into the create a detailed vibrant piece.