The touring Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition has opened for the third time, this time at the Millennium Court Arts Centre (MCAC) in Portadown, Northern Ireland. The opening was organised on Friday the 23rd of June 2017.

At the opening professor Maarit Mäkelä, the head of the Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future sub-project and professor at Aalto University and Jackie Barker, the Arts Director at MCAC, gave their opening speeches.

This time the core of the exhibition has been joined by the works of the Future Lights ambassadors of 2015/2016 and 2016/2017. Future Lights is a competition for people in the early stages of their careers in the field of ceramics and is also a part of the European Ceramics and its Dimensions project. The works present visions of the future of ceramics and are an excellent addition to the Shaping the Future exhibition. Read more about the Future Lights ambassadors here.

The third venue of the Shaping the Future exhibition, Millennium Court Art Centre, is an arts centre that focuses on contemporary visual and verbal arts. It is located in Portadown’s former municipal market hall, a converted red-brick building built in 1929. The building is in the center of the city, just a few minutes walk away from the railway station. MCAC  has two gallery spaces, a workshop area and a kiln, among other things. It takes a bit more than half an hour by train from Belfast to reach Portadown.

Next time the Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition accompanied by the Future Lights ambassadors will be on view in autumn 2017 at the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom. After Stoke-on-Trent, the exhibition will still tour to three cities in Europe: Berlin (Germany), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Praha (Czech Republic).

On Friday June 30th at noon there is going to be organised a symposium “Making A Living As A Ceramicist”. The symposium is a Creative Momentum event, that includes presentation and discussion on how to make a living as a ceramicist. The event is free of charge but registration is essential. More info here.

Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future
Millennium Court Arts Centre
William Street, Portadown
24th June – 22nd July
Monday to Saturday between 10am – 5pm.
Welcome!

The Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition has travelled to its third venue in Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown, Northern Ireland. This time the core of the exhibition is joined by the works of the Future Lights competition winners of years 2016 and 2017.

Future Lights is an an ambassadors programme and a part of the European Ceramics and its Dimensions project. Each year, people in the early stages of a career in ceramics from across Europe are invited to apply with their works, using their experience and creativity to respond to the theme of the year. The winners of the competition become Future Lights ambassadors and get the opportunity e.g. to showcase their work at the Ambiente trade fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Until the beginning of 2017 two competitions have been organised and therefore there are also two groups of ambassadors. In the summer 2017 the ambassadors are also a part of the Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition in Portadown.

In the Future Lights Competition 2016 the theme was to find an artistic answer to the topic of international, cultural influences in ceramics and the winners were Kate Haywood (UK), Yuka Kikumoto (UK/JP), Beth Lewis-Williams (UK), Francesca Romei (IT/UK), Kristina Rutar (SI) , Atis Šnēvelis (LV), Emily Stapleton-Jefferis (UK) and Zora Žbontar (SI). In the Future Lights Competition 2017 the theme was Incorporating the qualities of hand-crafted work into industrially produced ceramics and the winners were Karolina Bednorz (PL/IT), Rhiannon Ewing-James (IE/UK), Maria Joanna Juchnowska (PL/NO), Monika Müller (CH), Sabrina Vasulka (AR/UK) and Wendy Ward (NI). The backgrounds of the winners of 2017 differ from an artistic, to a more design-focused and to industrial education. All of them share the same passion for ceramics but at the same representing different approaches to the material.

The Future Lights ambassadors represent the future makers in the field of ceramics and therefore it’s great to have them as a part of the Shaping the Future exhibition. The competition offers the participants a great change to represent their work and can work as a stepping stone in their careers. For example Wendy Ward, 2017 Future Lights winner, has been successful also otherwise with her design series that combine the delicacy of ceramics with light, read more on Wendy Ward Lighting. Rhiannon Ewing-James, who is also part of the 2017 winners group, has works both in the Shaping the Future core exhibition and in the Future Lights section. She is also busy working as the creative producer of the British Ceramics Biennial. Maria JJ Juchnowska with her brand Mari JJ Design was selected as the only Polish designer to showcase her works at Wanted Design in New York, United States earlier this year.

Next chance to see the Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition accompanied by the Future Lights ambassadors will be in autumn 2017 at the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom. This year the theme of the Future Lights Competition was Diversity – of materials, people, methods, approaches, and cultures and the call closed on the 31st of March 2017. We’ll hear more about the participants and the new winners later this year. Stay tuned!

The exhibition is open at the Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown, Northern Ireland between June 24th and July 22nd 2017. Follow the Future Lights competition on Facebook or on the web page.

The construction of the Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition is almost finished, the exhibition will open on Friday this week in the beautiful Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown, Northern Ireland. The exhibition will be open between June 24th and July 22nd, welcome!