The New and Emerging Makers Competition began in 2011. It is an opportunity for UK potters and artists working with clay, who have graduated within the past five years, to exhibit their work at the International Ceramics Festival 2023.
The winner of the Potclays and ICF New and Emerging Maker Award 2023 will be selected based on their full submission, the work they display during the ICF weekend and their presentation at the ICF 2023 – the visiting public will also be able to contribute towards the voting. The winner will receive a £200 voucher for supplies at Potclays LTD.
Sponsored by Potclays
EMERGING MAKERS 2023
WINNER – Rhiannon Gwyn
My practice explores the deep connections humans have to place and landscape. I’m interested in how materials can act as identity markers; influencing the way in which we view ourselves and the world around us through the imprinting of emotion and memory onto our surroundings.
This involves exploring the full potential of slate by incorporating it with ceramic processes to create objects that depict forms of the land as part of a circular process whereby I have been personally shaped by my surrounding landscape form and shape its raw materials. A process of sculpting the materials that have sculpted me.
These features are reflected in the shapes of the melted slate through high firing and in the patterns and colours of the ceramics created through glazes made from materials collected from the land such as slate and the gorse flower.
https://www.rhiannongwyn.com Instagram: @rhiannongwyn.maker
Stefanie Smith
I am a Canadian-born artist presently based in Cardiff. I recently completed my Masters in Ceramics and Maker with distinction from Cardiff Metropolitan University (2022) and am a Graduate in Residence at Fireworks Clay Studios. I have participated in a number of group exhibitions since completing my degree, including the Portal graduate exhibition at Llantarnum Grange, and open exhibitions at Turner House, Atelier by the Sea, and Cupola Gallery.
My work explores the stories we tell and the impact they have on our idea of Self. I am curious how repetitive telling changes our relationship to our own history. Why do we chose the stories we do? What happens if we release certain stories in exchange for others? If we distill them down to their barest parts—will they be more or less effective in creating connection?
Exploring these questions, I look to my own history and memories. I use figurative sculpture along with the tools and mechanisms of myth-telling as a way of disseminating these stories and increasing awareness of how these tellings impact my identity and connection with others.
Increasingly, I also explore the speci fic myths that are imbedded within our culture; the stories we know without knowing how we know them. Delving into their origins, I examine whether broadening my understanding and relationship to these stories can effect my experience of who I am within this culture. I am curious, can reframing these endlessly retold stories help to make sense of who we are in the world today?
http://www.stefaniesmithceramics.com Instagram: @smithceramics
Jean White
My ceramics practice began as a creative outlet at evening classes. This combined with a passion for bird watching led to me start drawing birds onto clay and to complete an MA Design: Craft at MMU in 2021. I have now committed to ceramics. Most of my career had been as a freelance illustrator working mainly for own brand clients. My drawings are used to carve and model my images in clay. I make my own plaster moulds and slip cast in either porcelain or parian clay. My current work highlights the existential threats to British bird life referencing the traditional processes of Wedgwood’s Jasperware, combining sprigged work with clean contemporary shapes. There is a recognised decline in a number of British bird species and I aim to raise awareness of the conservation status of these birds through my work. The visual similarity of fossils to ceramic sprigs helps to inform the work moulding both convex and concave imagery to echo fossils. This creates a metaphor for the threat to birds’ existence, conveying the presence of the threatened species, but also their potential absence. My current collection is titled ‘Future Fossils’ and has been awarded the Franz Rising Star Award Top Award 2020/21, the international porcelain prize for early career ceramicists working in porcelain.
https://www.jeanwhiteceramics.co.uk/ Instagram: @jeanwhiteceramics
Anastassia Zamaraeva
Anastassia Zamaraeva is a sculptural ceramic artist based in Manchester, UK. Originally from Russia, her family relocated to Canada when she was 6 years old. This was where she was first introduced to clay. As an adult, Anastassia took a detour away from ceramics. She completed a BA in Architecture and worked in the profession for several years. In 2018, Anastassia eased back into clay and began working in the social care field. This dual drive to express through art making and help others lead her to undertaking an MA in Art Psychotherapy, which she is due to complete in July 2023.
Over the last three years, Anastassia has advanced her practice in her home studio. Working in isolation helped develop her inward gaze, making her sculptures intensely personal explorations. Anastassia has grown an international group of collectors and has exhibited in a number of group shows around the UK. Her study of art psychotherapy has had a profound influence on her work, which now rests on the meeting point of art and art therapy. She uses clay to explore her inner world as well as our collective unconscious, making the work deeply personal yet relatable. For Anastassia, the draw of clay is in its innate ability to connect us to our unconscious and past experiences of touch. Her work, led by intuition and a sense of play, explores the multifaceted experience of being human; with all its melancholy, discomfort and humour. The forms encourage the viewer to draw on their own experience to make meaning of the work.
http://www.azamaceramics.co.uk Instagram: @a_zama_ceramics
*****
The Submission process [closed 30 April 2023]
The four finalists will be asked to bring a selection of their work to participate in the New and Emerging Maker’s exhibition during the weekend. All finalists will be given a weekend ticket and accommodation at the International Ceramics Festival 2023. All finalists will have a profile on the ICF website and we recommend they also have a website or blog to link to. All four finalists will continue to receive support from the ICF in terms of publicising their activities across ICF social media in the interim Festival year at least.
The winner of the Potclays and ICF New and Emerging Maker Award 2023 will be selected based on their full submission and the work they display during the ICF weekend – the visiting public will also be able to contribute towards the voting.
The winner will receive a £200 voucher for supplies at Potclays LTD, an interview published on the Potclays website, a framed certificate and ongoing social and digital media support e.g. on request, press releases for their news and events published in their monthly email newsletter and social shares. The winner will also receive a ticket to ICF 2025 with accommodation provided.
Applicants:
Applicants must be over 18 years of age and based in the UK. They must have graduated from a UK university or institute of Higher Education within the past 5 years, this includes students who will graduate by July 2023.
The selection is based on the following criteria:
The Application Process:
Please provide the Festival administrator with:
Deadline for submissions is 30th April 2023.
Submit you application via email with the title Potclays and ICF 2023 New and Emerging Makers Award in the subject field to:
Cat Gardiner
Email: administrator@icfwales.co.uk
The Selection Process:
Once all applications for the competition have been received the ICF selection panel will select the finalists. The selection panel will be made up of Potclays representatives and ICF Directors.
Timeline:
March 2023: Emerging Makers Award applications open
30th April 2023: Closing date for applications for Emerging Makers Award
13th May 2023: Four Makers chosen to exhibit at the festival
2nd July 2023: Award winner selected at Festival (30th June – 2nd July 2023)
This award is supported by Potclays LTD and the Arts Council of Wales.
