Kildare artist to feature in national ceramic exhibition

Ceramic maker Niamh Harte from Kildare will feature in Land/Marks, the fourth in Ceramics Ireland’s triennial exhibition series, which runs until Saturday, May 20 at the National Craft & Design Gallery, Co Kilkenny.

Design & Crafts Council Ireland is presenting a diverse range and breadth of contemporary ceramic work being created by makers from Ireland.

The exhibition includes a variety of sculptural forms, functional vessels and installation-based works that explore and challenge the material clay, investigating its malleability and pushing its boundaries. An independent expert panel selected 42 makers for this iteration of the triennial series, which celebrates the craftsmanship and skills of these contemporary practitioners. The selected group includes both emerging and established makers. The selectors for the 2023 exhibition were Frances Mc Donald (consultant, writer and project manager working across the art, craft and design sectors); Hélène Bremer (Dutch art historian and curator) and Neil Read (ceramic artist); and Elaine Riordan and Tina Byrne curated the exhibition.

Ceramics Ireland launched Land/Marks in Farmleigh Gallery in August of 2020. Covid delayed the planned transition to Italy, but in September 2022 a capsule collection of the exhibition Land/Marks travelled to Argillà Italia - International Ceramics Festival and Market Fair, Faenza. Ireland was featured as the guest country.

Speaking about the launch, Rosemary Steen, CEO of Design & Crafts Council Ireland, said: “Design & Crafts Council Ireland is honoured to be part of Land/Marks and host the Ceramics Ireland exhibition at the National Design & Crafts Gallery in Kilkenny. I was delighted to witness the reception the exhibition received at Argillà Italia in Faenza and am confident that it will continue to travel to many more galleries around the world, showcasing the huge talent of Ireland’s ceramic designers and makers.”

Elaine Riordan, Chair of Ceramics Ireland said: “We feel that having created a selected exhibition with a competitive application, it has set the bar high and succeeded in driving the standard of contemporary Irish ceramic practice to new heights. Irish ceramic makers having earned their place on the international scene.”

Hélène Bremer, Selector for the Land/Marks Exhibition, said: “I am delighted to be a part of the selection panel for Land/Marks and celebrate the opening at the National Craft & Design Gallery. Ireland excels in making the most wonderful ceramics in any desirable form.”

Claudia Casali, Director of Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche MIC, Faenza Italy, said: “The Land / Marks exhibition is a fantastic overview of Irish ceramic production. A great variety of poetic, thematic forms and techniques is expressed and it gives you the idea of the extraordinary potentiality ceramics has today in Ireland. When it was exhibited last September in Faenza (Italy), the public was enthusiastic: it was the best tribute the Festival Argillà ever received in response to the guest country.”

Featured makers in 2023 include: Alison Brent, Frances Brosnan, Cathy Burke, Yasha Butler, Anne Butler, Mike Byrne, Tina Byrne, Mark Campden, Barra Cassidy, Sophie Kate Curran, Jack Doherty, Chloë Dowds, Isobel Egan, Áine Farrelly, Sara Flynn, Adam Frew, Niamh Harte, Jennifer Hickey, Jane Jermyn, Andrea Kavanagh, Alison Kay, Simon Kidd, Michael Kobuladze, Nanette Ledwith, Antonio Julio López Castro, Aisling McElwain, Christopher McHugh, Claire McLaughlin, Deirdre McLoughlin, Kathleen Moroney, Lucy Morrow, Kate O'Kelly, Liselott Olofsson, Mandy Parslow, Elizabeth Petcu, Elaine Riordan, Sarah Roseingrave, Alex Scott, Jane Seymour, Vicki Sutherland, Eleanor Swan, Gráinne Watts.

Land/Marks is produced by Ceramics Ireland and supported by strategic partners Design & Crafts Council Ireland, Office of Public Works and Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche (MIC) Faenza, Italy.