Contemporary British Ceramics and the Influence of Sculpture

Laura Gray has a PhD in Art History from Cardiff Metropolitan University and is a freelance curator, writer and researcher specializing in contemporary art and craft, and twentieth-century sculpture.

Table of Contents



Introduction



Chapter One



Becoming Partners?



Creative Tension: Defining ceramics



Sculpture: A category in danger of collapse



The Art and Craft Divide



An Overview of the Book



Chapter Two



Monumental Matters



Monuments and the Collective Memory



Two Approaches: The logical and the abstracted monument



Ceramics in Civic Space



Wheel of Fortune: Monumentalizing Stoke-on-Trent



Making it Big: The monumental style



Chapter Three



The Numbers Game: Multi-part compositions



Do Numbers Matter?



Plane Thinking: Horizonal groups



High Rise: Stack, build, repeat



The Expressive Possibility of Repetition



Clare Twomey: Master assembler



Chapter Four



The Art of Destruction: Ceramics, Sculpture and Iconoclasm



What is Iconoclasm?



Iconoclasm and Art



Vases and Vandalism



Out of the Ordinary: Destroying domestic ware



Clay in Common



Past Imperfect: The art of transformative repair



Destruction as Cultural Critique



Please Do Not Touch: Destruction in the vitrine



Biting the hand that feeds? Iconoclasm as institutional critique



Chapter Five



Encounters: Ceramics on Show



Thinking About Exhibitions



Clay as an Authentic Material for Sculpture: The Raw and the Cooked



Ceramics and Minimalism: The New White



Ceramics Under Threat: A Secret History of Clay



Post-Studio Practice: Possibilities and Losses



Ceramics for the Home



The Separation of Art and the Home



Home Coming: Contemporary ceramics in domestic space



Domesticating the White Cube



Conclusion



Radical Plasticity



A Single Material



Workmanship



The Vessel



The Current of Influence



The Future