Mayo maker featured in Land/Marks exhibition presented by Design & Crafts Council Ireland
Design & Crafts Council Ireland is currently presenting Land/Marks, the fourth in Ceramics Ireland’s triennial exhibition series.
Open now, it will continue until Saturday, May 20, at the National Craft & Design Gallery, Co. Kilkenny.
Land/Marks celebrates the diverse range and breadth of contemporary ceramic work being created by makers from Ireland.
Among the makers featured is Jennifer Hickey from Mayo, along with Barra Cassidy from Sligo and Claire McLaughlin from Galway.
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 McDonald (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), while 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.
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.
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.”