This exhibition features ceramicists who challenge traditional production models by repurposing discarded ceramics, embracing salvage, and assembling forms sometimes with reference to historical pottery in Wales. For most of these artists, sustainability is central to their approach and expressed in some aspect of their practice.
We are grateful to a British Council Biennial Festival Grant which funded the residency to bring the Turkish artist, Elif Ağatekin to work with Welsh artists at the studios at Nantgarw China Works near Cardiff. Famous for its short-lived porcelain production (1813-1820) Nantgarw has a much longer history of pottery production including clay smoking pipes which lasted into the twentieth century. Sally Stubbings has researched the early recipe for the porcelain body and has used this to produce her fragile vessels, metaphors for the huge kiln losses experienced in the early period. Ağatekin is noted for her sculptures based on upcycled industrial ceramics. Bonnie Grace reimagines the popular tradition of Welsh jugs assembled from cut out shapes.
Linda Norris’ installation uses glass but makes reference to blue and white ceramics and popular domestic display. As does Paul Scott, known for his manipulation of blue and white transferware, subverting familiar patterns to highlight contemporary political, environmental, and social issues. He also references historic methods of mending using staples, glue and the Japanese gold repair technique of kintsugi. The gold in the repair re-values a piece of broken ceramic. Now a popular craft technique, Nishikawa Iku, a Japanese kintsugi teacher and restorer based in Oxford has developed new materials to make kintsugi more accessible globally.
Peter Bodenham’s creative process often begins by walking along the West Wales coast, where he collects ocean plastic, geological samples, and ceramic shards. Assembled into small sculptures the works give new meaning to the discarded elements.
In the studio, waste is another concern. Cleo Mussi makes mosaics from transfer-printed ceramics that would otherwise end up in landfill. Her witty and apparently light-hearted wall pieces nevertheless reflect serious issues in relation to the environment, our industrial past and human consumption. Melanie Brown includes the shavings of her porcelain pieces in her work while Polish maker Monika Patuszynska smashes discarded factory moulds and reconstructs them, allowing the liquid slip to seep into the cracks to create alternative forms.
As makers become increasingly aware of the environmental impact of working with clay, it is only fitting that artists examine how to honour the past but create ceramics with a conscience.
Mehefin 21 June – Hydref 12 October 2025
Elif Ağatekin
Peter Bodenham
Bonnie Grace
Nishikawa Iku
Cleo Mussi
Linda Norris
Sally Stubbings
Ac eraill/and others
