PRIMAL
CELEBRATING CLAY
Madeleine Child, Jim Cooper, Lily Laita, Peter Lange
Scott McFarlane, Julie Ross, Susan St Lawrence
On until 16 April
Author Christina Rees writes "Artists are explorers. They have fun messing with expectation. They subvert it. Ceramic has specific connotations and rules, and artists smash them. Gleefully. It's what they do and, right now, ceramics are trending in that department. Ceramic in particular as art is still on an upswing, as a subcategory of clay as art. But the bottom line is anything can be an art material in the hands of an artist. Mayonnaise. Paper. Chalk. Ceramic is a clay process. It's what you do with it that makes it break toward either 'art' or 'craft'. Clay is truly elemental and primal, and the functional aspect has been part of human existence and survival for thousands of years. The art part (in the modern Western world) is far newer, but becoming part of our understanding of the scope of the material."
