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Showing posts with label ceramics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ceramics. Show all posts

Friday, 25 April 2025

ArtWay - “Giving identity to forms” – an interview with Márta Jakobovits

My latest interview for ArtWay is with ceramic artist Márta Jakobovits:

"I gravitate toward deep, intuitive approaches that bring visual and mental peace. I believe everyone’s life is a pilgrimage, a journey full of ups and downs. Artists have the ability to translate that journey, making it visible, audible, or readable, depending on their medium."

For more on Márta Jakobovits see here and here. A solo exhibition by Márta Jakobovits, in collaboration with Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery, is at The Liszt Institute (17-19 Cockspur Street, London SW1Y 5BL) from 2 May - 30 May 2025.

My other writing for ArtWay can be found at https://www.artway.eu/authors/jonathan-evens. This includes church reports, interviews, reviews and visual meditations.

ArtWay.eu has been hailed "a jewel in the crown of work in Christianity and the arts," and having come under the custodianship of the Kirby Laing Centre, the much-loved publication has entered an exciting new chapter in its story following the launch of a new website in September 2024.

Since its founding, ArtWay has published a rich library of materials and resources for scholars, artists, art enthusiasts and congregations concerned about linking art and faith. Founded by Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker in 2009, ArtWay's significance is reflected in its designation as UNESCO digital heritage material in the Netherlands.

In 2018, I interviewed ArtWay founder Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker for Artlyst on the legacy of ArtWay itself.



In the video above, the ArtWay team recounts the history of this much-loved resource and looks ahead to an exciting future for ArtWay.

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Amazing Blondel - Benedictus Es Domine.
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Friday, 4 April 2025

Church Times - Art review: Marta Jakobovits and Anderson Borba: Harvest (Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery, Deptford)

My latest exhibition review for Church Times is on Marta Jakobovits and Anderson Borba: Harvest at Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery:

'"Jakobovits adopts a meditative and prayerful approach to creation and displays her work in ways that encourage contemplation in the viewer."'

For more on Marta Jacobovits - see here and here.

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here. My writing for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Artlyst are here, those for Seen & Unseen are here, and those for Art+Christianity are here.

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NEEDTOBREATHE - Carry Me.

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Monday, 6 January 2025

Artlyst: January Art Diary

My January Art Diary for Artlyst is a review of upcoming exhibitions in 2025 which highlights the work of major ceramicists, major artists exploring the influence of Vincent Van Gogh (and Post-Impressionism more generally), plus exhibitions exploring themes of environment and identity:

" Viewing art, as with its making, involves paying attention. As Simone Weil once pointed out, paying attention equates to prayer. A new exhibition at Fitzrovia Chapel explores these themes. It is, therefore, a very appropriate beginning to a review of upcoming exhibitions in 2025, where each exhibition listed will reward the paying of sustained attention, enabling entry to a state of contemplation and even contemplative prayer."

For more on Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone (artists included in this diary) see here, here, here, here, and here.

My other pieces for ArtLyst are:

Interviews -
Monthly diary articles -
Articles/Reviews -
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Joy Oladokun - AM I?
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Sunday, 20 August 2023

George Morl: Electrum Spektrum


‘Electrum Spektrum’ is an installation at Chelmsford Museum by Basildon born artist George Morl. The installation has grown from a series of projects and evolving conversations with students in Cornwall and Essex. It features artworks by Morl and the students, and work from their collaborative collection of art. The works trace the evolution of social and technological networks and reflect on conversations about their experiences of online spaces.

Since 2020 Morl has been working in partnership with students from Elm Class, Nancealverne School in Penzance as well as support centres in Essex: two regions linked by the development of wireless radio. This ongoing collaboration has also explored fiction in gaming and art, the development of communication history, as well as creating artwork and their own workshops.

In 2022 they began to build an art collection together centred on the needs of disabled people and encompassing a broad range of sensory engagements. They have acquired artworks by artists such as Grayson Perry with the selection based on their own interests and accessibility needs.

Earlier this year at St Andrew's Wickford Morl spoke about their experience as collector and in an exhibition called New Town, New Collection showed work by Grayson Perry, Elsa James, Madge Gill, Rosie Hastings & Hannah Quinlan, Uma Breakdown, as well as a selection of their own work. Through founding a collection which reflects on the communal legacies of New Towns, Plotlands, and the possibility of human connections across the virtual world, Morl visions a future art collection centring support. In their talk Morl shared the joy of acquiring art, and motivations for building a collection to share for others.

Morl identifies with Perry’s use of imagination and construction of identity in his art, and sees parallels with using virtual spaces as a young person. It was Perry’s work that inspired Morl to study art at South Essex College in 2013.

A selection of works by Perry can be seen in the Ceramics Gallery at Chelmsford Museum. These include the 'Chelmsford Sissies' pot, the 'Julie Tile', the limited-edition print ‘England as seen from Lockdown in Islington’, which was created in 2021 during the Channel 4 series ‘Grayson’s Art Club’, and an 'Untitled' drawing depicting a hybrid of rural and urban Essex – a unique portrait of Perry’s hometown of Chelmsford.

Also to be seen at Chelmsford Museum is Behind the Rainbow, a collection of personal stories and experiences from the LGBTQ+ community, showing the creativity, complexity, and humanity of its members. This exhibition recognises the relationship between self-expression and identity and invites visitors to connect and empathise with the people behind the stories. 

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Joy Oladokun - Keeping The Light On.
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Saturday, 19 August 2023

Exhibition: Theatrical Ceramics by David Millidge

 







'Theatrical Ceramics' by David Millidge, 18-26 August 2023, Hyde Hall. 

David Millidge produces unique ceramic sculptures and installations using a combination of slip-casting and thrown forms. He is experimental with layering glazes and wax-resist techniques, although many of his effects are created solely with coloured clays.

This is the second solo exhibition of ceramic art created by artist David Millidge. Head to The Hilltop Lodge to discover a carefully curated exhibition of stunning pieces inspired by architecture, films, fashion and culture. This diverse collection draws you into a fantasy world and includes vessels, modular abstract sculpture and figurative work, which brings mannequins to life.

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The Strawbs - Benedictus.
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Thursday, 10 August 2023

Exhibitions by artists from Wickford and Billericay

'ADHD HYPER FIXATION and Why it looks like I love Pedro Pascal' is an exhibition by Wickford artist Heidi Gentle Burrell. 3 June - 1 September at The Rhodes Gallery in Upmargate, The Centre in Margate.

Whether it be her Kryptonite or her super power, ADHD hyper fixation certainly makes for an interesting life. This exhibition is a sneak peek into Heidi’s brain and what it looks like to have ADHD and how it effects her life and art. The exhibition has been visited by Hollywood star Pedro Pascal.

'George Morl: Electrum Spektrum', 17 August 2023 to 14 January 2024, Chelmsford Museum.

‘Electrum Spektrum’ is an installation by Basildon born artist George Morl, who lives in Wickford. The installation has grown from a series of projects and evolving conversations with students in Cornwall and Essex. It features artworks by Morl and the students, and features work from their collaborative collection of art. The works trace the evolution of social and technological networks and reflect on conversations about their experiences of online spaces.

'Theatrical Ceramics' by David Millidge, 18-26 August 2023, Hyde Hall.

This summer at RHS Garden Hyde Hall, immerse yourself in the second solo exhibition of ceramic art created by artist David Millidge. Head to The Hilltop Lodge to discover a carefully curated exhibition of stunning pieces inspired by architecture, films, fashion and culture. This diverse collection draws you into a fantasy world and includes vessels, modular abstract sculpture and figurative work, which brings mannequins to life.

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Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down The Crazy River.
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Sunday, 13 November 2022

Artlyst - A Question Of Clay: Strange Clay – Hayward Gallery


‘Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in ceramics from artists and the public, from the popularity of The Great Pottery Throw Down to Theaster Gates’ The Question of Clay, a multi-institution project in 2021-22 across Whitechapel Gallery, Serpentine and the V&A that investigated the making, labour and production of clay, as well as its collecting history. Now, the Hayward Gallery gives us 23 international artists who stretch the medium itself, going beyond vessels into assemblage, sculpture and installation while examining the plasticity and possibilities of ceramics. As the exhibition’s curator, Dr Cliff Lauson, notes, by using “innovative methods and techniques”, these artists “push the medium to its physical and conceptual limits.”'

See also my November diary for Artlyst which covers Look and See, an exhibition by ceramicist Marta Jakobovits and also my review of Theaster Gates' A Clay Sermon at Whitechapel Gallery.

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -


Articles/Reviews -
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Bap Kennedy - Please Return To Jesus.
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Thursday, 7 July 2022

Gift to the City: A Passion Art Project

Passion Art is launching a massive hidden art trail in Manchester to remind us we are not alone.

During the last two weeks in July, two artists, ceramicist Rachel Ho, and artist and designer Micah Purnell will leave 240 beautiful ‘gifts to the city’ to find, to remind us to embrace our stories of loss and self-worth.

18 July - 29 July

www.gifttothecity.org

Hidden in the nooks and crannies of the city centre, the two artists will leave 120 Kintsugi pots and 120 You Are Enough oak engravings which the public are invited to find, and keep them as gifts. The art will be placed on the streets of Manchester between the 18th-29th July.

Rachel Ho (https://rachelho2020.wixsite.com/rachelhoceramics) is a ceramicist, who has exhibited nationally including London. Her work is inspired by Kintsugi, an ancient Japanese method of mending broken pottery with gold, resulting in more beautiful and precious pots. Rachel explains “The pots symbolise the fragility of our lives, the scars are then filled with gold lustre; expressing the mystery of new beginnings and new life even in our deepest pain. They pots represent all our stories of loss and reflect the beauty of hope, healing and renewal. I am drawn to clays delicate nature. My aim is to make work that evokes a sense of beauty and mystery. Just as ancient pots have told stories for thousands of years, I aim to use my pots to tell stories of healing.”

Micah Purnell (www.micahpurnell.com), whose clients include The Guardian, Elbow and the NHS, is a text based artist who has exhibited in group shows alongside Turner prize winner Douglas Gordan and global street artist JR. The award-winning artist and designer, renowned for his typographic work that took over Wembley Park during the Euros works to bring the humanities to public spaces. His well known phrase ‘You are Enough’ has appeared across the city over the last few years as giant banners and billboards. He says ‘My work is a lot about togetherness and self-worth. The oak reminders are made by Chapel-in-the-fields who use wood as a vehicle to work with people who have mental health vulnerabilities. I hope the phrase You Are Enough will help people to cut themselves some slack from the ever demanding voices in society and recognise the spark of beauty in themselves.”

Each gift will be accompanied by an invite to share anonymously how the artworks resonated with those who find them at www.gifttothecity.org where you’ll be able to read stories of difficulty and hope as the artworks are found.

The Passion Art project, entitled ‘Gift to the City’, is dedicated to founder Lesley Sutton, who, after five years of living with terminal illness, is drawing very close to the end of this life. Lesley founded Passion Art to build bridges between sacred and secular spaces through art. She is as beautiful in dying as she has been in living.

The project aims to help people feel seen and less alone, to recognise we all have our daily battles and to create a sense of hope and healing.

Rachel Ho: https://rachelho2020.wixsite.com/rachelhoceramics

Micah Purnell: 07990 533 749 www.micahpurnell.com



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Manchester Orchestra - I Know How To Speak.
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Tuesday, 19 October 2021

Artlyst: Theaster Gates - Clay As A Profound Metaphor

My latest review for Artlyst is of Theaster Gates' 'A Clay Sermon' at the Whitechapel Gallery:

"In the beginning, there was clay. Clay was without form. Thus begins Theaster Gates’ ‘A Clay Sermon’, a film combining music, images, and words to paint a picture of the limitless potential of clay and working with Clay. No wonder the Judeo-Christian scriptures view clay as a profound metaphor for the relationship between a creative God and a co-creating humanity.

Gates’ exhibition combines history with art, religion and culture, the past with the present, that which is oppressive with that which is liberating, the improvisatory and the planned, chance and design; while using a huge diversity of media as artist, craftsperson, curator, designer, entrepreneur, historian, musician, priest/shaman, researcher, and social analyst. Featuring ceramic objects, sculptures, installations, film, and studio materials from the past two decades, this exhibition considers both the material and spiritual legacies of clay."

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Articles -

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Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi Live Performance
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