CPA Keynote 2025: Clare Twomey | Making Big: Pioneering the Craft of Scale

Clare Twomey examines the interplay of craft and monumental form in her practice. In this talk she will discuss projects that interrogate scale, materiality and site. From a liquid clay waterfall in a palace to a towering architectural terracotta artwork for Bond Street. There are generations of knowledge at play in these works made in ceramic factories that celebrate human skill, material challenge and contemporary thinking. These monumental works raise challenges to the perception of clay as a static material and Twomey’s role in pioneering works of scale and consequence in the realm of ceramics.

Clare Twomey is a British artist, researcher and curator. She is among the most ground-breaking and influential ceramic artists of her generation and a defining figure of the ‘expanded field’ of ceramics. Her practice encompasses site-specific installation and performance; she frequently collaborates with institutions and embraces audience participation and temporality. This artist-led exploration is located in art, ceramics and crafts practices in museums and contemporary art institutions, making original and significant contributions to knowledge in the field.