Ceramic Review talks @ CAL

Ceramic Review magazine presents a specially curated selection of talks for CAL 2025.

Entry to the talks theatre is included with your ticket but please note seating is unreserved and limited to 230 per session. Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive in good time to secure a spot. Unfortunately due to technical reasons, we are currently unable to live stream the talks.

Talks programme curated by Karen Bray for Ceramic Review and Preston Fitzgerald. With thanks to Victoria Jardine for her help and support.

 

Friday 9th May - 11:00 am - Figurative Ceramics Today

Contemporary figurative ceramics manifest themselves in many ways. Collector and curator Preston Fitzgerald discusses the genre with ceramic artists Enrique Perez Alba-Red and Fernanda Cortes revealing the influences and motivations behind their work.

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Friday 9th May - 12:30 pm - Exploring Identities

Christopher Turrell and Simon Dredge talk about how their queer identity is reflected in their work, aiming to help shape cultural understanding of the LGBT community and honouring the resilience and evolution of gay history.

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Friday 9th May - 2:30 pm - History Repeating…

Stephen Dixon reveals the research behind his latest project Credenza exhibited at Collect 2025. The installation questions the use of artificial intelligence in contemporary visual culture using Renaissance-type objects.

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Friday 9th May - 4:00 pm - Narratives in Clay

An exploration of storytelling through clay and illustrations, uncovering mythology, memory and imagination. Artists Katy Stubbs and Benjamin Phillips discuss their recent County Hall Pottery exhibition with curator Alex Simpson.

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Saturday 10th May - 11:00 am - 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.

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Saturday 10th May - 12:30 pm - Jacqui Ramrayka – Brown Sugar/White Gold

Jacqui focusses on clay’s ability to transcend cultural barriers. She explains more about her recent exhibition and residency at the V&A, which responded in part to several ‘clay and conversation’ workshops she held there, at MoMA, New York, and Gardiner Museum Toronto.

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Saturday 10th May - 2:30 pm - Ceramics and Performance: Powerful Expressions in Clay

Ceramics and performance are not obvious bedfellows. Or are they? Ashley Thorpe discusses how ceramics perform in different forms and contexts. He begins by looking at the use of ceramics in performance art and scenographic installation.

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Saturday 10th May - 4:00 pm - Conceptual Ceramics

Juliana Cavaliero from Cavaliero Finn, Marijke Varrall-Jones from Maak Contemporary Ceramics and ceramic artist Phoebe Cummings discuss the relationship between artist, gallery and auction house with journalist and curator Corinne Julius.

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Sunday 11th May - 11:00 am - Figurative Women

In this talk four female ceramic artists who create distinctive female forms – Jemma Gowland, Sharon Griffin, Sally MacDonell and Alison Coaten – share the inspiration and making processes behind their practice.

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Sunday 11th May - 12:30 pm - Jennifer Lucy Allan in conversation with Isabella Smith

Archaeology, history and Jennifer’s lived experience as an amateur potter are blended in Clay: A Human History, her love letter to the material that illuminates the way we make and create, live and die. Isabella and Jennifer unravel the themes of the book in more detail

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Sunday 11th May - 2:30 pm - The Power of Clay

Clare Wood and Jo Mills from the British Ceramics Biennial and Neale Graham and Dave Partington from FiredUp4 discuss how both charities work with progressive education and health models using clay to foster wellbeing and empower young people.

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