Artist Opportunities

Be part of the Biennial

For 2011, artists have been invited to submit ideas and proposals to get involved, to create new work that will be showcased in new, existing and unusual buildings and locations across the City, with a particular emphasis on the former Spode factory site in Stoke town.

OPEN SHELF

Through Open Shelf we want to showcase a range of ceramics: traditional, new to the industry, well-established, soon to be discovered, popular, familiar or never seen before.

If you are a designer, maker or a ceramics company practising in the West Midlands region, we would like you to be involved.

Criteria

• Functional ceramics – pieces must be functional and relate to eating, serving, and/or preparing food
• You must be currently practicing (living/working) in the West Midlands
• Work must have been produced in the last two years
• You can submit up to 5 pieces for exhibition and display (not all 5 pieces will necessarily be included)

Download an information pack for your registration form and important exhibition information.  Email or send your completed registration form as soon as possible as places will be limited.

FRESH

What is Fresh?

Fresh is

• A major event in the BCB calendar.
• An exhibition of new ceramic work by recent graduates of UK universities.
• Organised by the British Ceramics Biennial BCB and the National Association of Ceramics in Higher Education NACHE

Fresh will

• Promote the high quality work of graduates to a professional and public audience through a combination of visitors to the show, symposium, journal articles and reviews, an illustrated catalogue.
• Represent the range of activity of graduates within the field, which is anticipated to include work from across the ceramic spectrum, studio pottery, tableware and industrial design, figurative and abstract sculpture, installation, etc.
• Provide an invaluable launch pad for the exhibitors – through exposure, networking opportunities, BCB promotion and the connected NACHE forum.

Fresh exhibition

Venue: 

BCB Exhibition Space, former Spode factory site, Stoke Town, Stoke-on-Trent.

Dates:
30 September - 13 November 2011

Selectors and Curators:
BCB Directors, with NACHE executive

Fresh applications

All applicants must be graduates of UK higher education universities and colleges who graduated in 2010 or 2011. Applications will be considered from individuals whose primary medium is clay and whose work is based on the exploration of ceramic process.

How to apply

Download the application form.

Artists interested in this opportunity should complete the application form below and send to:

Barney Hare Duke, Co-Director, BCB at barney@britishceramicsbiennial.com, or by post to BCB Ltd., Sutherland Institute, Lightwood Road, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent ST3 5HY.

Deadline for this opportunity has now passed for 2011.

EXPLORE – RESEARCH RESPONSES

In the spirit of this year’s theme of exploration, BCB is offering five small commissions for artists to research and make a response to Stoke-on-Trent, its heritage, its communities and its industry; to explore, challenge and work with its materials, processes and products.

We are looking for artists to engage with the City from July 2011, with a view to their outcomes being presented within the Biennial programme on the former Spode site from October 2011.

The deadline for this opportunity has now passed for 2011.

AWARD

The centrepiece of the festival programme is the BCB Ceramic Awards exhibition.

BCB has invited applications from across all sectors of the industry for the BCB Awards 2011 – a prestigious scheme that celebrates the energy and innovation of contemporary British ceramics, in the context of its long history in Stoke-on-Trent. The BCB Awards will focus on creativity, innovation and achievement, with a total cash award of £10,000, across three categories:

1. Art: one-off ceramics, ideas, installations
2. Craft: studio production
3. Design: ceramic design for production

The deadline for this opportunity has now passed for 2011.