The 4th World Ceramic Biennale 2007, South Korea

Abstract

The 4th World Ceramic Biennale 2007 Korea was an international competition. Shaw entered, and was selected for the category of ‘ceramics for use’ as one of twelve artists representing the UK. Three bowls made in black basalt clay were exhibited. Although ‘the bowl’ has been the essential form in her work for twenty years, this was the first time she had considered it within the category of ‘ceramics for use’. The question therefore was how to translate her established canon of form and colour to suit this category. Interpreting utility in a broad sense, Shaw chose black basalt clay as the base material and the form of three nested bowls as the basic form for this inquiry. In search of a formal-aesthetic translation, Shaw developed linear and block colour patterns, which interact across the three forms to create a relational composition that works as a group as well as individual bowls.