Ceramics Residency 2017
Modern Clay are inviting applications from early- career West Midland based artists (up to 5 years since MA, or 10 years since BA) who wish to develop their practice within ceramics.
There are 6 residencies available for 2 months, 3 artists from August to September and 3 from September to October.
Resident artists will be able to use the new, purpose- built studio Modern Clay, to experiment and make new work with clay. The studio is a shared space which can accommodate up to 12 people at one time.
Modern Clay will provide a set amount of clay and glaze as part of the residency, but it is expected the artist will purchase any additional materials. Technical help will also be provided.
It is expected that all artists using the space will contribute to the running of the studio, this includes helping in workshops, running monthly Digbeth First Friday events, and the general daily running of the studio. There is an emphasises on creating a community and contributing towards its collective knowledge.
The aims of the residency are to:
• Enable the selected practitioner to learn new skills and create new a body of work.
• Inspire public interest in creative practice and making.
• Raise the profile of contemporary ceramics in the region and build a community of like-minded artists.
• Offer professional development to the selected practitioner in public engagement and arts education.
As part of the residency, artists will have the opportunity to take part in an imaginative participatory programme to engage the public. This could include workshops, open studios and presentations of work, talks, family art activities, student projects and more.
The residency is aimed at people wanting to develop new skills as part of an artistic practice. In applications we seek interesting new ideas for experimentation with clay. Selections will be made based on the potential of your ideas over work already produced.
Dates: August to October 2017
Resident artist fee: £850
Deadline: Sunday 9 July 2017
To Apply
• Send a CV including your address during the residency period (only artists based in the West Midlands during this time will be eligible)
• Up to 10 images of your work or a link to audio visual material.
• A short statement detailing why you want to work at Modern Clay, your approach and ideas for making work during the residency.
Please email application as a PDF file to with the subject “Ceramics Residency 2017”
About Modern Clay
Modern Clay is a studio project run by Mark Essen it provides a studio facility for the production of ceramics. It is accessible for artists, local community and charitable groups and artistic educational projects. The studio will also develop a new programme of artistic opportunities for West Midlands artists.
The studio is greatly influenced by John Ruskin and the Ruskin Pottery of Smethwick, which ran from 1898 to 1935. The pottery was set up by Edward R. Taylor, who was also the first head of The Birmingham School of Art, 1877–1903. He adopted many of 19th century critic John Ruskin’s philosophies in the running of the pottery.
One of the aims of Modern Clay is to adopt and adapt the philosophy of John Ruskin and Ruskin Pottery to see what an artists’ studio can provide for society. The value of the studio is a political and economic theory of social organisation. This is practiced by means of production, distribution, and exchange, which is owned and managed by the users; they control their own productive process.
17 Minerva Works,
Fazeley Street,
B5 5RT
www.modernclay.org
