BEAUTY: Ceramics--Pierre Williams

The mash-up sensibility of ceramicist Pierre Williams is wonderful. His figures are tattooed with a mix of classic blue and white Delft china patterns, chintz-like florals, modernist stripes, and stunning gold and silver metallic glazes.

http://www.pierrewilliamsceramics-art.com/index.htm

BEAUTY: Ceramics--Dirk Staschke

The food-centric work of ceramicist Dirk Staschke is multi-layered: beautiful but full of meaning.

On his website, Staschke says:
"In the studio I arrange shape and form, creating opportunities for light and shadow (and perhaps wealth). These arrangements are informed by the mundane ritual of eating that is long celebrated in ceramics. Unlike the potter whose empty dishes present an opportunity, my settings come prearranged as opulent, inedible meals that are simultaneously beautiful and disgusting. In this process, sustenance becomes merely a concept forever locked in its sculptural form and eating becomes a metaphor for excessive material consumption.

Like an extravagant meal, the arrangements we make to further our desires can come with painful unintended consequences. My recent body of work explores notions of gluttony and cultural excess."

Top to bottom: Bounty; Swan Song; Consuming Allegory; Propagation; Confectional Facade; Wishing Well, Knowing Otherwise; Cataclysm

http://www.artdirk.com/

BEAUTY: Ceramic--Johnson Tsang

Ceramicist Johnson Tsang creates lovely, whimsical pieces that look like liquid, not ceramic! In fact, he was awarded Grand Prize at the 2012 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale for his humorous and unexpected piece Splash of Wonder seen below in the final four images.

The liquid in the piece above is actually stainless steel as Tsang wanted a material that would look even more like liquid!

Top to bottom:Yuanyang; three views of Yuanyang 2; four views of Splash of Wonder

http://johnsontsang.wordpress.com/#

BEAUTY: Ceramics--Penny Byrne

Penny Byrne has a degree in Fine Art Ceramics but also a degree in Ceramics and Glass Conservation and Restoration which aids her in her work of salvaging fragments and remnants of broken antiquated ceramic figures from the early to mid-twentieth century. She manipulates these bits and bobs into startlingly relevant social and political statements critiquing war, inequity, the continued oppression of women, the danger of nuclear disaster (whether accidental or through war), our obsession with sex and guns, and Sarah Palin who deserves to be critiqued and satirized until all our cities are flooded from global climate change! Or better yet, let's just forget her--most of us who are concerned with reality already have.

Top to bottom: Five Minutes To Midnight; Fukushima Symphony; Gitmo Bay Souvenirs. Closing Down Sale, All Stock Must Go!; I heart USA; The only difference between Sarah Palin and a pit bull is lipstick; War On Terror Waltz; Where's My Vote?; Keep young and beautiful, if you want to be loved

I can't find a dedicated website for Penny Byrne, but she is represented by Sullivan and Strumpf Gallery in Sydney.
http://sullivanstrumpf.com/artists/byrne-penny/

BEAUTY: Ceramics--Christopher David White

I admire artists who work hard at making a medium look like something it is not, like photo realist oil painters, or in this case, a ceramicist who makes his work look like wood. Faux bois is an old tradition dating back many centuries, and surely the work of Christopher David White must be its pinnacle. His work is not only an illusion--it must be painstaking work getting wet clay to look like dried wood grain--but also, like any good piece of art, it begins a narrative for the viewer. For example, in his piece Communication Barrier below, he places a tiny satellite dish in a rotting and fungus covered piece of wood. In Cycle of Decay, we see a crumbling brick cottage gently resting in the palm of an anthropomorphic wooden hand.

His artist statement begins with a lovely quote from Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chodron:
“That nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence. It is the ordinary state of affairs. Everything is in process. Everything—every tree, every blade of grass, all the animals, insects, human beings, buildings, the animate and the inanimate—is always changing, moment to moment.”

He ties this idea into his own work by noting, "Like Chodron... I believe that change is evident in nearly every aspect of our daily lives and comes in numerous forms... Through the use of trompe l’oeil, we look closer; we rediscover the amazement, joy, and tranquility that come from our environment. At the same time, we witness our impermanence by evenhandedly dialing in on decay. Neither good nor bad, decay is simply a natural process of our world that at times can produce deeply moving and beautiful effects."

Above: Communication Barrier

Above: Cycle of Decay

Above: Two views of Unknown 2

He also creates fantastic faux bois teapots that, while being fully functional, are magnificent examples of his craft. Look at this lichen covered pot...

http://www.christopherdavidwhite.com/