I wish I had bought the blue ones by Laurance Simon
Pig in red shoes is an exhibition of contemporary figurative ceramics at Newport Museum and Art Gallery, including the inaugural awarding of the £3,000 Elizabeth Wait Purchase Prize.
Pig in red shoes, curated by Melanie Brown, is the second in a series of biennial exhibitions originated by Newport Museum and Art Gallery which can be seen in the gallery from November 28, 2009 – January 16, 2010. It aims to explore the scope and diversity of contemporary ceramic practice.
In 2008 Out of the Ordinary showcased some more experimental and less traditional aspects of contemporary ceramics, and this year’s theme is the figure.
Artists showing include: Jonathan Barrett-Danes, Claire Curneen, Ann Goodfellow, Susan Hayward, Gwen Heeney, Catrin Howell, Jeremy James, Linda Kieft, Jane Muir, Anna Noel, Elaine Peto, Emma Rogers, Laurance Simon, Nichola Theakston and Meri Wells.
For the first time this exhibition includes the award of the Elizabeth Wait Purchase Prize at the official opening on Friday, November 27. The winning artist will receive £3,000 and the selected piece of work will become part of Newport’s permanent collection of contemporary ceramics.
In 1984 John Wait, the Chairman of Lipton Tea Export Limited, offered his outstanding collection of teapots to Newport Museum and Art Gallery. It comprised over 300 teapots dating from the 18th Century to the present day. Encouraged in this venture by his wife Elizabeth Wait, they subsequently donated this extraordinary collection to the Museum in 1986.
The exhibition’s curator, Melanie Brown will be giving Gallery tours of the exhibition for students on Tuesday December 2 and Wednesday, December 9 at 2pm.
On each of these days and at other, currently unscheduled, times the ceramist, Gwen Heeney will be working in the gallery on a large scale sculptural project in clay.
This exhibition and the Newport Museum and Art Gallery is funded by Arts Council of Wales.
