British Artists Take Top Honors at European Triennial

Anna Dickinson, Red Cut Vessel with Silver and Steel Liner, 2009. Blown glass, cut, solid silver liner over oxidized mild steel liner. photo: alan tabor

Of all the artists participating in the second edition of the European Triennial for Ceramics and Glass, two British artists caught the eyes of the jury. Ceramicist Katharine Morling was awarded the Triennial’s highest honor, the Wallonia-Brussels French Community Prize (Prix de la Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles), and glass artist Anna Dickinson received the jury’s special honorary mention.

Presented by the World Crafts Council – Belgique Francophone (WCC-BF) and taking place in Mons, Belgium, the Triennial aims to raise awareness of the two art forms as well as to facilitate dialogue between Belgian artists and their counterparts in other European countries. This year’s guest countries are Spain and the United Kingdom. British potter Julian Stair curated the UK exhibition; he selected ten ceramic and glass artists, including Dickinson, Kate Maestri, Jessica Lloyd-Jones, and Keiko Mukaide.

Kate Maestri, Untitled, 2010. Glass, ceramic enamel, screen printed ceramic enamel. photo: Nick Moss

Dickinson’s Red Cut Vessel with Silver and Steel Liner (2009) reflects the artist’s continued interest in the container or vessel form. Composed of two metal liners inside a layer of cut blown glass, the piece is more sculptural than functional; this is augmented by the vessel’s relatively small size (Dickinson makes most of her vessels at less than ten inches in height). The angular latticework on the glass contrasts nicely from the meditative qualities suggested by the piece’s circular shape.

Jessica Lloyd-Jones, Optic Nerve, Pulse, Brain wave, 2010. Blown glass, neon, electrics. H 20.5, W 14, D 14 in for each. photo: Nick Moss

Also on view are Optic Nerve, Pulse, and Brain wave, (2010) Lloyd-Jones’ eye-catching trio of anatomical neon inspired by the natural electricity found in the human body. Electricity changes the colors of the inert gases inside the blown glass eye, heart, and brain. Optic Nerve shows the blood vessels in the eye (complete with a “lens” to magnify the effect) while the electric plasma used in Brain wave mimics the complex neurological processes carried out by the brain. The artist used still red neon gas to create Pulse, a vibrant representation of the human heart made all the more stunning by the contrast between the red neon and the blues, greens, and purples of the other two pieces. Lloyd-Jones produced this series during a Visiting Artist Fellowship at UrbanGlass in 2008.

—Grace Duggan