New York notes, so long overdue it's not even funny.

This post from the magpie & whiskyjack blog took me right back to the MAD in New York last September, 2009.

Contemporary ceramics was so not in my consciousness that it may well have not existed. Not on my radar at all. In fact the only reason I singled out the Museum of Art and Design was because it was formerly known as the American Craft Museum.

I went mostly because they have a whole floor (at the time) dedicated to contemporary jewelry. 'nuff said.

But I had my mind blown before I even got near the jewelry, when I entered the ceramic exhibit.

Ex-squeeze me? did you just embroider a ceramic cup??? Yeah - you did.

Or how about if you took a whole bunch of old porcelain plates, (you know, those vaguely Dutch ones your grandma had) and stacked them up and then laser cut some of the shapes out? Hmmmm? How would that look? The photos on Caroline Slotte's web site aren't even close to doing these objet d'art justice - they were absolutley stunning when viewed in person.

More awesomeness below from Edyta Cieloch

And then there's Mark Cecula - love his explanation for the work.
Quote; "based on modern technologies of production. In reaction to this fact I chose to reverse the conventional process of creating ceramic object; ready-made industrial china was subjected to the individual destructive process, which was design to inject randomness into standardized production." End quote. YEAH!