THE COLOURS OF MUSIC AND THE VOCABULARY OF CERAMICS

We commonly talk of the five senses, but there are more than five.  As well as sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch there are the senses of balance, temperature, the spatial sense that enables you to know where your foot is when your eyes are closed and the sense of time that enables you to know what time it is when you wake up in the dark.   But how do you describe what you experience through your senses?  Often an experience in one sense has to be described in terms of another – and this is not  confined to people with synaesthesia.  How do you describe a smell  to someone who hasn't experienced it before (and why would you want to describe it to someone who has experienced it?)

WEDGWOOD'S "BUTTERFLY BLOOM" AND SUBVERSIVE DESIGN

Plates from Wedgwood's "Butterfly Bloom" range

Wedgwood's current design Butterfly Bloom illustrates the constant trade between artists and industry, the studio and the factory, that takes place in ceramics.

A PIECE OF BLANC DE CHINE PORCELAIN IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

On a visit to the British Museum, London, this piece of blanc de Chine porcelain caught my eye. It represents a miniature garden, a plum tree in a rectangular bowl.  Miniature gardens like this are called penjing in China, the equivalent of the Japanese bonsai.

NEW IDEAS AT CERAMIC ART LONDON

Anna Barlow's deliciously playful ceramic ice creams

Ceramic Art London, an exhibition of work by over 75 leading ceramists, was held at the Royal College of Art last weekend. The show, put on by The Craft Potters Association in partnership with Ceramic Review, has been running for several years and is one of the most important events in the ceramics calendar. Each artist's work is displayed on a stand a bit like a market stall and, although non-functional ceramics are strongly represented, there is no room for very large pieces or for installations.

For my money, these were some of the best exhibitors, whose work shows development and an engagement with new ideas.

THE ART OF OPEN DOORS, MADEIRA

Madeira, the flower island, popular with British pensioners, has gardens, volcanic scenery and a visible artistic community. The town of Funchal encourages public art and there are hideous sculptures along the marina promenade. Much more interesting is Arte Portas Abertas, the art of open doors, a recent initiative by Martinho Mendes in which residents of Funchal old town, along the Rua Santa Maria, have been encouraged to make their front doors into art works.