Landscape : Islands was the first big collaborative project in which Kay Aplin teamed up with sound artist Joseph Young to explore the intersection between sound art and ceramic practice. Taking place over 14 months in 2015-16, Kay and Joseph took their exhibition In A Shetland Landscape as the starting point for a series of exhibitions, events and residencies.
An exhibition of ceramics took place in May at The Ceramic House and the brand new gallery In Camera, a white cube space in the garden, accompanied by a curated programme of sound art events.
This was followed by an international artist residency programme for two pairs of sound and ceramic artists and an exhibition of the resulting work at Phoenix Artspace curated by Kay and Joseph for Brighton Digital Festival in September. In A Shetland Landscape transferred to In Camera, also as part of Brighton Digital Festival, and then a combined exhibition toured to Guildhall Museum, Rochester and Dover Arts Development project space in September-October 2016, in collaboration with 51 Zero.
A short documentary film about Landscape : Islands encompassing the various elements that make up the project.
Contemporary Ceramics about Landscape
The Ceramic House May 2016
Landscape : Islands brought together a group of international, renowned ceramic artists whose work responds to the theme of landscape/islands. Many of the artists live on or come from islands, and their work responds to the landscape around them.
Exhibition photographs by Bernard G Mills.
Exhibiting artists
Click on a name to reach each artist’s page.
Paul Scott (UK)
Delfina Emmanuel (Sardinia)
Carolyn Genders (UK)
Charlotte Thorup (Denmark)
Owen Quinlan (Ireland)
Patricia Shone (Isle of Skye)
Anne-Marie Jacobs (UK)
John Jacobs (Shetland Islands)
Andrew Appleby (Orkney Islands)
Ingibjörg Guðmundsdóttir (Iceland)
Kay Aplin (UK)
Paul Scott’s work commemorates the grounding of the oil exploration rig the Kulluk on the Arctic island Sitkalidak. Delfina Emmanuel from Sardinia draws inspiration from the rock formations, coral and anemones of the Sardinian coastal landscape in creating her exquisite vessels. Charlotte Thorup’s work responds to the experience of living on the Danish island of Bornholm, combining porcelain and stoneware in her sculptural pieces. Owen Quinlan, from Ireland, uses the surrounding landscape of Galway as the focus for his work.
Three Scottish ceramists: Patricia Shone, from Skye, Andrew Appleby from Orkney and John Jacobs from Shetland all make work using elemental firing processes including raku and wood firing at their island potteries. Anne-Marie Jacobs uses aerial photographs of Mersea Island in Essex to inform her vessels, which she arranges into installation pieces. Sussex-based artist Carolyn Genders has been creating work for 35 years using landscape as her primary source of inspiration.
Kay Aplin presented elements of a body of work produced for her joint exhibition In A Shetland Landscape with sound artist Joseph Young, the results of a residency exploring the Shetland landscape. A new configuration of this exhibition was installed in the new gallery, In Camera, at the Ceramic House as part of Brighton Digital Festival in September 2016.
Sound art events at The Ceramic House
Accompanying the exhibition, Joseph Young, in partnership with Aural Detritus, curated a programme of sound art performances during the exhibition. Collaborative performances by three pairs of sound artists:
Paul Khimasia Morgan and Dan Powell
Steve Beresford and Blanca Regina
Cathy Lane and Felicity Ford
An excerpt from the full project film Landscape : islands about the residencies and the exhibitions at Phoenix Artspace and In Camera Gallery for Brighton Digital Festival 2016
Developing out of Kay Aplin and Joseph Young’s exhibition In A Shetland Landscape, they decided to extend the opportunity to sound and ceramic artists to collaborate together. For the inaugural residency at The Ceramic House, two pairs of artists collaborated on new work.
Ingibjörg Guðmundsdóttir (Iceland) and Iris Garrelfs (UK/Germany)
Anne Lykke (Denmark) and Mike Blow (UK).
The ceramic artists lived at The Ceramic House and used Kay’s studio facilities at Phoenix Artspace. The sound artists visited regularly, using Joseph’s sound studio, also at Phoenix. The resulting installations were exhibited at Phoenix Artspace as part of Brighton Digital Festival. Simultaneously, and setting the context for the residencies, a touring version of Kay and Joseph’s installation In A Shetland Landscapewas exhibited at IN CAMERA with new ceramic pieces made especially for the space.
Photos (mainly) by Manel Ortega.
A short film of the touring version of Kay and Joseph’s installation In A Shetland Landscape was exhibited at IN CAMERA
Landscape : Islands On Tour
The culmination of the project saw the project go on tour to Kent, to two venues; a temporary exhibition at the Guildhall Museum, Rochester and a one-off performance event at Dover Arts Development project space, both co-produced with 51 Zero.
Photographs by Paul Astley.
A selection of ceramic work from The Ceramic House exhibitions was displayed in the stunning Guildhall in the autumn, with a launch event featuring a sound performance from Joseph Young and film extracts from Rochester Mass by Margherita Gramegna. Additionally the Landscape : Islands catalogue and CD (recorded in collaboration with Green Field Recordings) was launched and the debut of a documentary by Tela Films about the project was screened.
Exhibiting ceramic artists: Paul Scott, Delfina Emmanuel, Charlotte Thorup, Owen Quinlan, Patricia Shone. And featuring In A Shetland Landscape (touring version) a ceramic and sound installation by Kay Aplin and Joseph Young.
A special event at Dover Arts Development project space in October marked the final event of Landscape : Islands, which showcased the In A Shetland Landscape installation (touring version), a sound performance by Joseph Young, and audiovisual performance by Ingrid Plum.