The ninth episode of Clay in Conversation presents artists Jo Pearl and Kim Norton
Clay in Conversation is curated by artist Julia Ellen Lancaster @juliaellenlancaster_ceramics in partnership with the Ceramics Research Centre-UK (CREAM), University of Westminster https://cream.ac.uk/
Jo Pearl’s hybrid practice combines clay stop-frame animation with ceramic sculpture. She breathes life into clay, and transfixes it in the kiln, celebrating its many states of being. Underpinning this is activism. Pearl’s politically and socially-engaged practice focuses on existential threats facing our planet.
Jo Pearl lives and works in London. Since graduating in 2019 from Central St Martins’ BA Ceramics, her clay animated films have won the Best Short Film Award at the 2023 ICF in Aberystwyth, opened CICEMA – the International Ceramics Film Festival in Spain and been exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society’s, Earth Photo 2024.
Recent exhibitions of her hybrid installations: Alchemy, Thrown Contemporary 2024, Dialoghi del Suolo, Il Conventino, Florence 2024, Gasping for Air, Rainham Royals, 2023, Unfamiliar Ground, Berlin 2023, Undisclosed, Norwich Cathedral, 2022, On Air, a group show about air pollution which she co-curated at Ceramic Art London 2022 and Moving Darwin, a solo show at the home of Charles Darwin, 2021.
Pearl’s current work uses clay to celebrate soil biodiversity and will be showcased in Somerset House’s SOIL: The World at our Feet, Jan – April 2025.
@jopearlceramics
Kim Norton is a trained ceramicist but increasingly finds her practice encompasses other materials, while adhering to her core focus on process, space, geology and environment. Collaboration is pivotal to her practice, fostering new conversations and working methodologies.
Kim often uses material from the site's locality and in some cases in their raw state – this can include soils, plant materials, coal, chalk and pigments - to draw attention to their historical and geological significance. This process often includes a narrative around place or a reimagining of the nuances that can be regarded as unimportant or ordinary.
Kim co-founded haptic/tacit in 2013 with ceramic artists Jane Cairns and Grant Aston and together they make, show, and explore ambitious modern craft through a series of thematically-driven exhibitions, events, and publications.
She recently completed a six-month residency at Stuart Road Allotments, Nunhead, London. Previous collaborative partnerships have included working with artist and researcher Gail Mahon; ceramic artist Annie Woodford; artist and papermaker Jane Ponsford; ceramicist Hilary Mayo; ceramicist Sam Lucas; and ceramic artist and educator Natasha Mayo.
Kim has exhibited nationally and internationally, including the British Ceramics Biennial; Siobhan Davies Dance in London including a collaboration with Entelechy Arts at the Garden Museum, London; The Trade Show presented by Faye Toogood; London Design Festival; Groundwork Gallery, Kings Lynn; The Salone del Mobile, Milan. She has led a studio session with A-B Projects USA and is a participating member of Soil Dialogues with Eco Art Space in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Kim will also have work showcased in Somerset House’s SOIL: The World at our Feet, Jan – April 2025.
@kimnortondesign