Ceramics Ireland Clay/Works 2025
Last weekend, my mysterious compadré ‘T’ and I headed northwards to the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve only been to the Botanic Gardens once- extremely briefly while my TY class was on our way to Glasnevin Cemetery next door (to give speeches about various important historical Irish women while we stood at the side of their graves- I don’t remember who my speech was about, oops).
One of the greenhouses at the Botanic Gardens
I had been meaning to head to the Botanic Gardens for quite a while, even before this exhibition. See, dear reader, I must come clean- pottery is not the sole reason for my existence. I am also completely and utterly OBSESSED with birds. This year in fact, I decided to collect a ‘pokédex’ of sorts of all of the birds in Ireland- my goal being to take a photo of every single different type. One bird that I have yet to capture (on camera) is the Mandarin Duck- a very exotic-looking colourful duck native to China, Japan, Eastern Russia, and… the Northside of Dublin. I’m joking of course, they’re not native to Ireland, but there are at least two breeding pairs here (Glasnevin and Galway) who are presumed to have escaped (or been released) from captivity. I really can’t believe that I haven’t spent more time in my life at the Botanic Gardens. It’s free to go in and have a wander around, and it’s teeming with plants, trees, and wildlife. Admittedly, we didn’t find the duck, but we saw plenty of other birds to keep us going.
A Mandarin Duck Family Reunion
Also in the Botanic Gardens right now is the Ceramics Ireland ‘Clay/Works’ exhibition, the real reason why we made the trek. This exhibition is an ‘open submission’ exhibition, meaning that it is showing pots from the big fish in the Irish Pottery scene (such as Helena Brennan and Grainne Watts) and also from the (very) small fish (such as Órla Slattery, also known as ORLAWITHAFADA, general icon and Very Good Potter™).
The Clay/Works exhibition is in the same building as the Botanic Gardens’ café, right beside the car park. The exhibition is upstairs (there is a lift), in a light-filled room that looks out over the Gardens and Greenhouses like the observation deck on a boat. The pots fill the room in a very orderly, museum-like manner, however potters of all different notorieties are mixed together. I say this in the most positive way, as the plebs’ pots (such as mine) sit side-by-side with those of more well-known potters (such as my neighbour, Mahima Singh), meaning that audiences who aren’t familiar with Irish ceramics will be forced to form their opinions based solely on the pots themselves, without any bias for (or against) the person that made them. Also, I think Mahima was the person laying out the pots, so I’m taking it as a compliment that she put ours together (don’t tell me if I’m wrong I don’t want to know x).
Pictured above are my two entries- a blue vase and a taller cream vase. I’m not sure how honest I should be here on the big bad internet, but I’m going to tell the truth about them anyway. Can you keep this a secret maybe? Okay great. These aren’t my ‘best’ pots, nor are they my favourite that I’ve ever made. Don’t tell anybody that I told you that. See, these were pots that I had left over after my summer sale (as well as a few markets), so if anything, judging by how nobody bought them, maybe they’re actually my *worst* pots. Oops. But I knew that if I didn’t submit anything I would be so disappointed in myself.
Sorry, sorry, that’s too much honesty for today. Let me tell you a little bit about them. Both of these pots are coated in a crackle glaze, whose recipe I came up with myself after a CONSIDERABLE amount of trial and error. The taller, cream coloured vase was taken out of the kiln while it was still warm (somewhere between 100℃ and 200℃) and dunked into some room-temperature water. This made the crackles of the glaze more intense than if I were to let it cool down naturally. The blue vase was coated in the same type of glaze, except with a touch of Cobalt added to the mix.
‘Cobalt?!’ I hear you cry, ‘Órla what are you doing! Cobalt is awful for the environment and also for the people who mine it!’ Yes, dear reader, I know. Which is why I’ve figured out a way to synthesize my own cobalt without the massive terrible effects on the environment, here in Ireland, without using any sort of modern slavery or child labour. I’ve been testing it for nearly a year now, and it’s working out extremely well. I shan’t say any more, because maybe I’ll patent it at some point, you never know. Amaco, if you’re reading this, call me x
I’ve also photographed some of my other favourite pots, which you’ll see above. For some reason, my website won’t show the labels I write under each photo unless you’re on a desktop. But, I promise that they’re there, so if you see a pot you like and want to find out who made it, try looking at this page on a computer. I will hopefully have this bug fixed at some point soon, however I am not *that* tech savvy, so I can give you no guarantees.
Overall, I’m giving the Ceramics Ireland Clay/Works Exhibition in the Botanic Gardens 3 pots out of 3 (based on the world-renowned-ORLAWITHAFADA-pottery-event-entertainment-scale, obviously). I know I’m biased, but I think this is an excellent opportunity for both big and small potters to get some recognition for their work, and it’s a great way for an audience to explore the Irish ceramics scene.
The exhibition runs until 1pm on the 27th of July, so get there quick if you want to catch it!
