(Associate Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts

and Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Arts.)

“Utopic Impulses: Contemporary Ceramics Practice”

Date: 9 April 2008

Time: 3:30 pm

Place: TBA

All are welcome

Refreshments will be provided

For further information please call Kara Vincent (HRI) at 585-4226

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Visual Arts.

By framing particular contemporary ceramics as “utopic” this talk will explore a range of ways the discipline contributes to the development, support and diffusion of speculative models and creative endeavours that envision a better world. Drawing from a full spectrum of examples, we will view artist’s projects that include functional wares, design for industry, conceptual works, community-based projects and installation and we will consider the work of theorists and artists who “make a case” for the importance and value of studio ceramics in the public sphere.

Ruth Chambers is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Arts. She is a visual artist and has exhibited her work throughout Canada and in the US. Her work incorporates a range of media, usually in an installation format, and usually including ceramics. She is a contributing co-editor with Amy Gogarty and Mireille Perron of the anthology Utopic Impulses: Contemporary Ceramics Practice (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press 2007).

Book information:

ISBN-10: 1-55380-051-6; ISBN-13: 978-155380-051-4

7.5 x 10 224 pp trade paper
Includes 40 colour photos, bibliography, index

$26.95 CDN
$26.95 US