As this year’s British Ceramics Biennial draws to a close, exhibitor Hannah Tounsend has been announced as the winner of the festival’s 2015 FRESH award for recent graduates.
Tounsend’s prize comprises a month-long residency at Guldagergaard, Denmark’s international Ceramics Research Centre, and the chance to exhibit new work in the 2017 British Ceramics Biennial.
A graduate of De Montfort Unversity, Leicester, where she undertook both her BA (2006) and MA by Independent Research (2015), Tounsend’s hybrid slip-cast and thrown ceramic pieces use overlain colours on the porous surface to evoke a weatherworn British coastal landscape.
The ceramic artist was chosen from a shortlist of 22 exhibitors by a selection panel comprising seven UK academics, curators and artists, chaired by Helen Felcey of Manchester Metropolitan University in association with the the Ceramic Advisory Board at Guldagergaard’s Ceramic Advisory Board.
Three additional awards – scholarships to study on the MA in Ceramic Design at Staffordshire University – will also be available to the 2015 FRESH cohort and announced at a future date.
“We’re very excited to offer this opportunity to Hannah. At this early stage in her career, Hannah is producing ceramic works of real distinction and ambition,” said Felcy. “Her expertise and commitment to practice will enable her to fully utilise the time, artistic exchange and studio facility offered by the Guldagergaard residency.”
Founded in 2009, the British Ceramics Biennial builds on the historic legacy of pottery in Stoke-on-Trent with a six-week long exhibition and events programme of contemporary ceramic artists. The FRESH strand brings together graduates from across the ceramic spectrum, working in sculpture, installation, studio pottery, tableware and industrial design.
The British Ceramics Biennial runs until Sunday 8 November 2015. Further details on the FRESH award and exhibition can be found here
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Sam Bakewell wins British Ceramics Biennial AWARD by Pippa Koszerek
British Ceramics Biennial 2015: a tale of regeneration and loss in the Potteries by Bob Dickinson
