Jerwood shortlist breaks new ground for ceramics

Ten British designers have been shortlisted for the 2001 Jerwood Applied Arts Prize, worth £15 000. This year the prize features contemporary ceramics.

Felicity Aylieff, Alison Britton, Lubna Chowdhary, Edmund de Waal, James Evans, Elizabeth Fritsch, Walter Keeler, Carol McNicoll, Nicholas Rena and Richard Slee have been selected by the prize organisers, the Crafts Council and the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

The range of entries varies from highly sculptural work, such as that of James Evans, to more functional ceramics like the tall, thin vases with geometric patterns designed by Elizabeth Fritsch.

“I take my work into areas that ceramics doesn’t usually recognise,” says Evans.

Judges include Royal College of Art research fellow Martina Margetts, Tate St Ives curator Susan Daniel-Mcelroy and ceramist Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl. The shortlist features established designers as well as relative newcomers, says judges’ chairman Emmanuel Cooper.

The winner will be announced on 24 September, and an exhibition of all those shortlisted runs from 13 September to 28 October at the Craft Council Gallery in Islington, North London.

The Jerwood Applied Arts Prize incorporates a cycle of different creative disciplines, including jewellery, textile, glass and furniture design, and is now in its seventh year.