Once relegated to the potter’s wheel and the dinner table, ceramics has experienced a spectacular renaissance. What was once primarily a functional craft has become a medium for boundless experimentation, with artists around the world reimagining what’s possible with clay. Here are four ceramicists whose work is well worth following — each bringing delightful surprises in dimension, colour and sculptural invention.
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Maryam Yousif
Those distinctively serene, wide-eyed faces are unmistakably Maryam Yousif’s. The Baghdad-born, San Francisco-based ceramicist creates works where human forms dissolve into flowers, sprout leaves, or fuse with vessels and objects, exploring the porous boundaries between body and nature. A 2023 Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship Grant recipient, her work is part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Arts and Design and the Denver Art Museum.
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Woody de Othello
Woody De Othello’s ceramic sculptures occupy a fascinating, enchanted territory where household items and body parts develop animated personalities. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the artist crafts work infused with the improvisational energy of jazz and house music, as well as his study of African history.
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Jessica Stoller
Working from West New York, Jessica Stoller transforms porcelain into a medium for feminist expression, creating figurative sculptures where bodies flaunt, indulge and transgress with unapologetic pleasure. Her work builds an alluring visual vocabulary where defiance and desire take center stage.
View this post on Instagram4. Kaori Kurihara
Paris-based Japanese artist Kaori Kurihara creates ceramic sculptures that convincingly blur the line between fantasy and reality. Trained in pottery at SEIKA University in Kyoto and later in jewellery-making in France, she breathes life into meticulously detailed fruits and botanicals, both recognisable and imagined.
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