FRAGMENTED FIGURE
Account of the Scholarly Exhibition at the Centre of Ceramic Studies, Cardiff

Introduction to the Fragmented Figure Exhibition

This exhibition of the work of six artists was held to coincide with the Fragmented Figure Conference in 2005, and forms a key project within Cardiff School of Art and Design's doctoral and postdoctoral research. The exhibition was undertaken to address what is perceived as a serious under-theorising of the subject of figurative ceramics - evidenced in the paucity of published scholarly material on the subject¹ - to provide insights, to engage practitioners, students and other researchers within the field and to stimulate debate.

The aim of the project is to gain fuller understandings of the ways in which artists working with the figure, conceive, develop and articulate their ideas through the medium of ceramics and the ways the properties of the medium may contribute aesthetically to the expression or articulation of their ideas. The exhibition plays a key role in the pursuit of this aim: participating artist's were interviewed beforehand; they were asked to reflect upon their practices in relation to fragmentation in the statements which accompany their artworks, and artworks presented in the exhibition and video records of the interviews are analysed and discussed in a series of papers.

From the outset, an important part of the strategy was to make readily available an account of the exhibition, including the preparatory research and the analytical work which followed. On this dedicated website: findings to date can be disseminated to the field worldwide, allowing additions and updating as the research progresses. The site also enables findings and documented material to be readily available for other researchers and students; and importantly, provides a platform, which facilitates discourse and debate. Contributions can be forwarded to: fragmentedfigure@uwic.ac.uk

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1. The literature reviews and field searches conducted as part of Dr Natasha Mayo and Babette Martini's respective doctorial research, revealed evidence to suggests that when the figure is discussed within the context of ceramics, the focus tends to be upon materials and technical detail, with the subject or content of the work receiving significantly less attention.