The Helica Carnea ceramic “flower” by Anouk Omlo was featured at the Design Factory Brainport Eindhoven in Milan’s Zona Tortona. The Helica is a handmade bloom of 72 pyramids on a base, inspired by Fibonacci spirals and the Golden Ratio. The result is an impressive piece of art and design that evokes plant life on the ground and in the sea. The delicate pink and the gentle curves of the petals offset the sharp points and bold presence of Omlo’s Helica.

Artist: Anouk Omlo
+ anoukomlo.com

Louise Hindsgavl’s white porcelain figurines (seen here at the Mindcraft exhibition at Zona Tortona in Milan) could seem to be typical at first glance, but it does not take long until the viewer realizes that the uncomfortable feeling that is creeping over is there for good reason. Hindsgavl’s work depicts creatures that have distorted human bodies and heads of animals, out of proportion. They are shown committing a variety of unusual acts: handling mirrors or ripping the heads off other smaller yet similar beasts. Is one saving others that are falling, or yanking them out of a hiding place? At first one wants to turn away, but is slowly overcome by a need to know more.

Artist: Louise Hindsgavl
+ louisehindsgavl.dk

Royal Tichelaar Makkum, the oldest company in the Netherlands, is a ceramics firm that recently completed an amazing project that involved contemporary riffs on a 17th century flower pyramid. The present-day pyramids were part of an exhibit in Milan during Design Week 2008. Jurgen Bey, Hella Jongerius, Alexander van Slobbe and Studio Job were commissioned to create 21st century pyramids and the results of these limited edition ceramics are spectacular (as are the prices). The pyramids are incredibly detailed and each shows a different personality. Shown above is detail from the work by Jurgen Bey, which also included a wooden armoire filled with smaller ceramic pieces. Studio Job was easy to recognize, Hella Jongerius created a hanging pyramid and the Alexander van Slobbe had a softness to it.

Artists: Jurgen Bey, Hella Jongerius, Alexander van Slobbe and Studio Job
+ tichelaar.nl

DIG: An Imagined Archeo-logism is an exhibition of ceramics by Sierra Pecheur, based on the artist’s belief that “history is made of skulls and bones and hearts.” During this show of about 400 pieces, the skulls and bones are sold by the pound, so Pecheur has had to keep up production in order to keep the DIG stocked. The installation has been set up to bring to mind an archeaologcal site, but the finds are not exactly typical. Pecheur explores myths and belief systems, basing her work on a combination of imagination and questioning.

Artist: Sierra Pecheur
+ xiemclaycenter.com

Venezuelan ceramicist Mariana Monteagudo creates doll-like statues that appear to be aged, mummified, or at the very least recently unearthed. They stare blankly through wide eyes of different shapes and sizes, seemingly unaware of their situations, or perhaps uncaring. Some are bound, veiled or masked. All are mysterious, with an air of fragility. They are covered in bits and pieces of a variety of materials and all are very intriguing, as though they've been through something unspeakably difficult.

Artist: Mariana Monteagudo
+ marianamonteagudo.com

We just saw Reconnoitering by Megan Bogonovich at Design Miami, so we knew we needed more. Bogonovich is a ceramicist who creates delightful pieces that combine realistic figures with decidedly odd situations. Her heroines have a penchant for tumbling headfirst into mysterious anemone-like objects, most likely consumed by curiosity, not to mention by the object’s cavity. But others sail off in boats, again in the most unusual of ways. This artist’s work is full of texture, as well as whimsy, and beneath it all lurks a sneaky darkness like something inexplicable that might reach out and grip an ankle.

Artist: Megan Bogonovich
+ meganbogonovich.com

Marie Torbensdatter Hermann’s ceramics evoke so much. Sexy, smooth in places, rough in others, so zen, yet very powerful when seen in the quantities required by the installation To the Legion of the Lost. This artist’s work, though porcelain, is strong rather than delicate in spite of the quiet colours and organic shapes. The repetition within the installation and the variations on the theme make for work that keeps drawing the viewer in.

Artist: Marie Torbensdatter Hermann
+ matin-gallery.com

Marie E.V.B. Gibbons creates ceramics that are poetic in nature, pods and people that bear resemblance to every day life, yet are magical at the same time. Remembering the Dance is such a lovely piece, its meaning interpreted so literally that the viewer wonders how the artist would represent other thoughts and memories. The Float installation is equally wonderful with its multitude of swimming capped heads holding their own above water – exactly the type of exhibit one would have to circle several times over.

Artist: Marie E.V.B. Gibbons
+ mariegibbons.com

Kathy Butterly’s ceramics are odd little objects of porcelain and earthenware that start out in all their symmetry only to be poked and prodded by the artist until imperfections by way of lumps or divots form the very character of the piece. There is something almost human about these pieces, anatomical, what with their organ-like appendages and orifices and glimpses of their interiors. Butterly completes each piece by using a variety of glazes and techniques that result in a very formal finish to extremely contemporary little sculptures.

Artist: Kathy Butterly
+ tibordenagy.com

See? Art is so darn important because real cupcakes don’t last more than 3 minutes. Jason Miller’s cupcakes, on the other hand, are forever. Miller porcelain pieces, however, are not perfect renditions of Martha-style confectionary that is meant to be perfection for the eye as well as the stomach (or even more so!). These sloppier versions with their not true-to-life icing are more honest representations of those post-cupcake feelings and allow us to be more realistic about our expectations. And there’s something just as appealing about Miller’s pre-fab Hostess version, too.

Artist: Jason Miller
+ millerstudio.us

Ceramic artist Ken Gangbar had some new pieces at the recent Interior Design Show in Toronto. His objects in clay are delicate works of porcelain that rely on elegance and simplicity of form rather than a surfeit of detail to carry through their impact. The small porcelain pods that jut out from the wall in an installation of seemingly random placement is fantastic, one of those pieces that draws the viewer in closer and closer, but is just as attractive from a distance. Likewise the flatter, seed-like pieces arranged in a wave are just as enticing. What makes these installations so effective is the sheer quantity of unexpected objects in an unexpected place.

Artist: Ken Gangbar
+ kengangbar.com