Events, Lectures & Seminars Archive (May 2005)

Arnotts Ceramic Design Awards 2005

This year's Arnotts Design award takes a look at the difference between designs for mass-production and 'one-off' artwork.

Art can be radical, put together regardless of expense, and consumed by the privileged few. Design can be easy on the eye, functional, fashionable and available to the masses. The relationship between these two worlds is complex and inter-dependent: Artists may reach a massive audience. Designers can seek to be exclusive. Design can be seen as Applied Art, but styles and forms from the world of design may provide source material for fine art practice.

Opening on May 19th, there will be a show at the National Museum, Collins Barracks, of work from Students from the Ceramics Area at the National College of Art and Design. The students have entered a competition to produce silk-screened designs, applied to ready-made porcelain plates.

Generously sponsored by Arnotts, prizes are awarded for the best designs for mass-production. These are designed for use: Would you eat your dinner off them?

Alongside the plates the students are also showing one-off, handbuilt ceramic objects, individual artworks that can exist outside the requirements of daily use or popular commercial appeal.

Visit the exhibition at the National Museum, Collins Barracks, and you will see some wonderful ideas, find out which entrant won the coveted prize: The winner gets €1000 and the winning plate will be housed in the Museum's permanent collection.

The National College of Art and Design is very grateful to Arnotts plc. for sponsoring this event and to the National Museum for hosting the exhibition.