Showing at Newcastle’s Hatton Gallery, Sustainable Clay explores the environmental impact of this natural material.

With potters and artists having long valued clay for its connections to a particular place and as a natural material, there has nonetheless been modern-day concern about the how sustainable clay is: from industrial mining to international transportation, the toxicity of glaze ingredients and the intense energy and heat required every time the kiln is fired, contemporary artists are questioning the sustainability of clay and adapting their work in response.

This exhibition showcases the work of twelve contemporary artists* with links to the North East of England – through study, teaching, residencies or commissions, reflecting the role of Newcastle University’s Fine Art Department as a centre for ceramic creativity and innovation, and the area’s industrial heritage of ceramic production, which once thrived with clay a by-product of the plentiful extraction of coal, and the waterways and railways which transported raw materials and finished products around the globe.

With clay continuing to be a global commodity and sustainability a global concern, the featured artists are taking an experimental approach to clay as a sculptural material, while striving for sustainability within their creative processes. Some dig local clay to work with, or are finding more sustainable ways to fire their kilns: others are no longer firing their clay or glazing their work, while some are using their ceramic skills to work with alternative materials.

*Wolfgang Weileder, Laurie Powell, Katie Cuddon, Shitanshu Mauyra, Andrew Burton, Lady Kitt, Rosie McLachlan, Brigitte Jurack, Paul Scott (whose work is pictured), Xiang Yang, Eva Masterman and Bethany Stead. Their work will accompanied by studio interviews, filmed by Jason Thompson, with an introductory space showing highlights from the Laing and Shipley Art Gallery’s outstanding ceramic collections.

Entry is free.