Nick Renshaw - Visual Artist

Rolling Snowball / 8 Xiamen was a group exhibition organised by the Chinese European Art Center (CEAC), taking place in the gallery of Three Shadows Photography Art Center in the Jimei district of Xiamen. The exhibition was the eighth in the series of the same name and presented work from forty six artists working in either the Netherlands or China. All the artists had collaborated or worked as artist-in-residence at CEAC during the eighteen years of its activity as artist-in-residence centre. For the exhbition I presented a number of works from the series Tong An (Living Peacefully Together). These ceramic works are made using material and processes sourced locally to the vicinity of Xiamen, utilising primarily a centuries old technique of wood-firing in a so-called dragon kiln. Though the majority of what were once numerous such kilns no longer exist, some are still in operation. As part of the supplementary programme of events supporting the exhibition I held a lecture at the Times of Paper Bookstore in the Haicang district of Xiamen. This lecture focused on my own practice as visual artist as well as my recently published book Demystified: The European Ceramic Workcentre as Centre of Excellence.