Paper at 'Re-Launch'

Having taught on an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in ceramics and having written two cross-disciplinary degree courses placing ceramics within a fine art context, Allen was invited to give a paper at a conference exploring the changing role of ceramics in higher education. ‘Re-Launch’ brought together practitioners and educators from across Europe to examine the significant fall in demand for ceramic specific courses over the past decade. Allen’s paper examined the changing perception of ceramics across the globe as a primary reason for fluctuation. The paper put forward the notion that educational institutions must acknowledge ceramics as a material above and beyond an independent discipline in its own right. Analysing data however, determines that ceramics in education will enjoy increased demand over the coming years; having recently passed through the lowest ebb of a twenty year cycle, that has been repeated for almost a century.

Held at the Kunst Universitat, Linz, Austria, Allen will co-convene ‘Re’Launch 2’ at Bath School of Art and Design in November 2013. The objective of the conference is to build on the findings from 2011 and to assess shifts in ceramics education in Europe with that in the US.