About this Journal

Welcome to Issue 8 of Interpreting Ceramics, which contains the papers and presentations from the Fragmented Figure conference which was held at Cardiff School of Art and Design on the 29th and 30th June 2005. This major international event brought together seventy people from ten countries to listen to a wide range of presentations on a theme which was clearly of key significance to artists and theorists of all kinds. The conference was accompanied by an exhibition of figurative ceramics which illuminated many of the issues raised during the conference proceedings.

Jeffrey Jones, the conference convenor, introduces the project and discusses the theme of The Fragmented Figure and this is followed by the texts and accompanying images. We are grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding which has enabled the publication of the conference material in Interpreting Ceramics.

Interpreting Ceramics is an initiative of a group of academic staff in the UK who have joined together under the title of Interpreting Ceramics: Research Collaboration (ICRC). Our collaboration has come about through shared research interests in recording, interrogating, interpreting and communicating the practice and history of ceramics.

The members of ICRC are committed to exploring ways in which collaborative effort, on both a national and international level, can lead to broader and more interdisciplinary research into all those categories of human activity which are indicated by the term ‘ceramics’. ICRC has an interest in any practice or mode of inquiry which brings a social and cultural awareness to bear on the manufacture and consumption of objects made from ceramic materials. The fields covered would therefore include studio, industrial, architectural, traditional, sculptural and figurative ceramics as well as the relevant branches of anthropology, archaeology, material culture studies, museum studies, archiving etc.

The journal Interpreting Ceramics is the first outcome of the collaborative work of ICRC. It is the first refereed, electronic journal for ceramics and in publishing on the Internet the journal allows contributors to exploit the possibilities of new digital media as well as offering more traditional text based approaches. The journal is freely accessible, without charge. We aim to establish and maintain the highest scholarly standards for the content of the articles published. Four institutions have joint proprietorship of the journal and they are the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, the University of the West of England, Bristol and Bath Spa University College.

Editorial responsibility for Interpreting Ceramics lies with the ICRC committee, which currently consists of the members of the editorial team who are listed above. The editorial advisory board consists of thirty individuals, drawn from different disciplines, who together provide a wide range of expertise on ceramics in all its guises. A list of members of the board is provided on the web site.

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