Collection Keramis

The authors

• Daniel Pontoreau

  Daniel Pontoreau belongs to a generation of artists born in the aftermath of the Second World War for whom the artistic possibilities of ceramics instantaneously proved apparent. As a young artist, he was confronted, on the one hand, with the prevalence of figurative ceramic sculpture which spread throughout Europe in the post-war period, and, on the other, with the golden age of art pottery and its prevailing ideology. Yet, at the end of the “Glorious Thirties”, Daniel Pontoreau did not show a veritable interest in this culture of ceramics, which was already well entrenched in most European countries. Indeed, the teenager was fond of painting before taking up sculpture. His influences include some sculptors who are concerned with another reality of the clay, one that is more intangible and environmental. He was especially drawn to the work of American John Mason (1927) and Frenchman Jean Amado (1922-1995). With its ‘Attitudes (that) Become Forms’1, the new English sculpture movement left its mark on him, and he soon became fascinated with the relationship to the landscape in the architecture of such contemporaries as Frank Gehry (1929), Tadao Ando (1941), and Marc Barani (1957).
  
• Bai Ming

  Born in 1965 about one hundred kilometres from the former imperial porcelain factories of Jingdezhen in China, Bai Ming is a is a multi-facetted visual artist. A professor and lecturer, he is director of the Department of Ceramics at the Academy of Art and Design of Qinghua University in Beijing, and of the Shangyu Celadon International Art Centre of Contemporary Ceramics. He owns two workshops in Beijing and in Jingdezhen, where he boldly mixes ancestral techniques, traditions and practices with those of international contemporary art. The delicacy of his technique in ceramics, painting and lacquer has revitalised Chinese porcelain, freeing it from its archaic forms. His creations have won major Chinese awards and are recognised by collectors around the world.
  
• Gisele Buthod-Boy
• Frank Steyaert

  Training and education
  

  • Studied architecture and ceramics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Aalst; jewelry and ceramics at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
    

  • From 1975 to 2009 he taught ceramics at several schools: Deinze, Lokeren, Dendermonde, Liedekerke.
    

  • In 1986 he became a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (AIC), Geneva. Awards
    

  • 1985 Prize of the Ministry of Culture of the Flemish Community in recognition of his international career.
    

  • 1985 Prize of the Ministry of Culture at the International Competition of Contemporary Ceramics of Faenza, Italy.
    

  • 1982 Grand Prix National de la Céramique, Belgium. - 1982 Prize of the President of the Republic at the International Competition of Ceramics of Contemporary Art of Faenza, Italy.
    

  • 1980 Prize of the Province of East Flanders.
    

  
  Works in public collections and museums
  
  Design museum, Gent (BE) - The Ulster Museum, Belfast (UK) - Kestner Museum, Hannover (DE) - Museum Keramion, Frechen (DE) - Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin (DE) - Stedelijke Musea, Dendermonde (BE) - Herzliya Museum of Art, Herzliya (IL) - Kunstsammlungen der Veste, Coburg (DE) - Museum Grimmerhus, Middelfart (DK) - Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart (DE) - Royal Museum of Art and History, Brussels, (BE) - Kunstgewerbemuseum Köln (DE) - Museo Internationale delle Ceramiche, Faenza (IT) - Schlossmuseum Friedenstein, Gotha (DE) - Fondation Manuel Cargaleiro, Vietri Sul Mare (IT) - Museum of the International Ceramic Studio, Kecskemét (HU) - Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto (CA) (Collection Diane Reitberger) - Museo Nacional de Ceràmica Gonzàles Martì, Valencia (ES) - Die Neue Sammlung, Staatliches Museum für Angewandte Kunst und Design, München (DE), Keramis - Centre de la Céramique de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, La Louvière (BE), Keramikmuseum Westerwald in Höhr-Grenzhausen (DE) OEuvres dans les collections et musées privés/ Works in private collections and museums Collection de la Province de Flandre orientale - Collection de la Communauté flamande - Dirk Allgaier, Stuttgart (DE) - Robin Horn, Arkansas (US) - Ah Leon, Taipei (TW) - Yo Akiyama, Kyoto (JP) - Diane Reitberger, Toronto (CA) - Arthur Williams, New York (US) - Hans Thiemann, Hamburg (DE) - Hannelore Seiffert, Schiffweiler (DE) - Petra Verberne, Venray (NL) - Belfius Bank, Brussels (BE) - Jacques Rogge, Belgium (BE) - Philippe and Mathilde of Belgium, King and Queen of Belgium (BE).