Work by the ceramic artist Helena Seget has received a special award in this year’s International Ceramics Festival Mino Competition.
The MINO festival takes place in Japan every three years and attracts up to 4,000 entries from more than 50 countries across the globe. Helena was the highest-placed European artist.
The Japanese designer Makoto Koizumi - one of the judges - singled out the entry by Helena for his Special Award
Helena had submitted her ‘Torn Out Note-Pad Page’ work - a porcelain facsimile of a page ripped from a notepad.
Helena said: “I’m astonished and delighted! Makoto is one of the most talented new designers in the world, and to have my work picked out by him for his chief award is a real honour.”
“Though I missed out on the first four places in the competition, even the prize for this placing (of 200,000 yen, the equivalent of £1,600) is a welcome boost for my practice.
“I would love to fly to Japan for the awards ceremony, though that may not be possible. But at least my work will have one of the prides of place at the international exhibition - which follows in the autumn.”
The successful entry by Helena, the ‘Torn Out Note-Pad Page’- is not just a piece of artwork; it can actually be used as memory-jogger itself. Helena says: “I designed it with sustainability in mind. You can write with ordinary pencil on it, and the marks will wipe off easily, meaning it can be used time and time again.” It will be exhibited at Ceramics Park MINO in Tajimi City in Gifu from September to October 2011.
Helena maintains a studio in Ouseburn, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She is currently working on a re-versioning of her 2008 piece ‘Irena: Left-Handed Chair’, which is to show at a gallery in London in the autumn.
