10 UKRAINIAN CERAMISTS THAT WILL SHAPE THE FUTURE OF CERAMICS
Ukrainian ceramics has a centuries-old history, dating back to the times of the Tripoli culture. But despite its age, it continues to develop the tradition today. Moreover, modern Ukrainian handmade ceramics, contrary to stereotypes about jugs painted with sunflowers, can give a head start to a unique European design.
So, I have prepared a compilation of 10 Ukrainian names of ceramists, who are rightly considered to be the trendsetters of their industry. No ordinary vases and boring white cups — only unparalleled works.
1. Yuriy Musatov
The ceramist of the younger generation has already established himself in the native and foreign markets as an influential representative of the Ukrainian art of ceramics. Having created his first ceramic box under the leadership of Gidora Anna in his student years, Yuriy Musatov realized that ceramics is his vocation.
Since then, the master has tirelessly created, reinterpreting the traditions of avant-gardism of the 20th century, combining elements of constructivism, abstractionism, minimalism, and modernity in his works. Now he is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics.
Pottery takes on a new form and philosophy in the skillful hands of Yuriy Musatov. The artist raises the question of the integrity of a person in a post-industrial society. The illusory nature of the modern world is presented in ghostly and shabby designs and thin ceramic parts.
2. Serhiy Radko
Serhiy is a member of the Union of Folk Masters of Ukraine, Honored Master of Folk Art of Ukraine. Being a great poet, bandurist, muralist, painter, and sculptor, he rightly considers pottery to be his real calling. The artist has been attracted to it since his childhood, because he grew up among the Dnieper rays, which, according to Serhiy Radko, are similar to a solid clay “pie”. The ceramist has conducted about ten personal exhibitions, which were successfully held in Kyiv, Lviv, Kaniv, Poltava, and Cherkasy. When you look at his works, you don’t have to ponder, you need the ease of perception and freedom of thought — just what every kid does. And when you make the public think like a kid, it’s a sign of greatness.
Makhno is the founder of Sergey Makhno Architects workshop and the first product gallery in Ukraine — Sergey Makhno Gallery opened in 2016. Makhno’s world-famous ceramics is a creative rethinking of the heritage of Ukrainian ancestors in combination with the Japanese understanding of beauty. The artist’s works reflected warm memories of his visits to grandmother, the Carpathian mountains and forests.
According to Sergey, pottery is the art that is born from the hands of one person and lives in the hands of another.
Makhno’s ceramics appreciates irregularity, asymmetry, natural materials, and shapes. Made to eat and drink from it, not to be kept behind the glass on the closet, ceramic products are made in a single copy. Among the works of Sergey Makhno Architects, you will not find two identical cups. As well as usual and faceless crockery.
Simple shapes, utility, contrasting colors and lace cracks — it is all about the creative style of the Poltava ceramist Dmytro Bilokin. In his works, the ceramist mixes modern design with ancient sacral technologies. Dmitry believes that for the artist of the 21st century there are no barriers. His products are always balanced, stylish and elegant.
The works of Crimean ceramist Rustem Skibin is the real extravaganza of colors, ornaments, and meanings. Today, the long-destroyed Crimean Tatar pottery is only at an early stage of rebirth. Rustem actively contributes to its recovery and development, showing the world how versatile and aesthetic the Crimean Tatar majolica can be.
Rustem has created his own style of polychrome ceramic painting. The master’s works are full of perfect ornamental structures, exquisite calligraphic compositions and imbued with the features of the traditional culture of the Crimean Tatars.
Vita Khaidurova is a professional graphic artist, a member of the Artists’ Union of Ukraine. The artist discovered clay only in 2014, but the new hobby has captured the girl so much that now she devotes to ceramics almost all the time. And we know it was not in vain. Her works are unique and inimitable, like a piece of art.
Vita works in majolica technique, turning hand-painted ceramics into beautiful scenic canvases. Despite the fact that for Khaidurova herself the dishes are primarily art, her works are utilitarian and ready for use in everyday life.
7. Eugene Babeshko
Graphic designer Eugene Babeshko first tried his hand at ceramics in 2014, and in 2016 opened his own Modern Ceramics Workshop called MOX (Moss — eng.). The founder is often inspired by wildlife, especially by the aesthetics of mountain moss. It named the ceramic studio as an allusion to the eternal form of being.
8. Oleksa and Olesya Maistrenko
Ceramist artists Oleksa and Olesya Maistrenko opened Maistrenko Ceramics workshop in 2012. Its philosophy is: “The things that surround us affect the quality of our lives.” Masters make dishes in limited editions, and often in one piece at all. Products are made from Ukrainian, French and Spanish clay, porcelain, chamotte (burnt, crushed clay) and majolica.
Artists themselves describe their manner in the following way: artistic value, personal style, quality, and functionality.
Olga Khasanshin, the founder of the Yaglyna brand, creates works that are known not only in her homeland but throughout the world from Chicago to Singapore. Clay has become not only an integral part of her life but also the life of her husband and daughter who help her at various stages of creating dishes.
Together they turn ordinary elements of everyday life into a work of art, filling them with their soul. Masters make shapes manually, restoring the traditional techniques of pottery. Everything is created in a limited edition or in a single copy, however, each model displays a unique author’s style.
10. Ivan Grygorchuk
Ivan Grygorchuk, an architect by education, an artist by vocation, associates himself with the wind. Even the workshop that the master established with his wife Alina, Ivan named after the wind — Viter ceramics. The trips inspire them to constantly change styles and techniques, like an unsteady wind.
Ivan is fond of modeling clay and compares the process with meditation when the sense of time is lost, the mind goes silent and the soul is clear. Ceramists make both “rough” clay minimal dishes and glazed products with interesting edges. There are pots, plates, vases, cezves and home decor in stock.
