Tactility, Sustainability & the Ceramic Surface

Denne workshop er kun for professionelle udøvende keramikere og er en del af projektet GenJord. 
Workshoppen er på engelsk og er inklusiv en let frokost og kaffe/te begge dage.
I forbindelse med workshoppen vil der være en åben artist talk fredag den 13. juni kl. 16.30.

Workshop
This workshop invites ceramicists to engage in a shared process of questioning, exchanging, and deepening our practices. We will focus on an undeniable duality: how can we work more sustainable while staying connected to the expressive and tactile potential of clay and glazes?

We’ll look at how our studio choices—materials, kilns, processes—carry ecological weight, and how awareness can lead to more informed, responsible decisions. But sustainability is not only about carbon footprints. It’s also about sustaining curiosity, balancing teaching and making, and navigating the tension between artistic freedom and ecological responsibility.

Rooted in her own research into the ceramic surface, Jeannine Vrins will explain about her research of the ceramic skin—not as a static, decorative layer, but as a transforming, tactile membrane that registers touch, expresses process, and bridges maker and viewer. She will reflect on how to work meaningfully with the balancing between choices she makes, about the materials she uses, about the unpredictability of firing, how to give voice to clay and glazes and how the ceramic object can invite touch as well as sight.

By sharing technical knowledge, experimental approaches, failures, studio setups, and cross-disciplinary insights, we aim to collectively expand what’s possible—technically, aesthetically, and ethically—in contemporary ceramic practice.

In addition to reflection and discussion, this workshop will include hands-on demonstrations and practical tools. We’ll look at how to test and compare raw materials, interpret chemical analyses with sustainability in mind, and assess the environmental impact of glaze compositions. You’ll learn how to adapt glaze recipes to your own locally available materials and how to communicate transparently about glaze content and safety. These skills support a more conscious and resilient ceramic practice—one grounded in knowledge, care and curiosity.

About Jeannine Vrins
Jeannine Vrins is a ceramicist, designer, educator, and researcher working at the intersection of art, design, craft, and material science. With degrees in Product Design (LUCA Genk, B), Ceramics (KASK Antwerp, B), and additional studies in Ceramic Technology (KU Leuven) and Geology (UHasselt), her practice bridges conceptual thinking and technical expertise.

Her work and research explore the ceramic surface not as a static skin, but as a tactile, expressive, and transformative boundary—where material, memory, and meaning converge. Jeannine combines deep artistic inquiry with practical experimentation, questioning how we touch, sense, and relate to ceramic materials. She is currently a lecturer in ceramic technology at PXL-MAD School of Arts and has led numerous educational initiatives, including professional development workshops for ceramics teachers and collaborations with internationally renowned experts in the field.

Driven by a fascination for the "in-between"—between success and failure, intuition and structure, art and science—she invites participants to explore sustainability not only in ecological terms, but also as a way to sustain thinking, making, and connecting through clay.