SHEFFIELD.- The wealth and variety of handmade ceramics produced in Sheffield today will be celebrated in a brand new exhibition opening at the Millennium Gallery in June 2016. Curated by local potter Penny Withers, Shaped from the Earth: Sheffield Ceramics will bring together work by a wide range of city-based makers.

Sheffield is home to a thriving community of ceramicists and ceramic artists. Shaped from the Earth will showcase the remarkable diversity of their work, from small domestic objects to ambitious large scale pieces. Artists featured in the exhibition include Alex Shimwell, Antonia Salmon, Brian Holland, Bev Seth, Steve Booton, Debbie Michaels, Emilie Taylor, Victoria Dawes, Hanne Westegaard, Ken Taylor, Linda Southwell and Mike Scown.

• Victoria Dawes is a studio potter currently based in Sheffield. Her hand thrown tableware is inspired by life traveling and living between New Zealand, North America and the UK and reflects on themes of home and family traditions. Victoria is currently in the second year of the Starter Studio for Ceramics at Yorkshire Artspace and has been selected for the Craft Council’s Hot House 2016 programme.

• Antonia Salmon is an established ceramicist who experiments with different stoneware clays, burnished and smoke fired surfaces. She works from a studio extension at home, taking her sculptures out to a smoking kiln in Derbyshire. An awareness of form and space is at the heart of Antonia’s work, which is represented in private and public collections throughout the UK, Europe, USA, Japan and China.

• Brian Holland is co-director of Sheffield Ceramics Festival and works from a studio in Yorkshire Artspace, where he also runs a range of workshops. Brian takes inspiration from nature for his sculptures and vessels, and often fires his work in a small anagama kiln at Thoresby Park, home to the Sherwood Forest Wood Firing Society.

An established ceramicist based at Persistence Works, Penny Withers has been working in Sheffield for many years. Penny’s experience makes her perfectly placed to illustrate the different techniques, diverse approaches and shared values that exist in the city today.

Penny Withers said: "The secret that people who work with clay have discovered is that it is very good for you to connect with the earth. It is therapy. It is a medium for understanding and communicating ideas. In its fired form clay can enrich our daily lives around the rituals of taking nourishment; our lips kiss a cup lip as our fingers stroke its surface. Through the exhibition I aim to show the enjoyment that everyone can find in both pottery and ceramic sculpture."

Alison Morton, Exhibition & Display Curator at Museums Sheffield said: “Sheffield’s ceramics community is flourishing, with a vast array of techniques and approaches being utilised to create a truly diverse range of work. It’s fantastic to see the number of hugely talented ceramicists working in the city and we’re thrilled to be bringing their work together here at the Millennium Gallery.”

As well as shining a spotlight on the work of Sheffield talented ceramicists, Shaped from the Earth will also allow visitors to directly support the city’s makers directly, with many of the works on show available for purchase.

Shaped from the Earth: Sheffield Ceramics opens at the Millennium Gallery on Saturday 18 June and continues until Sunday 9 October - entry to the exhibition is free.

The exhibition forms part of The Year of Making, a major city-wide initiative celebrating Sheffield’s international reputation for innovation and excellence in making.