Although ceramics is considered a craft with a long history and tradition of its own, it has crossed into the field of fine art through various innovations and movements. In one significant movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement, for example, Bernard H. Leach promoted the studio pottery, bringing about the trend of hand-made pottery. Later, during the Mingei, the Japanese folk art movement, artists such as Kawai Kanjiro and Yanagi Muneyoshi encouraged reconsidering and recasting the beauty of vessels and craft works, which further fostered the combination of crafts and daily life in aesthetic harmony.

In the 1950s, due to the influence of Abstract Expressionism, artists of modern American ceramics followed Peter Voulkos starting to work with vessels in different ways. Some artists turned their attention from the utility of the vessels to mere artistic expression, which is later known as “Vessels as Art”.
This trend later spread around the globe, leading to the movements of discovering the immense range of possibilities beyond functions. The “expanded field” of ceramics, such as the interior and exterior quests for space, the pursuits of textures, a more profound presentation of the medium of clay, and the incorporation of sculptural works, became the major topics of contemporary ceramics. Ceramics artists around the world eagerly contemplated the definition of “vessel ” , which was expanded beyond the elaboration of functions, but a creative exploration on the concept of the vessel. As the boundary between craft and art became more and more ambiguous, artists attempt to explore the expanded fields to find a broader definition of “vessel” and hence transformed the vessel from a mere daily object to a multi-functional ware. Therefore nowadays, it becomes common ceramics artists to reconsider the functionality of vessels and the nature of the materials as they experiment new ways of crossing the expanded field of crafts.

In the transformation of the usages of vessels, the “vessel” that is usually defined as a container with external or internal spaces capable of holding and carrying other matters can be specifically called “functional vessels”. Humans have produced ceramics for domestic purposes for ages; aesthetic value is underscored by ceramists in present. Vessels hence turn into a carrier of individuals’ creativity and a guide for the redefinition of their own manifestation and significance. More than merely functional, vessels have expanded their meanings to include the richness of cultural analogies, mythologies and tales. For instance,it is said that architecture is a vessel of our existence,that the Earth is a vessel of biological organisms, and that the body is a vessel of the soul. Some artists even claim that each work, containing the creator’s thoughts, feelings, experiences and imaginations, is a vessel of the artist . Consequently, the vessel is defined as an object able to “contain”, yet the things that it carries or contains can be tangible or intangible. Therefore in contemporary sense, the vessel can be informe i.e. formless.

This exhibition aims at exploring the concept of “vessels” in the historical context of Taiwanese ceramics. It provides an outline of the aesthetics of functional wares, which includes reflections on creativity, and vessels by prominent ar tists. Artists from different fields, such as drama, music,architecture, and design, have been invited to collaborate with ceramics artists to create new and innovative works. The exhibition demonstrates how talented artists are able to embrace very disparate forms and ideas in a creative way.