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Firedup4 / Auction 2022

61 works for sale by contemporary ceramicists, raising money to create pottery studios for young people in disadvantaged areas of the UK.

27th May 2022

By TDE Editorial Team / 25th May 2022
From left to right: Neale Graham, Kate Malone and DameZandra Rhodes COURTESY: Firedup4 / PHOTOGRAPH: Leigh Buckingham

From left to right: Neale Graham, Kate Malone and Dame Zandra Rhodes
COURTESY: Firedup4 / PHOTOGRAPH: Leigh Buckingham

ON TUESDAY 24th May supporters of Kate Malone’s heroic charitable effort, FiredUp4, gathered at Maak Auction House in Earlham Street London to urge on bidders and toast the wonderful examples of contemporary ceramics donated for the sale. The objective of the current auction, due to end at 1pm BST on Friday 27th May, is to raise £150,000 to equip and staff pottery studios in three OnSide Youth Zones, in Dagenham and Barking, Warrington and Barnet.

Work by Fernando Casasempere, Chris Keenan, Kate Malone & Miray Mehmet, 2022 COURTESY: Fernando Casasempere, Chris Keenan, Kate Malone, Miray Mehme & FiredUp4 / PHOTOGRAPHER: Sylvain Deleu

Work by Fernando Casasempere, Chris Keenan, Kate Malone & Miray Mehmet, 2022
COURTESY: Fernando Casasempere, Chris Keenan, Kate Malone, Miray Mehme & FiredUp4 / PHOTOGRAPHER: Sylvain Deleu

There are currently 14 OnSide Youth Zones in the country, jointly funded by local authorities and charitable donations, with an ambition to create four more each year. These are designed to provide young people living in disadvantaged communities with somewhere to go and something to do. They offer multiple sports, music, dance, performance, dressmaking and other facilities, but they don’t always have specialist art facilities.

Andrew Wicks, ‘Tall Gourd Vase’, 2022 COURTESY: Andrew Wicks & FiredUp4 / PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Turner

Andrew Wicks, ‘Tall Gourd Vase’, 2022
COURTESY: Andrew Wicks & FiredUp4 / PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Turner

Instigated and led by Malone and supported by Sara Cox, Johnny Vegas and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, among others, the inaugural FiredUp4 auction in 2020 raised over £100,000 to furnish and provide teaching staff for two pottery studios in Chorley and Wigan, Lancashire. The auction included works by 31 artists and potters, including Magdalene Odundo, Edmund de Waal and John Ward.

Ashraf Hanna, ‘Undulating Yellow Bowl Form’, 2022 COURTESY: Ashraf Hanna & FiredUp4 / PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Turner

Ashraf Hanna, ‘Undulating Yellow Bowl Form’, 2022
COURTESY: Ashraf Hanna & FiredUp4 / PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Turner

This year, Malone has secured 61 donated pieces, made, as she puts it, “by a spectacular mix of potters and fine artists.” Two of the vases for the auction are collaborations between Malone and her two creative inspirations: Dame Zandra Rhodes and Andrew Logan.

Claire Curneen, ‘Untitled’,2022 COURTESY: Claire Curneen & FiredUp4 / PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Turner

Claire Curneen, ‘Untitled’,2022
COURTESY: Claire Curneen & FiredUp4 / PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Turner

Kate Malone says, “This project is of great personal importance to me, to put clay into the hands of young people. I am passionate about this, I was fortunate to have access to clay and ceramics at school, and I have built a career from this fortunate start. Young people are the future of our craft.”

Bid today!

Firedup4 

By TDE Editorial Team
Article by TDE Editorial Team
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