Clayful: The Big World of Tiny Ceramics

A showcase of the world’s smallest clay creations.

Often no taller than one inch, miniature ceramics are much smaller than the hands that craft them. Perfectly formed, these miniscule pottery pieces can only hold a small sprig of tiny flowers at most, but they contain all the talent of larger works.

Clayful showcases 30 international ceramicists whose miniature works invite you to lean in and marvel. With precise craftmanship, these artists transform clay in joyful interpretations of classic forms and techniques, shrunk down to fit on the tip of a finger, barely taller than a coin.

Sophia Cai is a curator, arts writer, and lecturer based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. She serves as the artistic director of Bus Projects, one of Australia’s longest running independent artist-run organizations, and teaches at the Victorian College of Arts, University of Melbourne, and Monash Art Design and Architecture, Monash University.

Her research interests include Asian art histories, the intersections between contemporary art and craft, and feminist curatorial methodologies and community-building as forms of political resistance. She completed her master’s in history of art at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

As an independent curator she has worked on a number of exhibitions at artist-run spaces, public galleries, and independent organizations across Australia and online. Her writing on art and culture has been widely published in international and national publications including Artforum, Art Almanac, Artist Profile, and Art Collector Magazine. She is a regular opinion piece contributor to Art Guide Australia. She has delivered public programs, lectures, and talks at National Gallery of Victoria, the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, ACCA, Craft Victoria, Monash Gallery of Art, RMIT, and more.