Norma Harrack - Introduction to Studio Ceramics
Norma Rodney Harrack, potter, artist and lecturer - a graduate of the Jamaica School of Art and the
University of the West Indies in Heritage Studies, is recognized as one of the outstanding leading potters of Jamaica.
As a potter she has been the recipient of several awards:
- Gold Medal, Jamaica Festival of Arts - 1974
- The Prime Minister's Certificate of Recognition - 1988
- The Silver Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica, for her outstanding contribution in the field of pottery and ceramics - 1993.
- In 2001 she was inducted into the Caribbean Hall of Fame for Excellence in the Visual Arts.
- In 2002 she was the recipient of the Aaron Matalon Award, the principal award of the National Biennial presented by the National Gallery of Jamaica.
Exhibitions:
Norma has exhibited in numerous galleries locally and participated in several overseas exhibitions. In 1993, her work was exhibited in the World Triennial of Small Ceramics in Zagreb, Croatia. In the same year, her work was accepted in the juried exhibition at the Faenza International Art Competition, Italy, where all three entries were selected among the 163 pieces accepted from the 2,181 entries. In 1999, her works were exhibited in "Traditions in the Sun", a solo exhibition at the Burlington Art Center, Ontario, Canada She has also exhibited in Cairo-Egypt, Frechen-Germany, Geneva, Switzerland, Athens-Greece, Icheon-Korea, Yixing-China and Riga-Latvia.
Harrack is intrigued not only by local ceramic history, but by the many different histories that can be told through ceramics. Consequently, she has written and has published many essays and articles on the subject.
As a student coming out of the Leach/Baugh tradition, dominated by the vessel, a form common to all ceramic cultures for millennia, she has transcended the boundaries of the utilitarian. Her work often reflect her interest in historical artifacts and ancient pottery, from the ancient Byzantine glazed pottery, the Bellarmine, to the vessels of the Tianos (Jamaica's first inhabitants) but always presented in the contemporary modem medium. Her versatility is remarkable. Whether treating with the vessel, elongated bottles, slab work, decorative art, execution of murals, or interior furnishings, we find originality and creativity. In Norma Harrack's work, there is to be found an addiction to details and an overriding command of textures and surface treatments, with an unyielding infatuation with glazes but most importantly, there is a genuine love-affair for her chosen medium demonstrated by the passion of her uncompromising dedication.
Her work was subsequently featured on a special issue of Jamaican postage stamps in 1993.
