An exhibition of the Dubai Ceramic Award finalists and awards ceremony held at AUD, showcasing the growing interest in clay culture in the region.

The theme for last year’s Dubai Ceramic Award was ‘Texture’. In the weeks leading up to Design Week, entrants presented their work in ceramics centres across Dubai. Works by finalists were displayed at an exhibition at the American University in Dubai (AUD) during Dubai Design Week, and the winners and runners up were selected by a jury of specialists and announced at the awards evening.


The winner was announced on 13 November at 6:30pm.

About AUD

The Mission of the American University in Dubai is to serve as a culturally diverse learning community committed to the pursuit of knowledge through excellence in teaching and scholarly and creative endeavor, leading to students’ academic, personal and professional success, as well as the advancement of society.

About Michael Rice

Ceramicist Michael Rice makes sculptures, surfaces and textures that are difficult to date to a specific culture or place. His aim is to create completed objects with aesthetics that are visually striking but also have a familiarity of form. His post-firing techniques make the most out of the least materials, and his finishes are straightforward yet complex, creating a dialectic that transcends simple visual meaning, moving into iconic or ceremonial territory. Complementing the shape of each piece, these techniques create a synthesis that results in an archetypal presence.

The praxis of Michael’s discipline has always been to create awareness within himself, and to establish an understanding of what he is doing by first taking action and then reflecting and re-reflecting upon the action.
“When looking at a shell on the beach, a stone made beautiful by the endless caress of the tide, objects, forms, things created over time by the earth, I am awed by the skill of nature,” he says. “I have longed to be able to make things that look as natural as if nature had made them, to create objects that resonate with a timeless quality, with a feeling of a genesis beyond the constructed and manufactured.”