MenLo is a studio and gallery focused on growing the international artist community in Jingdezhen, providing access to the city for aspiring ceramic artists, and amplifying young and emerging Chinese contemporary artists in any medium. As a studio we are committed to working in an integrated way with the city, its artisans, and its industry. As a gallery we do not have representational relationships with artists, we facilitate making, and try to find the work done in our studio homes in various galleries, museums, and other venues around China.
2025 Jingdezhen Summer Sessions
Each year we host intensive summer sessions with the dual goals of growing participants’ ceramic skills and knowledge and leading an in-depth exploration of Jingdezhen and its unique ceramic possibilities and histories. As a group we tour the city making stops at museums, factories, artisan workshops, artist studios, markets, exhibitions, and amazing scenic spots all around the city and the surrounding countryside, all while making work for a session-end exhibition under the guidance and with the inspiration of a professional workshop leader (or two) from the field of international ceramics. We also do our best to help our participants to mix with the culture of Jingdezhen, and show off the fact that Jingdezhen is both a sneaky-good food city, and possibly the youngest and hippest art capital to be found. Housing, studio materials, studio space, entrance fees, assistance, technical lessons, and transportation within Jingdezhen are all included in our session fee of 14,000 RMB.
Making and Breaking the Mold with Helen Johannesen June 18 – July 8
Push the boundaries and see what can occur in the heart of Jingdezhen along with professional model and mold maker Helen Johannessen. Refine your skills or try something new in the perfect place to explore clay, surrounded by expertise, tradition, and experienced makers. Helen’s artwork twists foundational industrial ceramic techniques to create subtle and perplexing formal contemporary works. She’s not afraid of things going wrong, in fact, she believes it’s taught her all she knows! In this three-week ceramic intensive you’ll have the opportunity to push your practice to new heights and take risks with the goal of creating beautiful works in clay and expanding your skillset. Whether you want to learn to produce your own designs from start to finish or work with the artisans and craftsmen of Jingdezhen to produce something beyond the scope of your studio practice this is the opportunity for you. An in-studio focus on form and process will complement out-of-studio visits to factories, workshops, historical locales, and scenic wonders of the porcelain capital of the world. Demonstrations in formal modeling and mold making from Helen will be paired with lessons in traditional skills from Jingdezhen Artisans and technical demos from the MenLo staff. Will you make the mold or will you break it?
About Helen Johannesen
Helen Johannesen has been working in the ceramic industry since graduating in 1995 from Middlesex University, London, training in a production studio as a professional model and mould maker. She worked in the film industry in the late 90’s as a model maker at Shepperton Studios, building scale models of Trafalgar Square and props for Lost In Space among other productions. In 2017 she graduated from a Masters degree at the RCA London. As an artist she has exhibited widely and has garnered honors; gaining a post graduate scholarship at Konstfack, Sweden 2018, winner of the Franz Rising Star in 2018, Zsu Zsi Roboz scholar 2019 and the HRH Presidential Award for Endangered Crafts 2020 from the Heritage Craft Association. She was shortlisted in the Blanc de Chine International Ceramics competition 2023, Hari Art Prize, UK 2022 and more recently won the People’s Choice Be Still Media, USA 2024. Helen has taught and lectured in universities, colleges and studios including Central St Martins, Middlesex University, Morley College, and The Kiln Rooms. She has worked on creative projects with the Crafts Council, British Council and given workshops across the world
Collected Methodologies with Future Retrieval July 23 – August 12
Join Future Retrieval (artists Guy Michael Davis and Katie Parker) in a three-week intensive ceramics session exploring Jingdezhen and all its ceramic history, technology, and craft together. This residency will focus on ceramic surface, pattern, and the empirical study of archives and collections around the region through excursions to museums, scenic areas, and cultural sites. We will discuss contemporary methodologies and approaches to designing objects with the surface in mind, building layers of information as we integrate a variety of new and traditional processes picked up both in studio and through visits to factories, workshops, and the studios of other artists. The Session will begin before arriving in Jingdezhen with the designing of imagery to be realized using glazes, transfers, overglazes, decals, painting and carving. The production of forms for these images to layer upon will be the focus of the early session. We will build with access to the wide variety of ceramic processes available in JDZ while working with potters, mold makers, slab builders, bisque producers, and new technology to design and produce objects in clay. In-studio lessons will move between process-based workshops to individual critiques and discussions around contemporary art, craft, and design and will be led by Future Retrieval, local masters of traditional skills, and the MenLo staff. Future Retrieval’s work speaks to the wonders of the past while simultaneously addressing imbalances of art history that too-often neglect so-called decorative or minor arts. Unlike any place in the world, Jingdezhen offers the unique ability to experiment, iterate, and produce objects supported by generations of makers, inspired by over 1700 years of porcelain production and history.
About Future Retrieval
Since 2008, Guy Michael Davis and Katie Parker have been collaborating under the name Future Retrieval, mining archives and museums to digitally collect and make objects that re-examine the history of decorative arts. Davis and Parker currently reside in Scottsdale, Arizona where Parker is an Associate Professor in the School of Art at Arizona State University. Their most recent solo exhibitions include Crystal-Walled Seas at Denny Gallery in 2022 and Close Parallel at the Cincinnati Art Museum in 2021. Future Retrieval’s work is held in numerous collections such as the Arizona State University Ceramics Research Center (AZ), Cincinnati Art Museum (OH), 21C Museum/Hotel (NC), Society of Dresden Porcelain Art (Germany), and Jingdezhen International Studio (China). They have exhibited both nationally and internationally and received prestigious awards and residencies such as the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, IASPIS, and Bemis Center Arts Residency. Their work has been reviewed and featured in Artforum, Vogue, Sculpture Magazine, AEQAI, Los Angeles Times, and Hyperallergic. Davis and Parker both received their MFA from the Ohio State University and BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute.
How To Jingdezhen: Residency Sessions for Professionals April 1 - May 31 & Oct 1 - Dec 1 yearly
For professional artists and designers with a plan. Fully assisted residencies are available for up to 3 artists looking to expand their pratice through a specific project or goal in Jingdezhen. Contact us @ MenLoJDZ@gmail.com for more information or send a bit about yourself and your goal + Links/Attatchments of representative work to begin the application process. These sessions are aimed at professionals looking to accomplish a specific goal in Jingdezhen, be it production sourcing, prototyping, completion of a sculptural project, and any other concrete aspiration. Unlike our summer sessions there is no schedule to this session, and the focus is much narrower for each individual participant. Participants can choose their own dates within each session with a minimum of three weeks (exceptions can be made based on goals that would require less time) and will be given housing, studio space, and assistance for a session fee of 2900 RMB per week.
For an idea of the cost of living and available services as well as some practical information about Jingdezhen for interested applicants.
Contact us @ MenLoJDZ@Gmail.com or follow us @ps_jingdezhen on instagram