NAGPECA changed its title to the National Association for Ceramics in Higher Education or the simpler NACHE, and what turned out to be the last annual exhibition was held at Glasgow School of Art. Each college selected six pieces from its final years to display but there the tradition stopped. The work at Saying it with Clay was displayed in a complementary manner. It sounds so simple but this was quite radical. Like was displayed with like to create logical groupings flattering the work rather the 'lumped together to represent individual departments'.

The foundation for Ceramic Contemporaries came in the form of the working party proposals on promotion and publicity which identified the dichotomy faced by NACHE; was it promoting itself or ceramics? In the battle to protect ceramics courses from falling student numbers and increasing financial stringencies it was trying to do both. Fundamental to the success of the next show was an open submission and juried selection in order to 'create a high profile event to provide a strong increased awareness to the subject'. With prizes, sponsorship, a major central venue and at least a three-year preparation period this was the blueprint for Ceramic Contemporaries. So Ceramic Contemporaries, developed in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum and launched in the old Boilerhouse space, CC1 broke new ground. A group of people from differing institutions worked together to produce the exhibitions, an administrator was paid for and people from outside roped in to help. Scholarly essays were commissioned for the catalogue and wherever possible student or graduate help was used to maintain the NACHE commitment to support wider education issue.

CC1 was opened to graduates from ceramics courses from the past five years. The concept of a national competition launched in a venue with the international profile of the V&A offered a challenging focus for new and recent graduates. With the jury culled from ceramic practice, criticism and curatorship this was unknown territory. It was never likely to be simply a 'best of show' but a snapshot of current ceramic practice. For the first show there were over 600 entrants with some 3000 slides. 124 new faces were seen in that show. With the wider media coverage it was a terrific boost to the NACHE ego and set the scene for CC2 and CC3. Number 2, with a submission of 461, stayed at the V&A and showed 61 people in the small gallery next to the ceramics galleries. The current show has only 410 entrants with 54 making into the exhibition.

With a selected show there is the risk that not every course will be represented. Does this matter? The point of the Ceramic Contemporaries is for NACHE almost to take a step back from the courses it represents and look to the future of ceramics education. These shows are chosen by objective people taking a subjective view of the current state of ceramics graduates.

Parallel to the exhibitions are the NACHE conferences and symposia. These are a chance for a public debate and, in the case of the seminars, internal discussions about the future for ceramics education. Both CC1 and 2 held public symposia but a CC3 symposium failed to attract enough interest.

With a major conference in Birmingham in 2000 to debate the future of ceramics and the challenge of Ceramic Contemporaries 4, NACHE is not resting on its laurels and has a long way to go before it can be happy about the state of ceramics. There is a huge commitment to ceramics from the organisers of NACHE many of whom teach and are also makers. With NACHE ceramics in education is kept alive and thrusting.

Helen Phillips

(Helen was the administrator of CC3 and is now Assistant Curator of Decorative Art at Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust).