As part of the 2018 Portage Ceramic Awards, Te Uru is presenting a free exhibition tour with this year's judge Bari Ziperstein on Saturday 10 November, 12noon. A highlight of the Portage Ceramic Awards’ opening festivities, the judge's tour offers an overview of Ziperstein's background in ceramics, and a unique insight into her selection processes as she guides us through the exhibition.

Bari Ziperstein is an artist based in Los Angeles, California. Working in mixed media sculpture, Ziperstein’s primary focus is in ceramics. Her plural and fluid practice includes discrete objects, large-scale installation, site-specific public sculpture, and her line of functional ceramics, BZippy & Co. Materially experimental but conceptual at its core, Bari’s practice engages ideas of consumerism, propaganda, and the built environment. Her objects and sculptural tableaux reflect her interest in the political dimensions of capitalist economies and challenge the construction of desire and aspiration in contemporary American culture through a historical lens.