About the Conference
The International Woodfire Conference at Starworks in Star, N.C. is a collaboration between Starworks and the woodfire potters of North Carolina. The goal of this conference is to explore all aspects of wood firing and examine its relevance in educational, historical, ethical, environmental and aesthetic contexts pertaining to our field.

About the Exhibition
The 2025 Woodfire NC conference student juried exhibition is an opportunity to widen the scope of our exhibitions and give all contributors to the wood-fire ceramic community a chance to be celebrated. Work that is juried into the show will be due at Starworks by March 31st. This exhibition will run April 15th, 2025 until the last day of the main conference Sunday, May 25th, 2025. 

Meet the Jurors
This exhibition will be juried by John Neely, Professor of Art in Ceramics at Utah State University in Logan, UT and Priscilla Mouritzen, South African-born ceramic artist who has lived and worked in Denmark for the past 35 years. She has a long relationship with the International Ceramic Center at Guldagergaard in Denmark where she helps with programming and fires her work.

Awards
These jurors will work together to select the artists for the final exhibition and they will also be selecting three finalists. The finalists will be distinguished as Third Place, Second Place and Best in Show and each will receive a prize with their award.

$600 - First Place
$300 – Second Place
$100 – Third Place

Recipients of the awards will be notified by end of March 2025. Awarded artists will be acknowledged in the exhibition signage and main conference program.

Application Requirements

Each artist is allowed to submit up to three single pieces of work for consideration and send up to three photos maximum to portray those works.  All works must be primarily ceramic. Mixed media works will be accepted only when clay is the dominant material. 

Artists are also asked to submit an artist statement, contact information, and a document containing a description of the work submitted. 

Work that is juried into the show will be due at Starworks by March 31st. This exhibition will run April 15th, 2025 until the last day of the main conference Sunday, May 25th, 2025. 

Eligibility Criteria

This exhibition is open to all wood-fire ceramic artists that consider themselves a student of their practice. You do not have to have an official affiliation to an educational institution to apply. Submission eligibility includes, but are not limited to, those who are currently in a stage of learning their art and craft on any continent (examples: studio assistants, apprenticeships, post-baccalaureates, internships, artist in residency programs, etc.).