This past spring, Norwegian Crafts announced our first open call in collaboration with the Mexican ceramic residency and production site Cerámica Suro. We received numerous applications from great artists, who wanted to expand their practice in ceramics at Cerámica Suro. Norwegian Crafts' selection committee first shortlisted five candidates, before the final selection was made by Cerámica Suro in dialogue with Norwegian Crafts' director.

We are excited to announce the artists selected for the residency in Guadalajara, Mexico, between September 2025–March 2026: Lorie Ballage, Nils Erichsen Martin and Lydia Soojin Park.

Lorie Ballage

«At Cerámica Suro, I aim to expand my ongoing research into watery narratives by exploring the sculptural and symbolic potential of ceramic tiles. This residency presents a rare opportunity to deepen my technical language — merging handcrafted sensibilities with industrial precision. I wish to experiment with repetition, scale, and surface to push the tile beyond its utilitarian origins, transforming it into a poetic and scenographic medium for storytelling.» Lorie Ballage

Lorie Ballage’s practice emerges from a deep engagement with water—as a transformative element and a metaphor for the fluidity of human experience. She works predominantly with ceramic sculptures, combined with recycled industrial materials, narration, and sound to create environments that blur the line between the familiar and the uncanny. These multi-sensory spaces aim to invite slowness and reflection, revealing hidden layers of connection. In a world saturated with ceramics—often invisible in their everyday utility—Ballage seeks to unearth the poetic and political potential of failure, absurdity, and disuse. Through this lens, ceramic becomes not just a material for making, but a tool for questioning.

Ballage (b. 1994 in Paris) holds an MFA from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design and a BFA from the Art Academy of Dundee. She is based in Bergen and is currently preparing for her upcoming solo exhibition at Buskerud Kunstsenter in October 2025 in Drammen.

Nils Erichsen Martin

«For my upcoming residency at Cerámica Suro I plan to develop a body of work to be exhibited at ART WKND GDL – Guadalajara Art weekend 2026. The opportunity to access the factory’s expertise and making the art on location is a big motivation for me.» Nils Erichsen Martin

Nils Erichsen Martin (b. 1969) is a ceramicist producing graphic, figurative sculptures and bas-reliefs infused with the playful gestures and signs of everyday identity. His aesthetic lifts from consumer culture, cubism, drawn animation, and graphic advertisement. Martin holds a masters degree in ceramics from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts – Department of Ceramics. He has exhibited widely in Norway and internationally, including at CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art, Kunsthall Grenland, Kunstbanken Art Museum, Sørlandet Art Museum, the Jingdezhen Ceramic University Art Museum, the Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. His work is included in several collections, including the National Museum in Oslo and Nordenfjeldske – National Museum of Decorative Arts in Trondheim.

Lydia Soojin Park

«I would love to explore and challenge my artistic pursuits and creativity in a setting rich with cultural and historical heritage. I also hope to draw fresh inspiration from the local scene and the diverse artists I meet during my stay, incorporating these influences into practice in the future. Through the materiality and structure of the ceramics-making process — and the diverse forms it allows — I will visually unfold the story of a timeless concept shared by both Eastern and Western cultures, approaching it from multiple perspectives.» Lydia Soojin Park

Lydia Soojin Park’s work draws inspiration from essential and grounding elements like clay, as well as from the diverse experiences of everyday life. Through a layered process that reveals time and traces, she explores and reflects on the virtues of life, creating a quiet yet persistent record of introspection.

Park (b. 1989, Seoul, Korea) holds an MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She recently completed a permanent public art project for the new psychiatric hospital at A-Hus, set to open in 2026, and is currently preparing for a solo exhibition at Northing in Bergen this October. Her work is included in several collections, including the National Museum in Oslo, KODE Bergen, and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

About Cerámica Suro

Cerámica Suro was founded in 1951 and is a family-run factory in Guadalajara, Mexico, led by José Noé Suro. It specialises in producing tiles, tableware, and decorative objects, primarily for the restaurant and hotel industry. Additionally, Cerámica Suro offers residency programmes for artists interested in large-scale ceramic production, enabling them to expand their artistic practice and gain expertise in production techniques in a professional setting. By 2025, over 500 international artists have participated in the residency.

Norwegian Crafts offers Norwegian/Norway-based artists or duojárat a two-month residency as an artist in residence at Cerámica Suro.