In art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorative, industrial or applied art objects, or as artifacts in archaeology. They may be made by one individual or in a factory where a group of people design, make and decorate the ware. Decorative ceramics are sometimes called "art pottery".

The word "ceramics" comes from the Greek keramikos (κεραμικος), meaning "pottery", which in turn comes from keramos (κεραμος), meaning "potter's clay." Most traditional ceramic products were made from clay (or clay mixed with other materials), shaped and subjected to heat, and tableware and decorative ceramics are generally still made this way. In modern ceramic engineering usage, ceramics is the art and science of making objects from inorganic, non-metallic materials by the action of heat. It excludes glass and mosaic made from glass tesserae.

Adam Lewis Buick (6 January 1944–) is a prominent London-based socialist.

Buick was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales and graduated from the University of Oxford. He joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain in 1962 and since then has been one of its most active members. He is a frequent public speaker for the Party, and as of 2007 is the all-time second-most prolific contributor to the Socialist Standard. Buick served as the Party's General Secretary from 1993 to 1995.

Buick's writings on socialist theory have been widely referenced and critiqued in the leftist press and in scholarly journals.

Clarice Cliff (20 January 1899 - 23 October 1972) was an English ceramic industrial artist active from 1922 to 1963.

Cliff was born in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, England.

The Cliff family ancestors moved to Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire from the Eccleshall area in about 1725. When Clarice was born their home was on Meir Street on a terrace of modest houses, but Tunstall was actually a slightly better part of Stoke on Trent. Cliff's father Harry worked at the local iron foundry in Tunstall, her mother Ann took in washing to supplement the family income, and they had 7 children.

Cliff was sent to a different school from her siblings, and this perhaps prompted her more independent approach to her career, and her non-standard life style by Stoke on Trent standards. It is known that after school Cliff would visit aunts who were hand paintresses at a local pottery company, and she also made models from papier-mâché at school.

At the age of 13, Cliff started working in the pottery industry. Her first work was as a gilder, adding gold lines on ware of traditional design. Once she had mastered this she changed jobs to learn freehand painting at another potbank, at the same time studying art and sculpture at the Burslem School of Art in the evenings.