It's Art, but Is It Important, and Why?

I'm in the process of preparing for a presentation on Contemporary & Modern Ceramics.

This has caused, within me, 2 difficult tasks:

1)What makes a Ceramic piece, a Ceramic piece? By this, I mean: does the person to which the work is attributed have to create the entire piece, or just have a say in the process, or contribute to the design? I bring this up, because many of the works I've decided to present are simply canvases for the artist to work on. Frank Lloyd Wright did some of his geometric designs on plates. The Bauhaus School did many works that were very important, but seem more than anything to be production pieces that have good style.

2) How does one know if a contemporary Ceramicist is important? In this sense, I've hit many brick walls. Peter Voulkos is the only person I am absolutely, 100% positive is/was a major player in the art world. And I know Jun Kaneko is very important, but when I went to the Nelson-Atkins museum, I saw bowls that were mind-numbingly "just bowls." How am I to be sure that this is important art?