Geoffrey Swindell

Artist Statement   |   Show Record & Vitae

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	GS 13 Porcelain vase 5.25" h x 3.25" w				GS 23 Porcelain vase 4.75" h x 3.5" w
	GS 17 Porcelain vase 5" h x 3.5" w				GS 27 Porcelain lidded jar 4.25" h x 4" w
	GS 20 Porcelain vessel 6" h x 5' w				GS 29 Porcelain vessel 4" h x 5.5" w
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I was born and bred in the "Potteries" area of England (Stoke-on-Trent) in 1945 which was the main area for pottery manufacture in Europe.

I left school at 15 in 1960 without any qualifications and went to Art School for a year to get enough experience of Art to apply to become an apprentice face painter of Doulton figures but I rather liked the bohemian life style of the Art college and became a full time painting student until a summer job at a local pottery made me want to carry on where my ancestors left off and become a potter too.

I left the Royal College of Art in 1970 and opened my first studio in York where I also worked as a lecturer at York School of Art.

In 1975 I moved to Cardiff where I opened a new studio and became a senior lecturer in Ceramics for the University of Wales. In 2003 I left the teaching post to pursue my work full time.

I have been working on a small scale, making porcelain vessels usually less than 12 cms high since leaving the Royal College of Art in 1970. Throughout this period of time inspiration for form, colour and texture has been drawn from a wide variety of sources including sea creatures, fossils, science fiction illustrations and my own collection of objects, eroded by the sea and found on the beaches of South Wales.

The tiny detailed objects I make reflect these disparate visual interests often producing pots that appear to amalgamate the sources of inspiration into forms that may look as if they have been washed up on the beach having travelled from not only another shore, but another galaxy far away.

To create the pieces I use the potter's wheel to make precise and accurately engineered forms with soft organic looking glazes reflecting the contrasting qualities I enjoy finding in my source material.

All the forms are small enough to put in a pocket, like the pebbles and other mysterious objects, changed by time and circumstance, I find as I walk along the shoreline.

My work has been included in many international exhibitions and publications, with solo shows in London and New York, examples are held in many private collections and forty museums and public collections throughout the world including the Victoria and Albert in London, Institute of Art Chicago, County Museum of Art Los Angeles. Early work regularly passes through Sotherby's , Christies, and Bonhams sales.

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