Geoffrey Swindell English, b. 1945

Works
Overview
Vessel by Geoffrey Swindell
Geoffrey Swindell at work in his studio

'Some people say my ceramics are like washed up sea creatures, some still alive, some just remnants turning slowly to dust. Others see unidentified objects from a far away galaxy, not sure whether they are organic or constructed, friendly or malevolent. My first experience as an artist was as a painter learning to paint classic illustrative images and then moving on to canvases that were purely abstract expressions of emotion through colour and texture. When I became a potter I carried this involvement with surface qualities through to my ceramics creating objects that are not just simply coated in glaze but have an essential and inseparable relationship of form and surface.

 

‘I make all parts of the pieces on the potters wheel creating a thick section to be trimmed and thinned with sharp steel tools when leather hard. Some pieces are textured by tapping the surface with a multi-pointed wire brush, ball ended tools and various sticks. The fine characterless texture and whiteness of Porcelain gives a good bright ground to enhance the colour rather like a pure white canvas. I use an Air brush to spray the surface of the forms with colours allowing me to build up overlapping layers of slip, glaze and oxides.'

 

Geoffrey Swindell was born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1945. He left school at 15 in 1960 and went to Art College to get enough experience to apply to become an apprentice face painter of Doulton figurines. After studying painting, a summer job at the pottery at Alton Towers inspired Geoffrey to become a potter. He completed his MA in Fine Art at The Royal College of Art in 1970, and lectured at Cardiff Metropolitan University until 2003.

 

Geoffrey’s work has been included in many international exhibitions and publications with solo shows in London and New York. Examples are held in over forty museums and public collections throughout the world including the Victoria and Albert in London and the National Museum of Wales. Geoffrey currently lives and works in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, and is continuing to work in his studio.

Biography
Geoffrey Swindell at work in his studio
Geoffrey Swindell at work in his studio

Education 
1960 – 1967       Studied at Stoke-on-Trent College 
1967 – 1970       MA Fine Art, Royal College of Art. 
1970 – 1975       Lecturer at York School of Art 
1975 – 2003       Lecturer at Cardiff School of Art, University of Wales. 

 Awards 

2007      Art in Clay, Studio Pottery Award 

 Solo Exhibitions (selected) 

1972      Contemporary Applied Arts, London  
1974      Oxford Gallery, Oxford  
1974      Midland Group Gallery 
1974      Sutton College, Surrey 
1978      National Museum of Wales  
1979      Oxford Gallery, Oxford 
1980      Graham Gallery, New York  
1985      Graham Gallery, New York  
1988      Aberystwyth Arts Centre 
1997      European Ceramics, Yorkshire  
1999      Graham Gallery, New York. 
2002      Newport Museum and Art Gallery, South Wales 
2003      JG Contemporary (James Graham & Sons), New York  
2006      James Graham & Sons, New York 

Public Collections

Victoria and Albert Museum, London 
Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester 
Museum & Art Gallery, Nottingham 
Museum and Art Gallery, Swindon 
Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham 
Museum and Art Gallery, Reading 
Museum and Art Gallery, Bradford 
Museum and Art Gallery, Newport, Gwent 
Museum and Art Gallery, Portsmouth 
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 

Holburne Museum, Bath 

Royal Ulster Museum, Belfast 
Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh 
Castle Museum, Norwich 
Abbot Hall, Museum, Kendal 
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff 
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth 
Welsh Arts Council 
Crafts Council, London 
Yorkshire Education Authority 
Boyman-van Beunigen, Rotterdam 
Art and History Museum, Brussels 
Princessenhof Museum, Leeuwarden, Holland 
Museum of Applied Arts, Sydney, Australia 
National Gallery of Victoria, Australia 
Perth Museum, Australia 
Museum of Hannover, Germany 
Keramion Ceramics Museum Germany 
Landes Museum of Decorative Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland 

Bellerive Museum, Switzerland 
County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, U.S.A. 
Institute of Art, Chicago, U.S.A 
The Mint Museum of Craft & Design, North Carolina. USA 
Arizona State University,U.S.A 
Taipei County, Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan 

Arizona State University, Art Museum, U.S.A 

The American Museum of Ceramic Art, California, U.S.A 

Exhibitions
Video