Gordon Baldwin exhibition

About

Born in Lincoln, England in 1932, Baldwin studied painting and pottery at the Lincoln School of Art and then at the Central School of Art and Design in London. He became a teacher of ceramics and sculpture at Eton College and has since become one of the world’s most distinguished ceramic artists. 

Baldwin is recognised for the rich variety of forms he builds which combine sculptural silhouettes with abstract painterly marks. He has been very influential in moving ceramics towards sculpted structures and away from traditional functional pots. He has said of his work: 

"The role I take is Artist as Explorer with the vessel as my basic structure (like the structure of a Haiku). Each piece begins out of a strange compulsion to take a certain action. I suppose the compulsion comes from things heard, things seen, things read and things done by drawing and previous work. I usually work in series constructing by the traditional method of coiling, discovering the piece as I proceed. It is an intuitive process carried on without analytical thought. The piece is made when the resonances are right. The Titles hint at the effect the pieces have on me and the contacts that have been made within the soup of my experience. The surfaces are dealt with weeks or months later. A lot of staring at the piece is involved - a sort of thoughtless gaze until there is a necessity for action. Of course each new piece is informed by the experiences I have already had in the studio. Different sorts of darkness and different sorts of silence are concepts that interest me. I work from an inner compulsion to explore my identity." 

The exhibition is illustrated in a catalogue and on our website, and it will be viewable from Monday through Saturday, 10:00am - 6:00pm and free to attend.