NEIL BROWNSWORD (b. 1970)
Neil Brownsword’s work over the past dozen years has drawn intensely from his surroundings in Stoke on Trent. Growing up here, against the background of the decline of the Potteries and the subsequent demolition of many of the original factory sites – he has found a rich source of inspiration and material in the detritus and clay waste that lies beneath the city.
By collecting and re-using these various scraps, the fusings and meltings he has found from the factory floor, and assembling them into beautiful abstract amalgams – often further transformed by re-firing – Brownsword regenerates this material into structures and landscapes with various levels of meaning. The work comments on and explores the history and social experience of working in the city’s pottery industry.
Above: Neil Brownsword, Stoke-on-Trent, 2008
Photo © Steve Speller, courtesy of the Crafts Council
Curriculum Vitae
Education |
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1990-93 |
BA (Hons) Ceramics, University of Wales, Cardiff |
1993-95 |
M.A. Ceramics and Glass, Royal College of Art, London |
1999- |
Practise-based PhD, Brunel University |
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Selected Exhibitions |
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1996 |
Neil Brownsword, City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent (solo) |
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Hot of the Press, Tullie House, Carlisle (touring) |
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Objects of Our Time, Crafts Council, London (touring) |
1999 |
Decadence, Crafts Council, London (touring) |
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Figures of the Nineties, Contemporary Applied Arts, London |
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Hoogrood, Galerie Claude Andre, Brussels |
2000 |
British Ceramics 2000, Dk, Grimmerhus Ceramics Museum, Denmark |
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close, 3 Up series, Crafts Council, London |
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Neil Brownsword, Gallery for New Ceramics, Copenhagen (solo) |
2001 |
Selections, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York |
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The Flower Show, Rowley House Museum, Shrewsbury (solo) |
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Tate Ten: Turner to Warhol, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent |
2002 |
Mellum Rum, Galleri Nørby, Copenhagen |
2003 |
30/30 Vision, Creative Journeys in Contemporary Craft, Crafts Council, London (touring) |
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Narrative Figures, Contemporary Applied Arts, London |
2005 |
Collaging History, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent (solo) |
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Collaging History, Blas & Knåda, Stockholm (solo) |
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Languages, Galerie 422, Gmunden, Austria (touring) |
2006 |
Clay In Dus Try, International Ceramic Research Centre, Denmark |
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20 + 1 Years of the Tozan Kilns, Northern Arizona University Art Museum |
2007 |
V&A 150th Anniversary, selected artist, Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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Hue Line & Form (Part Two), Contemporary Applied Arts, London |
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Form & Tradition, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery |
2008 |
Poet of Residue, Galerie Besson, London |
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Professional Experience |
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1987-89 |
Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd, trainee modeller / graphic designer |
1995 |
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, freelance modeller and assistant |
1995 – Present |
Buckinghamshire New University, High Wycombe, Senior Tutor |
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Collections |
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1997 |
Crafts Council, London |
2001 |
International Ceramic Centre, Skælskor, Denmark |
2002 |
Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
2005 |
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent |
Exhibitions at Galerie Besson
| Neil Brownsword | Feb - Mar 2008 |
