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Robert Dawson

London
Robert Dawson makes clay paintings. He also produces architectural ceramic art and designs for industry. Robert studied at the Royal College of Art and Camberwell College of Arts.

Visual art and design

 

Solo and two-person exhibitions include:

  • 2023: Signifying Nothing in Colour, Ken Artspace, London, 11 to 27 May 2023
  • 2023: Signifying Nothing, Ken Artspace, London, 15 April to 6 May 2023
  • 2021-22: Pièces à problèmes - Robert Dawson and Richard Slee, Musée Ariana, Geneva
  • 2017: En Avant, The Shrine of St Augustine, Ramsgate
  • 2015-16: Robert Dawson: Pattern Play, National Glass Centre, Sunderland
  • 2012: Surface Games / Jeux de Surface, Barthète, Boussan, France
  • 2010: Bypass, in collaboration with Steve Bunn, New Greenham Arts, New Greenham Park, Newbury, Berkshire
  • 2008: Ornament & Crime, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
  • 2005: Robert Dawson Aesthetic Sabotage, Clay Gallery, Venice, California
  • 2003: Robert Dawson, Window Gallery, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf
  • 1999: Robert Dawson, Eurostar, Waterloo, London
  • 1999: Periphera, Royal College of Art, London
  • 1997: Appropriating the Willow, Studio Pottery Gallery, Exeter
  • 1993: Against Nature, in collaboration with Richard Slee, Sight Specific Gallery, Arundel

 

Collections include:

  • The Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool
  • The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
  • The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas
  • The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
  • The Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
  • The British Council Collection, London
  • The Museum of Arts and Design,  New York City
  • The Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • RIAN Design Museum, Falkenberg, Sweden
  • Designmuseum Danmark, Copenhagen
  • The Gosport Museum, Hampshire
  • The International Ceramic Studio, Kecskemét, Hungary
  • Museo De Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • Contemporary Art Society purchase for The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery,  Stoke-on-Trent
  • Temple Newsam House, Leeds
  • Auckland Museum,  New Zealand
  • Manchester Art Gallery,  Manchester
  • Palais des Evêques de Comminges,  Alan,  France
  • Permanenten Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum,  Bergen, Norway
  • Maison Patrimoniale de Barthète,  Boussan,  France
  • Museum of Fine Arts,  Boston,  Massachusetts 
  • Musée Ariana, Geneva

 

Art commissions include:

  • Mayforth Property Ltd, Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd and Axiom Architects [link]
  • Liverpool City Council [link]
  • European Land, Ginkgo Projects
  • Hilton Hotels Corporation, The Manser Practice Architects and Designers [link]
  • Selfridges, London, 
  • The Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston
  • Nottingham City Council
  • John Lewis, Victoria Centre, Nottingham
  • Waitrose, Marylebone, London
  • The World of Interiors magazine, London
  • Spayne Lindsay & Co, London, Headline Publishing Group, London
  • The Art House, Wakefield
  • Churchill Hospital, Oxford
  • The House of Words, Dr Johnson's House, London [link]

 

Design industry commissions:

  • Ceramica Bardelli, Milan [link]
  • Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd., Stoke-on-Trent
  • Volpe and Volpe, London
  • tmtmDesigns, Conwy
  • Habitat, London

 

Awards:

  • Surface Design Awards 2015, Winner of the Commercial Exterior Surface Category
  • Jerwood Contemporary Makers 2010
  • Built Environment Award, British Ceramics Biennial,  2009
  • The Elle Deco International Design Awards 2006, international winner of the Tableware category
  • The BDI (Birmingham Design Initiative), Industry and Genius Awards 2005, Award for Excellence, Ceramics & Glass Winner
  • Elle Decoration UK Design Awards 2005, best in Accessories
  • The Elle Decoration and Observer Magazine, Readers' Future Classic Award, 2005
  • elit-tile 2002 Award, Museo De Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

 

Screenings:

  • 10th Fringe Film & Video Festival,  Edinburgh
  • 1st Wrexham Maelor Film & Video Festival
  • The British Short Film Festival (1995),  London

 

Art colleges:

  • 1997/99: MA,  Ceramics & Glass,  Royal College of Art
  • 1990/93: BA,  Art and Design,  Camberwell College of Arts

 

Past group exhibitions include:

2020-21: Between Sea and Sky: Blue and White Ceramics from Persia and Beyond, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

2019: ‘Mixed Display’, Marsden Woo Gallery, London

2018: ’Porcelain Plus', Køppe Contemporary Objects, Gallery R2, Søndergade 2. Svaneke, Bornholm, Denmark

2018: 'Put it at Stake - Six Voices in Contemporary Ceramics', RIAN Design Museum, Falkenberg, Sweden, [link] 

2017: 'Form + Motion', Cheongju Craft Biennale, UK Pavilion [link]

2017: 'Roseberys Introducing Curious SE27', Roseberys, West Norwood

2017: 'Surface Explorers', St Luke's Church, West Norwood

2017: Putting it at Stake – Six voices in Contemporary Ceramics, Porslinsfestivalen Lidköping, Sweden

2017: Køppe Contemporary Objects, Collect, Saatchi Gallery, London

2016-17: Cross Currents: China Exports and the World Responds, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico

2016: Køppe Contemporary Objects, Copenhagen

2015-16: Drawing, National Glass Centre, Sunderland

2015: Re- reanimate, repair, meld & mend, Bluecoat Display Centre, LiverpoolMany

2015: Many a Slip, invited artists juggle with the domestic symbol of ‘the cup’ - Curated by Alison Britton

2013-14: Horizon – Landscapes, Ceramics and Prints, National Museum, Oslo, Norway

2013: New Blue and White, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

2012: Blue & White, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA 

2012: Manchester Contemporary, Manchester

2012: Curious:  A site-specific art trail at West Norwood Cemetery, London

2011: Ting Tang Trash - Upcycling in Contemporary Ceramics, Art Museums in Bergen, Permanenten, The West Norway Museum of Decorative Art, Bergen [link]

2011: Le décor est planté..., Manufacture Bernardaud, Limoges

2011: Award, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

2011: Thinking Horizontally, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2011: Prints and Transfers - Drucktechniken auf Keramik, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany

2010: (WCC-BF): Second European Triennial of Ceramic and Glass, Anciens Abattoirs, Mons, Belgium

2010: Korero and Hui Hua – Ceramics in Conversation,Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan

2010: Hands On: Design Brought to Life, Arts Gallery, University of the Arts London

2010: Jerwood Contemporary Makers 2010, Jerwood Space, London, and UK and Ireland tour, 2010/11

2010: Bypass, New Greenham Arts, New Greenham Park, Newbury, Berkshire

2010: Ospiti Inaspettati - Case di Ieri, Design di Oggi, Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, Milan, Italy

2010: Intersecting Disciplines, Camberwell Space, Camberwell College of Arts, London

2010: Medium Resistance, Ice Box Project Space, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, Exhibition in conjunction with Philagrafika 2010: The Graphic Unconscious

2010: l'artelier céramique, Cité-Derrière 3, CH 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland

2009: Art & Utility, West Wales School of the Arts Gallery, Carmarthen

2009: Non Object Ive, Lodz Design 2009, Poland

2009: British Ceramics Biennial awards exhibition, The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

2009: Pressing Matter, Cheongju International Craft Biennale 2009, South Korea

2009: Three by One: a selection from 3 public craft collections by Alison Britton, Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey

2009: UK to OK: Exploring Traditions in Contemporary Design, Price Tower Arts Centre, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

2009: The Revivalists, Contemporary Applied Arts, London 

2009: House of Words: Celebrating the tercentenary of the birth of Dr Johnson in 2009, Dr Johnson's House, London

2009: Object Factory: the Art of Industrial Ceramics, The Museum of Arts and Design, New York City 

2009: Fragiles, Al-Sabah Art & Design Collection, Kuwait

2008: Tea’s Up , Contemporary Applied Arts, London

2008: Object Factory: the Art of Industrial Ceramics, The Gardiner Museum, Toronto

2007: Form and Tradition - Contemporary Ceramics , Hastings Museum & Art Gallery

2007: Func Art , drud & køppe gallery, Copenhagen

2007: Fragiles, Design Miami, Florida, and world tour

2007: 63rd Scripps Ceramic Annual, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Claremont, California

2006: a-mart , Ale & Porter Arts, Bradford on Avon

2006: In Production (part of the London Design Festival), T2, Brick Lane, London

2006: Breakers , PM Gallery, Ealing, London

2006: European Ceramic Context 2006 , Hjorth Museum of Ceramics, Bornholm, Denmark

2005: Materialize (part of the London Design Festival), The Arts Gallery, University of the Arts London

2005: A Great Mania: the Influence of Delftware , Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Idaho

2005: Flower Power, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2005: Something Borrowed, Contemporary Applied Arts, London

2005: 5 First, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2004: Wedgwood at 100% Design, London

2004: Resident Alien, Crafts Council Gallery Shop, Islington

2004: The Home Ideal Show , (Eshoda Arts), Hotbath Gallery, Bath

2003: Everything but ..., British Council exhibition, touring the Middle East and South East Asia

2003: The Vitrified Image, The Hyde Gallery, El Cajon, California

2002: elit-tile 2002 International Ceramic Tile Triennial, Museo De Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

2002: Blue + White = Radical, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY

2002: Sleepers, The Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, (part of the Ceramica International Festival)

2001: In-Print, Ferens Gallery, Hull, and UK tour

2000: Buildingcraft , Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston

2000: Pattern Transfer , Spode Museum, Stoke on Trent, and Waygood Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne

2000: New Routes, New Destinations , Rosenthal, Milan Furniture Fair, and European tour

1999: The Plate Show, Collins Gallery, Glasgow, and world tour

1999: Rosenthal, Royal College of Art, London

1998: art.tm, Inverness

1998: Off the wall ..., The London Institute Gallery, London

1998: The British Council, London

1998: Exhibitions of the Hot Off The Press Symposium, Kecskemét and Budapest, Hungary

1997: Fired, Harriett Green Gallery, London

1996: Hot Off The Press, Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, and UK tour

1994: King Street Studios, London

1993: Against Nature (in collaboration with Richard Slee), Sight Specific Gallery, Arundel

1993: Ceramic Contemporaries , Victoria and Albert Museum, London

1993: Maastricht Biennale, Maastricht, Holland

 

 

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