Gareth Mason
Some objects, works of literature, music, painting, or simply moments in time can be charged with life and significance. I associate these with the arena of feeling. The best art, irrespective of the discipline, is felt first and reasoned later. This belief is my creative bedrock. It springs from a child-like curiosity and relish of the stuff of earth, an evolving well of experience and a love of mystery. Beauty has many guises. I value the voluptuous and the visceral in equal measure. Art is at its most potent when it exposes something of the artist's humanity. The Spanish know this and call it Duende but this phenomenon has a pan-cultural blood line. Thus, a personal act of risk and disclosure can be both gift and revelation, if we are alive to it.
Teaching
2008- present Sessional Lecturer, University for the Creative Arts
2007-08 Artist in Residence, University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham
2006- present Visiting Lecturer, University of Westminster, Harrow
1998- 2006 Sessional tutor, BA ceramics, University College for the Creative Arts
2002 Consultant, Guildford College, March
1998- 2000 Alton College, ceramics tutor, part time
Awards
2009 'Honourable Mention', World Ceramic Biennale, Icheon, Korea
2006 Grants for the Arts award, Arts Council England, July 2006 – Keramik Symposium, Gmunden, Austria
2002 Grand Prix, 'White', short film, Projections d'Argile, Montpellier, France
1998 South Hill Park Development Award 1998 - 'Space Craft' exhibition
1997 National Lottery, ‘A4E’ express award 1997 - 'Clay for Today' exhibition
Solo Exhibitions
2009 'Terrain', Kunstforum Solothurn, Switzerland, April
2007 New Work, Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh, August
An Unfolding Narrative, Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts House, May
2005 Celadon and Sang de Bouef, Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh, August
Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow, April/May
2003 New Work, Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh, July/August
Group Exhibitions
2009 'CPA Selection', New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, June
‘Collect’, 2009, represented by Contemporary Ceramics, Saatchi Gallery, London
World Ceramic Biennale, Icheon, Korea, April
2008 VII Ceramic Congress, Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey
Winter Exhibition, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham
‘Formed’, Contemporary Ceramics, London
ISCAEE, Nairobi National Museum, Kenya, August
28 Concurso Internacional de Cerámica l’Alcora 2008 international ceramics competition and exhibition, Spain, July ‘Object, Vessel’, Kunstforum Solothurn, Switzerland: Group exhibition of British Ceramics with Sandy Brown, Jane
Perryman, Gabrielle Koch, Elizabeth Fritsch, Emmanuel Cooper, June - July
Leach Pottery, British Ceramics inaugural exhibition
Museo Nacional de Ceramica y Artes, Valencia, Spain, Keramik Symposium Gmunden touring exhibition, April
2007 Bettles Gallery Ringwwod, December
Milton Gallery, Barnes, December
New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, November
Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Hohr-Grenzhausen, Germany: Keramik Symposium Exhibition
New Members’ Exhibition, The Art Workers Guild, London, September
‘Collect’, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, represented by Contemporary Ceramics, February
Articles
2009 Feature Article (Cover), KeramikMagazinEuropa, January
2008 ISCAEE Kenya 2008, report, Ceramic Review no. 236, February 2009 documents the International Society for Ceramic Art Education and Exchange conference at Kenyatta University, Nairobi
'The Attraction of Opposites', is a feature article (Cover) by Helen Bevis in the November 2008 edition of Ceramics Monthly Magazine
2007 ‘Open to Interpretation’, is an essay by Caroline Whyman that accompanied my solo exhibition of the same name at Blackwell the Arts and Crafts House in May 2007. The exhibition brochure is available from the Lakeland Arts Trust by contacting Blackwell
Reviews
2009 Review of Ashley Howard's exhibition ‘Ritual and Setting’, Ceramic Review no 237, April 2009
2007 Review, ‘The Pot, The Vessel, The Object’, by Helen Bevis, Ceramic Review no. 227, 2007
2007 Review, ‘An Unfolding Narrative’, by Michael Eden, Ceramic Review no. 227, 2007
2002 ‘Art in Action’ review, Ceramics in Society no. 50, Winter 2002
Associations
2007-present International Society for Ceramic Art Education and Exchange
2007-present Fellow of the Craft Potters Association, London
2007- present Member of the Board of Trustees, the New Ashgate Gallery
2004-present Brother of the Art Workers Guild, London
1998- 2007 Professional member - Craft Potters Association, London