‘Part of the reason for making (in fact a very large part of the reason) is to see things that I have never seen before- to build something that I can not fully understand or explain.’
Born 1960 in Hertfordshire, UK, Ken Eastman studied at Edinburgh College of Art (1979-83) and at the Royal College of Art, London (1984-87). He exhibits widely internationally and has won many prestigious awards in the field of the ceramic arts, including the ‘Premio Faenza’, Italy in 1995, the ‘Gold Medal’ at the World Ceramic Exposition 2001 Korea and the ‘President De la Generalitat Valencia’at the 5 th Biennale International De Ceramica, Manises, Spain. In 1998-99 he was awarded the Arts Foundation Fellowship in Ceramics. His work is held in numerous public collections including The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; Musee des Arts Decoratifs de Montreal, Canada; Shepparton Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia; Museum Boijmans van Beunigen, Rotterdam; Landesmuseum, Stuttgart; Museu de Ceramica de Manises, Valencia and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The core of his work centres around the idea of the vessel. He has never made functional work, but rather uses the vessel as a subject- to give meaning and form to an expression. Working through the medium of ceramics, Eastman can be both builder and painter; can handle shape and structure, as well as exploring tone and colour. Alison Britton has written of his work: - “Not being at all bothered about function, Eastman’s work with the pot form has been a consistent route into increasing abstraction, playing both with form and surface. That is what is potentially special about ceramics- you can have body and dress, sculpture and painting, essentially connected. Painting has always been a strong card for Eastman; he can be lyrical on the sheer walls of his objects. The gestures that are made with the brush are fluid and sensual, the colours rich and quiet.” In addition to his studio work, Ken Eastman has lectured and taught in many colleges and universities throughout the UK and is currently Academic Research Lecturer at Glasgow School of Art, Scotland. ‘Ken Eastman, Behind the Gates of Clay’, a monograph about the development of the artist’s work was published in 2004 by the Barrett-Marsden Gallery, London. With an analytical essay by Jane McCabe, the book explores recurrent themes in Eastman’s work and the artist’s approach to making ceramics. Eastman was elected as a member of the International Academy of Ceramics in 2003
