Rachel Wood English, b. 1962

Works
Overview
  • Rachel Wood, Breaking Through, 2022 Breaking Through, 2022
  • Rachel Wood, Fresh Skin, 2022 Fresh Skin, 2022
  • Rachel Wood, Green Morn, 2022 Green Morn, 2022
  • Rachel Wood, Regrowth, 2022 Regrowth, 2022
  • Rachel Wood, Sun Flash, 2022 Sun Flash, 2022
View works

“The impulsive desire we all have to want to touch, and the inherent emotional need to be touched, underpins the technical, creative and emotional foundations of my work.”

My ceramics are noted for their expressive, visceral, yet calm and considered qualities. Animated and complex surfaces, swathed with layer upon layer of slip and glaze, are carefully nurtured to life and so compel the viewer to their mysterious and hidden depths. Vessels are pinched and coiled, or thrown and altered, using stoneware clay, and fired in an electric kiln. 

 

The irresistible touch of human spirit and physicality merged with the clay are the foundations of my practical and intellectual ethos. Each fingerprint, toolmark, rip and join, traces the playful trail of making with clay,  just as every footstep and stride in the landscape infuses the images and feelings in my head and heart. But it is not just about depicting a tactile physical reality through this free and spontaneous process; we are enticed towards a metaphysical world, where the tangible transforms to the calm and acceptance of the intangible.

view: Ceramic Review feature Jan/Feb 2022 (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Biography
  • Rachel Wood, Breaking Through, 2022 Breaking Through, 2022
  • Rachel Wood, Fresh Skin, 2022 Fresh Skin, 2022
  • Rachel Wood, Green Morn, 2022 Green Morn, 2022
  • Rachel Wood, Regrowth, 2022 Regrowth, 2022
  • Rachel Wood, Sun Flash, 2022 Sun Flash, 2022
View works

Public Collections

Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Centre, Denmark.
Diessen Kulturgemeinschaftsammlung, Diessen Ammersee, Germany.
Sturt Craft Centre, Mittagong, NSW, Australia.
Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney, Australia.
Die Neue Sammlung, Bavarian State Design Museum, Munich, Germany.

 

Prizes

2017 Diessen Ceramic prizewinner, Diessen Ammersee, Germany.
2016 Die Neue Keramik prizewinner, Oldenburg, Germany.

 

Awards

2017 Harley Foundation
2017 Craft Potters Association Charitable Trust
2013 Arts Council Grants For the Arts
2013 Craft Potters Association Charitable Trust
2009 Craft Potters Association Charitable Trust
2007 Arts Council Grants For the Arts
2004 Arts Council Grants For the Arts
2003 East Midlands Arts Board Mentoring Scheme

 

Residencies

2019 Sturt Craft Centre, Mittagong, NSW, Australia.
2017 Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Centre, Denmark.
2013 Sturt Craft Centre, Mittagong, NSW, Australia.
2007 Rufford Craft Centre, Nottinghamshire.
2007 Assistant to Robin Welch, Suffolk.
2005 Rufford Craft Centre, Nottinghamshire.

 

Exhibitions

Regular participation since 2007 in UK at Earth & Fire, Art In Action, Art In Clay, Potfest in the Park, Oxford Ceramic Fair; and internationally at Keramisto (NL), Swalmen (NL), Diessen Ammersee (Germany), Oldenburg (Germany)

2021

‘Glaze Tests’ exhibition, Galerie Handwerk, Handwerkskammer München, Germany
Celebrating Ceramics. Waterperry Gardens, Oxon.
Ceramics In Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Pots and Food, Wardlow Mires, Derbyshire
Oxford Ceramics Fair, Oxford

2020

Fired Up, NPA group exhibition, Gallery 6, Newark, Nottinghamshire
2019
Sentient, solo exhibition, Sturt Craft Centre, Mittagong, NSW, Australia.
The Free Vessel, group exhibition, Galerie Metzger, Johannesberg, Germany.
Bowls, joint exhibition with Ann van Hoey, Terra Delft, Delft, NL.
Vases en Fleurs, group exhibition, Le Lavoir Céramique, Clamart, France.
2018
Meister der Moderne, group exhibition, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany.
Ceramic Art London, London.
Exhibition with Turi Heisellberg Pedersen, Puls Contemporary Ceramics, Brussels, Belgium.
Artist showcase, Red Barn Gallery, Cumbria.
Relic exhibition, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool.
Twenty Twenty Gallery, Shropshire.
2017
Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh.
Bircham Gallery, Norfolk.
Tangibles exhibition, Contemporary Ceramics, London.
Hidden Depths solo show, Landesmuseum für Kunst & Kulturgeschichte, Oldenburg, Germany.
Les Journées de la Céramique, St Sulpice, Paris.
Out of the Earth exhibition , Sam Scorer Gallery, Lincoln.
Ceramic Art London, Central St Martins, London.
2016
Les journées de la céramique, St Sulpice, Paris.
The Bakers Dozen, Roundhouse Gallery, Derbyshire.
Innovations in Ceramic Art, Cambridge.
Twenty Twenty Gallery, Much Wenlock, Shropshire.
Art In Action demonstrator, Waterperry, Oxon.
Les Journées de la Céramique, Paris, France.
2015
Featured artist, Bevere Gallery, Worcester.
Landscape exhibition, Robert Fogell Gallery, Stamford.
Contemporary Ceramics exhibition, St Michael's, Discoed, Powys, Wales.
2014
Landscape exhibition, Gallery Topp, Rowsley, Derbyshire.
Galerie Kempro group exhibition, Sterksel, NL.
2013
Japanese Tea Bowl, group exhibition, Japanese Embassy, London.
Young Clay, group exhibition, Keramiekcentrum Tiendschuur Tegelen, NL. 
 

Professional Summary

2019 Residential tutor at Sturt Craft Centre, Australia.

2019 Residential tutor at Lehmhuus AG, Switzerland.

2019 Residential tutor at Kunst-Handwerk-Wein School of Ceramics, Austria.

2018 Residential tutor at Kunst-Handwerk-Wein School of Ceramics, Austria.

2018 Residential tutor at La Meridiana, Tuscany, Italy.

2017 Residential tutor at La Meridiana, Tuscany, Italy.

2017 Residential tutor at Keramikgruppe, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany.

2007-10 Secretary for Harley Studio Group, Harley Foundation Studios, Welbeck.

2007-15 Ceramic tutor at Rufford Craft Centre.

2007-10 Sessional ceramic tutor at West Notts College, Mansfield.

2009-10 Ceramic technician p/t, West Notts College.

2007 Visiting lecturer, Nottingham Trent University.

2007 Visiting lecturer at Avondale College, Cooranbong, & University of Canberra, Australia.

2004-07 Arts Strategy & Development Officer, Gedling Borough Council, Nottingham.

2000-04 Project & Community Development Officer (P/T), Rufford Craft Centre.

 

Education

2004 PGCE Adult & FE Teacher's Certificate.

1996–99 BA Hons in 3D Design (Ceramics), Loughborough College of Art & Design.

1980–84 BA Hons in Modern Languages, Coventry Polytechnic.

 

Professional Memberships

Craft Potters Association professional member

Crafts Council Directory member

Northern Potters Association member

view: Ceramic Review feature Jan/Feb 2022 (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Exhibitions