Carolyn, who was born in Singapore, has been a professional potter for over twenty years. She obtained a BA Honours Degree in Wood, Metal, Ceramics and Plastics from the, then, Brighton Polytechnic and subsequently a Postgraduate Diploma in Ceramics from Goldsmiths College. She is a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association and a Member of the Society of Craftsmen Designers.
She has received a number of Awards and her work is to be found in private and public collections. She has taught for many years, latterly at West Dean College where she is a short Course Tutor.
Carolyn’s first book Sources of Inspiration is now in its fourth edition and is greatly valued by amateurs and professionals alike. Her second book, Pattern, Colour and Form which is being launched now – August 2009 - is again likely to stimulate a wide audience of craftsmen and artists as well as those who simply like beautiful objects.
She creates hand built sculptural vessels, exploring the integration of surface with form. Individual pieces are coiled in white earthenware. The surfaces are created using oxides, vitreous slips and glaze.
Carolyn says – “Living in the country I cannot ignore the seasons and the consequent transformation of the landscape throughout the year. This influences my work and referring to landscape studies in my sketchbook and the marks and brushwork of my life drawings, I work intuitively on forms developed from organic sources.
Responding to the material, enjoying the rhythm as I move around the form, I make marks of depth and variation, scratching and scraping through layers of slip, revealing the clay and emphasising the dryness of engobe or the softness of burnished slip; the silky surface emerging as polished as a sea-worn pebble.
I work spontaneously creating forms and surfaces that evoke the feeling I have when I am part of the landscape, not illustrating it but striving to convey nuance of shape, balance and mass and creating mood and atmosphere.”
Carolyn has been a featured ceramicist at The Gallery at Bevere for some years and not only do we value her beautiful vessels but we also recognise her enthusiastic support for what is best described as the craft infrastructure – that is the whole environment including galleries and educational institutions, that promote and support excellence in craft in this country.
Add Carolyn Genders to your favorites
Email Carolyn Genders to a friend
