Birthplace: Brighton, East Sussex
Location: Brighton, East Sussex
Art Medium: Ceramics
Style: Expressive, Contemporary
Education:
2002 – University of Brighton, BA Honours Degree in Three Dimensional Crafts (Major in Ceramics)
1999 – Brighton College of Technology, BTEC Diploma Foundation Studies in Art & Design
1998 – Christ’s Hospital School, Horsham, A Levels in Fine Art, Fashion & Textiles, Design & Technology, Mathematics
Rowena is a ceramicist based in Brighton. Her costal home has a strong influence on her work, along with her travels further afield. Rowena’s work fuses a simplicity of line and form with a muted colour palette and a variety of textures to create beautiful, one-off pieces.
“My ceramic work is above all else, a celebration of the natural world informed by my daily observations, travels and life in my costal home town”
The colours within her work are Rowena’s own creations and finding the ones she want’s to use in a particular collection can be a slow process. The final colour you see in a piece can be affected by a wealth of different factors, including differences in clay, firing temperatures and glazes.
Rowena begins by forming the clay body, which is then layered inside and outside with coloured slips, another slow process as plenty of drying time is needed between the layers. In some pieces she then cuts into the layers of slip, similar to the traditional sgraffito technique, in others she will work on top with coloured glazes with free and intuitive brushwork.
“I enjoy the duality of mixing precision with playfulness; many layers of clay slips are built upon in a highly controlled manner, whereas markings etched into the surface and the brushed glazes are added with impulsivity and freedom.”
My focus is on exploring the language of abstraction to evoke the elemental power and ever-shifting dynamism of nature, communicating not through narrative and figurative forms, but through mood and momentum.”
Awards:
2016 The Sussex Guild of Professional Designer Makers – Selected Guild Member
2013 Craft&Design Magazine Selected Award Finalist – Ceramics
2011 Craft&Design Magazine Selected Award Finalist – Ceramics
2002 The Best Up and Coming Local Artist Award, Brighton & Hove
Mentionable Exhibitions:
Cameron Contemporary Art, Hove
New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey
Cambridge Contemporary Art, Cambridge
The Crafts Centre & Design Gallery, Leeds
Northern Lights Gallery, Cumbria
Tayberry Gallery, Perth, Scotland
Work represented by NLG:
Ceramics: Rowena Gilbert
www.rowenagilbert.com Facebook:@rowenagilbert.ceramics Instagram:@rowenagilbertceramics Twitter:@RGilbertCeramic Crafts Council:Rowena Gilbert