Ken exhibits internationally and has won many 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 ‘Primer premi’ at the 8th Bienal Internacional de Ceramica, Talavera de la Reina, Spain in 2017. 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; Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Montréal, Canada; Power Museum, Sydney, Australia; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Landesmuseum, Stuttgart, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
In addition to his studio work, Ken has lectured and taught at colleges and universities throughout the UK. He was Research Lecturer in Ceramics at Glasgow School of Art from 1998-2011 and then Associate Lecturer in Design Thinking and Creativity from 2011-2023 at the Open University. Ken was elected as a member of the International Academy of Ceramics in 2003. Ken studied at Edinburgh College of Art (1979-83) and The RCA, London (1984-87).
Ken Eastman’s ceramic practice consciously centres around the figure of the vessel. Yet, as a ceramic sculptor, he is acutely aware of the unconscious, how its nebulous presence finds a way into his work, and its effects on the sculptural vessels he creates. His practice is a negotiation between the act of intuitive decision-making and the perimeters he has refined for himself within the studio, towards creating works of equal modesty and stature. In the process of slab building his vessels, Ken structures forms that blur boundaries between corporeal and architectural bodies. Having been compared to Jules Olitski in his use of colour, the sculptor layers diluted slips and oxides alongside multiple firings to achieve the hazy and painterly surfaces of his works. In doing so, these works defy their smooth surfaces, invoking depths of space and interiors, indeed, Glenn Brown has described this use of colour ‘as a facilitator of (thier) structures’.
Ken exhibits internationally and has won many 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 ‘Primer premi’ at the 8th Bienal Internacional de Ceramica, Talavera de la Reina, Spain in 2017. 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; Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Montréal, Canada; Power Museum, Sydney, Australia; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Landesmuseum, Stuttgart, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.In addition to his studio work, Ken has lectured and taught at colleges and universities throughout the UK. He was Research Lecturer in Ceramics at Glasgow School of Art from 1998-2011 and then Associate Lecturer in Design Thinking and Creativity from 2011-2023 at the Open University. Ken was elected as a member of the International Academy of Ceramics in 2003. Ken studied at Edinburgh College of Art (1979-83) and The RCA, London (1984-87).Ken Eastman’s ceramic practice consciously centres around the figure of the vessel. Yet, as a ceramic sculptor, he is acutely aware of the unconscious, how its nebulous presence finds a way into his work, and its effects on the sculptural vessels he creates. His practice is a negotiation between the act of intuitive decision-making and the perimeters he has refined for himself within the studio, towards creating works of equal modesty and stature. In the process of slab building his vessels, Ken structures forms that blur boundaries between corporeal and architectural bodies. Having been compared to Jules Olitski in his use of colour, the sculptor layers diluted slips and oxides alongside multiple firings to achieve the hazy and painterly surfaces of his works. In doing so, these works defy their smooth surfaces, invoking depths of space and interiors, indeed, Glenn Brown has described this use of colour ‘as a facilitator of (thier) structures’.
