Magdalene Odundo

Odundo attended school in her homeland and in New Delhi, India. In 1971, she moved to England and studied at the Cambridge College of Art, Cambridge (1971-73), West Surrey School of Art and Design, Farnham (1973-76), and the Royal College of Art, London (1979-82). Her work reflects the influences of her native Kenya, building with coils and burnishing the surface. Her first solo exhibition was in 1977 at the Africa Center, London, and since she has shown extensively in Britain, Europe, and the USA. In 1995, 'Ceramic Gestures: New Vessels by Magdalene Odundo', a major exhibition toured the USA.(http://magdaleneodundo.com/ 4-22-08)Magdalene Anyango Namakhiya Odundo -Curriculum Vitae Born 1950 Nairobi, Kenya Educated in India & Kenya 1973-76 West Surrey College of Art & Design, BA Hons. 1st. Class 1976-79 Teaching: Commonwealth Institute, London 1979-82 Royal College of Art, London. MA (RCA) 2008 Awarded the African Art Recognition Award by Detroit Art Institute's Friends of African and African-American Art Lives and works in Surrey Solo Exhibitions 2007 Resonance & Inspiration: New Works by Magdalene Odundo. Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire. June 7, 2007 - January 20, 2008 2006 Resonance & Inspiration: New Works by Magdalene Odundo. Harn Museum of Art, Gainseville, Florida. September 5 - December 31 catalog 2005 Magdalene Odundo: Ceramic Vessels. British Council, Nairobi, Kenya. March - July 2004 Magdalene Odundo: Time and Again, Crafts Study Centre. The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College, Farnham. June 1 - July 9 2002 Acknowledged Sources - Magdalene Odundo: Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth, United Kingdom, August 10 - October 30 2001 Magdalene Odundo - Clay Forms - A Retrospective: Blackwell House, Bowness-on-Windemere, United Kingdom, July 4 - September 23 1997/8 New Work: Michael Hue-Williams Gallery, London, November 25, 1997 - January 24, 1998 1997 Magdalene Odundo: Current Work. Pro-Art, St. Louis, April 29 - May 31 1995 Ceramic Gestures: New Vessels by Magdalene Odundo. (a touring exhibition, catalogue) University Art Museum, Santa Barbara, California. March 15 - April 23, 1995Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. June 30 - August 20, 1995The Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles. September 24, 1995 - March 3, 1996The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey. April 3 - June 30, 1996The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. September 15, 1996 - January 1, 1997Indiana University Museum of Art, Bloomington, Indiana. January 17 - March 15, 1997St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, Missouri. April 29 - July 6, 1997 1994 Magdalene Odundo: African Beauty - A Retrospective: Stedelijk Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, (catalogue) 1993 The Sloss Furnaces, National Historic Landmark, A Museum of the City of Birmingham, Alabama, USA 1992 New Ceramics, The Oxford Gallery, Oxford, UKMagdalene Odundo - CeramicsMuseum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany 1991 Magdalene Odundo, Anthony Ralph Gallery, New York, USA (catalogue) 1989 Kunstformen, Jetzt, Salzburg, Austria 1988 Beaux Arts, Bath, UK 1987 Magdalene Odundo, Anne Berthoud Gallery, London, UKNew Works: Magdalene Odundo (catalogue)The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, UK October 24 - December 5, 1987Carmarthen Museum, Dyfed, December 19 - January 30, 1988Ruthin Craft Centre, Clwyd, February 20 - March 19, 1988Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Dyfed, March 26 - May 7, 1988Mostyn Art Gallery, Llandudno, May 14 - June 25, 1988 1986 Crafts Council at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK 1983 Crafts Council, ICA, London, UKRoyal Exchange Theatre Craft, Manchester, UK 1982/3/4 Rosenthal Studio Haus, West Germany & London, UK 1979-82 Commonwealth Institute, London, UK 1977 Africa Centre, London, UK Group Exhibitions 2005 Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back.Seattle Art Museum, February 7 - May 19, 2002Philadelphia Art Museum, October 3, 2004 - January 2, 2005Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, February 12 - June 19, 2005Cincinnati Art Museum, October 8, 2005 - January 1, 2006Frist Center for the Visual Arts, January 27 - April 30, 2006 2004 Material Differences: Artists and Identity in Africa. The Museum for African Art, New York City, New York, a touring exhibition. [catalogue}Hamline University, St Paul, Minnesota, USACrocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, USANational Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada 2003 Material Differences: Artists and Identity in Africa. Museum for African Art, New York City. April 8 - August 15, 2003. British Ceramics: Five Artists. Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los AngelesInternational Biennial Art Invitational, 2003. July 9 - August 16, 2003 2002 Pioneers to the Present, Foyer Gallery, The Surrey Institute of Art and Design, January 14 - February 11, 2002 Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back. Seattle Art Museum, February 6 - May 19, 2002 2000 Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 4 June - 17 September, 2000, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, 15 December, 2000 - 4 March, 2001, The Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, 1 April -30 May, 2001, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 29 July - 7 October, 2001British Ceramics 2000, Keramikmuseet Grimmerhus, Denmark, April 9 - June 18, 2000, (catalogue)Contemporary African Art: Five Artists, Divers Trends, Indianapolis Museum of Art, August 19 2000 - December 2 2001. Catalogue, pp. 32-40The Jugs Show, Candover Gallery, Arlesford, Hampshire, UKMillenium Mugs, Besson Gallery, London 1999 A Dialogue in Clay, Artizana, September 19 - October 8, 1999, (catalogue/Edward Lucie-Smith) 1998 Contemporary Ceramics - Selections from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.November 24, 1998 - May 30, 1999, (catalogue)Magdalene Odundo, List Gallery, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, USA 1997 Old Africa - New Africa - Africa Observed, Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, November 7 - December 21, 1997 1996 New for the Nineties - The Crafts Council Collection, Shipley Arts Gallery, Gateshead, UK March 1 - May 12, 1996Design of the Times - One Hundred Years of the Royal College of Art, The Royal College of Art, London, February 7 - March 20, 1996Drinking Glasses, Leerdan Glass Symposium, Leerdam, Netherlands 1995 Showcase Exhibition, Crafts Council, London, UK September - October 1995Africa 95 - African Metalwork, Crafts Council, London, UK (curated by Odundo and includes two bronze works from the Sloss Institute of Metal Arts Workshop, 1993, Birmingham, Alabama, USA)Africa 95, British Museum Exhibition, Museum of Mankind, October, 1995 - March, 1996Contained and Uncontained: Four Clay Artists, African American Museum, Dallas (catalogue)November 10, 1995 - March 17, 1996 1994 Art Box, Waregem, Belgium. 101 Jugs, Candover Gallery, Arlesford, UK Africa Explores - 20th Century African Arts The Museum for African Art, New York City, New York (a touring exhibition 1991-4. catalogue) Art Contemporain Lyon, France Tate Gallery, Liverpool, UK 1993 The Ceramics of Europe '93', Westwald/Kreis, Germany(a touring exhibition: the countries of the EEC) Africa Explores - 20th Century African Arts, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Center for Fine Arts, Miami, Florida Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany Fundació Antoni Tapies, Barcelona, Spain 1992 Africa Explores - 20th Century African Arts, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, New York Columbus Drowning, Rochdale Art Gallery, UKFaculty Invites, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA 1991 University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA 1991/2/3 Colours of the Earth - Twentieth Century British Ceramics.A British Council touring exhibition in India and Malaysia 1990 Kunst und Antiquitatenmesse, Galerie L (Frankfurt Art Fair) Germany 1989 Candover Gallery, Alresford, UK 1986 Courcoux & Courcoux, Salisbury, UK 1985 Bluecoat Art Centre, Liverpool, UK African Heritage Showcases Six African Women Artists.10th Women's Decade Conference, Nairobi, Kenya 1984 Individual Eye, Craftsmen Potters Association, London, UKAnne Berthoud Gallery, London, UK 1983/4/5 Modern British Ceramics, Queensbury Hunt, London, UKFire & Smoke, Midland Group Touring Exhibition, England 1983 Craftsmen Potters Association 25th Anniversary, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK 1978 Commonwealth Arts Festival, Calgary & Edmonton, Canada Special Projects 2001-2002 Fordsburgh Artists Studios - residency invitation, Newtown, South Africa 2000 The Sloss Furness & Hope Project Fountain Design, a collaboration with Brad Morton at Brad Morton Bronze Casting Workshop, Birmingham, Alabama, USA (design model of fountain made) 1996 Leerdam - Drinking Glass exhibition & symposium, Leerdam, Netherlands (Magdalene Odundo glass designs show case) Teaching 2001 Professor of Ceramics - The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College 1998 Artist in residence, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA Books (Selected) Baker, Emma, Contemporary Cultures of Display, New Haven, Conn. Yale University Press in association with The Open University, 1999 Barley, Nigel, Smashing Pots, London: British Museum Press, 1994 Blandino, Betty, Coiled Pottery. London: A & C Black, 1984 Cardew, Michael, A Pioneer Potter, London: Collins, 1988 Cardew, Michael, Pioneer Pottery, London: A & V Black, 1984 Clark, Garth and Michael Cardew, An Intimate Account of a Potter who has Captured the Spirit of Country Craft, London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1978 Cooper, Emmanuel, Ten Thousand Years of Pottery, London: British Museum Press, revised, edn. 2000 Cosentino, Peter, The Encyclopedia of Pottery Techniques, Philadelphia: Running Press, 1990 de Waal, Edmund, Design Sourcebook: Ceramics, London: New Holland Publishers, 1999 Freyberg, Annabel, Ceramics for the Home, London: Laurence King, 1999 Jones, David, Raku, Ramsbury, UK: The Crowood Press, 1999 Lane, Peter,Ceramic Forms, London: Collins, 1986 Margetts, Martina {ed.}, International Crafts, London: Thames & Hudson, 1991 Peterson, Susan, Contemporary Ceramics, London: Laurence King, 2000 Rice, Paul, and Christopher Growings, British Studio Ceramics in the Twentieth Century, London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1989 Scott, David, Clay & Glazes in Studio Ceramics, Ramsbury, UK: The Crowood Press, 1990 Vincentelli, Moira, Women and Ceramics - Gendered Vessels, Manchester, UK and New York: Manchester University Press, 2000 Vogel, Susan, [ed.], Africa Explores: 20th-Century African Art, New York: The Center for African Art. New York and Munich: Prestel, 1991 Watson, Oliver, British Studio Potters in the Victoria & Albert Collection, London: Phaidon/Christie's, 1990 Articles 'Artist Synthesizes African and Western Ideas in Art', Kansas State Globe, Kansas City, July 6,1995 Blandino, Betty. Private Conversations, Ceramic Review, March/April, 1998, pp.31-33 Berns, Marla. Ceramic Gestures, Contact, Spring, 1997, pp.10-13 Graham-Dixon, Andrew, 'Magdalene Odundo', Observer Magazine, (June 2, 1985) Bowye, Leslie R. 'A Love Affair with Form', New Times, August 10-16, 1995. (Kansas City) Briers, David, review, Arts Review, (December 1987) Buck, Louisa, 'The Critics Eye', Crafts, (November/December 1989) Doone, J., Magdalene Odundo, Antique Collector, 1977 Estrada, Andrea, 'The Ceramic Art of Magdalene Odundo', Independent, April 20,1995 Evans, Max, 'Nelson's exhibits shine spotlight on pottery...' Olathe Daily News, August 5, 1995 Magdalene Odundo Ceramics Monthly, September, 1995, p.18 Margrie, Victor, 'Review of new work, Oxford Gallery', Craft, (November/December, 1992) 'New works by Magdalene Odundo' 'Exhibition of Magdalene Odundo's works at Nelson-Atkins Kansas', City Globe, July 14, 1995, p.6-7 Kenyan Heritage, Crafts 67, March/April, 1984 Magdalene Odundo, Crafts 92, May/June, 1988 'Magdalene Odundo', Ceramics Monthly, p.30-33. May, 1991 Glancey, Jonathan, 'The Universal Truths Behind Designer Labels', The Independent, April 8, 1989 Hill, Rosemary, Workshops of the World, Crafts, (January/February, 1991) Howell, Sarah, 'Shop Tactics', World of Interiors, June, 1990 'Graceful Ceramics', This Week in Santa Barbara, March 23-30, 1995 Greenhalgh, Paul, A Review of Contemporary Ceramics at Christie's, Ceramic Review, (Nov./Dec., 1984) Joris, Yvonne G.J.M., ed., Magdalene Odundo, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands: Het Kruithuis Stedelijk Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, 1994) Muchnic, Suzanne, 'British ceramics: Five Artists', American Craft, October/November, 2003, p.77 Norrie, Jane, 'Review of Magdalene Odundo at the Oxford Gallery', Arts Review, (August, 1992) Peebles, Debra, 'Forms, Vibration and Spirit', Pitch Weekly, July 20-26, 1995, p.26 Queensbury, David, 'Magdalene Odundo', (London, 1991) Report, Ceramic Review 100, July, 1986 Report, Christie's, London, 1986 Review, Craft 45, December, 1987 Review, Craft 44, September, 1987 Staal, Gert. 'Magdalene Odundo - Silent Dancers', kerameiki techni, December, 1997, pp.8-11 'The Peach, Artist synthesizes African &Western ideas in art', Kansas City Star, Wed., August 9, 1995, p.18 Thompson, Robert Farris, 'Afro-Modernism', Artforum, (September, 1991): 91-94, illustration Thorson, Alice, 'International Influences seen in Kansas City art spaces', Kansas City Star, July 14, 1995, p.17 Tressida, Megan, 'A Feat of Clay', World of Interiors, (June, 1984) Vogel, Susan, ed., 'Africa Explores: 20th-Century African Art' (New York: The Museum for African Art, New York and Munich: Prestel, 1991) Watts, I., 'Magdalene Odundo', Africa Magazine, 1977 Wainwright, Martin, 'Craftnotes', Crafts, (March/April, 1989) Wingrave, Hannah, 'Magdalene Odundo', Ceramics in Society, Autumn, 2001, pp.13-19 Wood, Eoline, 'A Visit with MagdaleneOdundo',The Studio Potter, Fall, 1991 Films and Video Out of Africa, Bacchanal Film, Insight Production, Channel 4 Television, 1984 Magdalene Odundo, a video produced by East Midlands Arts, 1989 Ceramic Gestures: A Conversation with Magdalene Odundo, Victoria Vesna, dir., Television Studios of Instructional Resources, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1995, 9 min., videocassette Selected Public Collections African Heritage, Nairobi Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas The Art Institute of Chicago Art Box, Waregem, Belgium Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, Great Britain Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama The British Museum, London The Brooklyn Museum, New York Buckinghamshire County Museum, Great Britain The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh The Cleveland Crafts Centre, Middlesborough, UK Cleveland Museum of Art Commonwealth Institute, London The Crafts Council, London The Detroit Institute of Art Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M.H. de Young Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles Hood Museum of Art Indiana University Art Museum Indianapolis Museum of Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art Minneapolis Institute of Art Murumbi Collection, Nairobi, Kenya The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg Museum für Kunsthandwerke, Frankfurt National Design Museum, Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian Institution, New York National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. The Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City The Newark Museum Nottingham City Gallery, Nottingham, Great Britain Rosenthal Collection, Hamburg The Saint Louis Museum of Art Samuel P. Harn Museum, Gainesville Seattle Art Museum Stedelijk Museum voor Hedendaagst Kunst, Netherlands Victoria & Albert Museum, LondonWakefield Schools and Resources Museum, Wakefield, UK(http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/Exhibit/Archive/longsteps/m1.htm 4-22-08)Odundo's ceramics are made using hand-building and coiling techniques. She purposefully chose not to use the wheel, preferring instead to shape her vessels without its restraints of rotational symmetry. Several pieces are produced simultaneously, often taking days or even weeks to complete. When leather-hard, each is burnished, covered with slip, and burnished again. The work is then fired in a gas kiln-in an oxidizing atmosphere for the bright red-orange terracotta color, or they are multi-fired in an enclosed chamber with wood chips and shavings to create a carbonizing atmosphere for the black and semi-black pieces. Because of the alchemy of the oxygen reduction in the container, the carbonization is not entirely predictable, certain areas of the surface have wonderfully unexpected variations in coloration or even dramatic flashes of red.