Gareth Mason

British ceramicist Gareth Mason was born in Pembroke, Wales in 1965. He studied at London’s Wimbledon School of Art from 1983 to ‘84, before going on to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree with honors in 3D Design (Ceramics) from West Surrey College of Art and Design in 1987. He established his first eponymous studio in Farnham, Surrey shortly thereafter. Between 1988 and 1992, Mason served as a design technician for West Surrey’s BA Ceramics program. From 1992 to 1995, he worked as a terracotta garden ware production thrower at A Harris & Sons, Farnham Pottery. His emergence as a professional practitioner was marked by the completion of his two-and-a-half-year ceramics residency at South Hill Park, an arts centre in Berkshire, England in 1998. At this time, he and his family moved to Alton in Hampshire, England. Since the mid-1990s, in addition to producing his own ceramic works, he has served as a visiting lecturer and resident artist at a variety of institutions.

Rich, often multilayered textures and forms characterize Mason’s work. He first throws each of his pieces by hand, subsequently manipulating their forms and developing visually intense surfaces through multiple firings, glazings, and the addition of a variety of unorthodox materials. In some pieces, this highly improvisational process can take years. Mason is inspired by a desire to capture the dynamic nature of creation, the emotive power of materials, and their transformation through fire.

Mason’s work is included in numerous collections across the globe including the Izmir Foundation for Culture Arts and Education, Turkey; Haegang Ceramics Museum, Icheon, Korea; Nairobi National Museum, Kenya; and Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland. He is a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association and a Brother of the Art Workers’ Guild, both in London, and he exhibits regularly in solo and group exhibitions in the UK and abroad.

Mason lives and works in Alton, England.