Artist Statement
Concepts
Landscape in all its forms continues to be Carolyn's principle source of inspiration, and her new series of work, Wealden Garden is inspired by the intimate landscape of the garden. The exuberance and colour of an English country garden in spring, where the play of light and shadow across plants suggests ever-changing abstract and sculptural compositions, is captured in this work.
Her rapid sketches are not a direct translation from source, rather a noting of atmosphere, mood, rhythm and texture. These marks and gestures on paper are the starting point for studio work.
When working, Carolyn responds to the material, moving around the form, making marks of depth and variation, scratching and scraping though layers of slip, revealing the clay and emphasising the dryness of the engobe or the softness of the burnished slip: the silky surface emerging as polished as a sea worn pebble.
Sculptural pieces and vessel forms are finely balanced to convey nuance of shape and mass. The interior of each vessel reveals and influences the exterior form, similarly with the surface treatment. With expressive brushstrokes that continue the painterly application of colour on the interior, Carolyn weaves continually changing abstracted imagery around the form, creating a never ending three dimensional aspect to each piece.
Career path
Qualifications:
1986 Post Graduate Diploma, Ceramics, Goldsmiths College, London
1979 BA Hons, Wood, Metal, Ceramics, Plastics, Brighton Polytechnic
Teaching Experience:
2001-2005 Visiting Lecturer, Northbrook College, Worthing, Sussex
1999-present Visiting Lecturer, Christchurch College, Canterbury, Kent
1999-present Short Course Tutor, West Dean College, Sussex
Areas of work:
Secondary education
Exhibiting
Lecturing
Practice-based research
Private commissions
Workshops
Collections:
Adolf Egner Collection, Cologne Museum
Fine Arts Society, Glasgow
Robert Pinchen Collection, Leeds Museum
CV & Education
Solo exhibitions
2011 - Showcase, The Ceramic Centre, London
2010 - Solo Exhibition, Altstadt Gallery, Weinheim
2009 - Solo Show, Burnham Grapevine, Norfolk
2004 - New Ceramics, Shirley Crowther Contemporary Art, Ditchling, West Sussex
2001 - Refined Earth - new work by Carolyn Genders, Bedales Gallery, Hampshire
1999 - Eton Applied Arts, Eton, Berkshire
1996 - Galerie Lot Duynstee, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Group exhibitions
2004 - Coup de bols, Gallery Traces, Hastiere, Belgium
2004 - Summer Exhibition, Garden Gallery, Broughton, Hampshire (annual)
2003 - Diversity, Mid-Cornwall Galleries, St. Blazey Gate, Cornwall
2002 - 4th Sarreguemines International Ceramic, France
2002 - Coupes et Bols, Galerie Carlin, Paris
2002 - Coupes et Bols, Galerie Carlin, Paris
2002 - Still Life, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey
2002 - Summer Exhibition, Garden Gallery, Broughton, Hampshire
2002 - XVIII Biennale Ceramique d'Art, Vallauris, Vallauris, France
Public commissions
2007 - Raw to Refined, Bilston Art Gallery, Wolverhampton
Competitions, prizes and awards
2011 - International Ceramics Festival - Honourable Mention, Mino , Japan
2009 - Keramik Europas 12, Westerwald Preis, Westerwald