Celia is an artist and designer working with ceramic and glass. Her research explores colour and material fluidity, focused on material process and artefact development.
Celia Dowson is an artist and Tutor (research) in the Ceramics & Glass programme. Dowson creates artefacts in both mediums which are held in public and private collections internationally.
Key details
School, Centre or Area
Expertise
Gallery
More information
Research interests
Dowson explores the interplay between fluidity and form in cast glass and ceramics, focusing on the functional narrative of objects and the vessel as a primary method of exploration. She creates objects that invite contemplation of atmospheric rhythms and the inherent fluid nature of materials. She has an interdisciplinary approach to ceramics and glass, exchanging practical knowledge and influences between the two fields and disrupting traditional processes and techniques. Central to her practice is the adaptation of process resulting in new technical methodologies and material potentials.
Her work also encompasses the study of colour and translucency through light, tone, and opacity; these qualities influence form and material perception.
Her research aims to foster a deeper understanding of the interaction of mediums, opening new possibilities to approach working across the boundaries of ceramics and glass within both an art and design context.
Practice
Celia Dowson is a London-based artist and designer; many of the professional art contexts she works inform her research approach and outputs.
Celia Dowson graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2018, specialising in ceramics and cast glass. She received a BA (Hons) in ceramic design from Central Saint Martins, London, in 2014. Dowson exhibits her work both in the UK and internationally. Collections are held by Bullseye Projects, The New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan and The Victoria & Albert Museum, London. She received a QEST Scholarship in 2018, a Wallpaper* Design Award in 2020 and a Bullseye Design Award in 2022 and 2023 for her work in glass.
Celia’s has teaching experience across schools and independent art colleges and universities, as well as internationally as a result of exhibitions or residencies.
Current and recent projects
The Byre Exhibition 2024 with Bullseye Project
2023–24
Bullseye Projects, an international glass manufacturer and gallery, is supporting a research residency, exhibition and publication. The research is developing a site-specific glass collection which will be installed and exhibited in Byre Caithness, Scotland, in August 2024.
This residency will be ongoing for a year. It will include two research trips to document aspects of the geological and atmospheric landscape to develop an original collection of work in Bullseye glass. The project will continue to draw upon my ongoing material research that develops approaches to glass casting by integrating ceramic techniques in colour development, modelling and casting approaches. The research aims to integrate perceptions of landscape formation through the characteristics and visual depths of glass, representations of the movements and formations inherent to our surroundings, and the processes and materials we employ.
Exhibitions
(2023) Of Water. Maud & Mabel. London
(2023) Atmospheres. Flow Gallery. London
(2023) Collect 2022. Flow Gallery & Somerset House. London.
(2022) Formed with Future Heritage, Chelsea Design Centre. London.
(2022) TInkture Gin & Maddocks Rose Farm, The Newcraftsman. Cornwall, St Ives.
(2022) The Art of the Exceptional. QEST & Fortnum & Maison. London.
(2022) TG: Transitions in Glass. Bullseye Projects, Bellevue Arts Museum. Washington State, USA.
(2022) Collect 2022. Flow Gallery & Somerset House. London.
(2021) Artefact. QEST & Chelsea Design Centre. London.
(2021) New Horizons. London Glassblowing. London.
(2020) Wales Contemporary. Waterfront Gallery. Wales.
(2020) Young Masters. London Glassblowing. London.
(2020) Sculptural Meets Functional. Maud & Mabel. London.
(2020) Moments of Reflection. Flow Gallery. London.
(2020) Elements: air water. Gallery 57. Arundel.
(2020) Collect 2020. Bullseye Projects, Somerset House. London.
(2019) FRANZ Rising Star Project. Taipei, Taiwan.
(2019) Future Heritage. Decorex International, Olympia. London.
(2019) Inspired. London Glass Blowing. London.
(2018) Collect 2019. Bullseye Projects & Saatchi Gallery. London.
(2018) West Bund Art Expo. Shanghai, China.
(2018) Ceramics & Glass Postgraduate Show. Royal College of Art. London.
(2018) Exploring Porcelain. Maud & Mabel. London.
(2018) Materialise. Private House. Kensington. London.
(2017) The Emerging and the Established. Christies. London.
(2016) Sacred Art, “Journeying through the Numerous”. Wales.
Public Collections
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum, Taiwan
Bullseye Glass, Oregon, USA
Awards
Bullseye Design Award 2023
Bullseye Design Award 2nd Place, 2022
Wallpaper* Design Award 2020
FRANZ Scholarship Award 2019
QEST, Tom Helme Scholarship 2018
Charlotte Fraser Award 2018