Derek Wilson

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Biography

Derek Wilson graduated from the University of Ulster in 2007 with an MA in Fine and Applied Arts, specialising in Ceramics. Since completing the ‘Making It’ residency programme in 2009, he has continued to exhibit extensively throughout the UK and Ireland. In 2013 he was featured in Wallpaper* magazine’s ‘Handmade’ exhibition. He is currently represented by galleries in London, Japan and Zurich. Derek Wilson’s practice centres on the making of a diverse range of contemporary objects – from the functional to the sculptural. It always starts with the same process, the potter’s wheel being the predominant tool, but his work is never static or fixed. In some ways it reflects the multifarious identity of contemporary ceramics – a twenty-first century hybridization of studio potter and conceptual artist. Wilson’s ideas spring from a complex blending of the abstract to the familiar, evident in both his functional ware and sculpture. His objects, in their colour, shape and materiality, reference the ideas of restraint, containment and minimalism. This search for a simplicity of form draws inspiration upon a diverse range of sources from mid-century British Constructivism to the history of the ceramic industry in Europe and Asia. The objects, whether they are made to be used or not, tend to be placed in groupings – evoking communality and sociability. The aim is to push the boundaries of a traditional and diverse art form through playing with its aesthetic, materiality and process.

Selected Exhibitions
2013 Craft into Industry, Stoke on Trent Ceramics Biennale, UK
2013 Vernacular, Gallery 13, Tent London
2013 Future Makers, National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny
2012 Outside and Between, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2012 A Place to Gather, London Design Festival, Shoreditch, London
2012 domesticMATTERS, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2012 Wallpaper* Handmade at Brioni, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy
2012 Porcelain, Oxford Ceramics Gallery, UK
2012 For the Table, Contemporary Ceramics, London
2011 New Domestic Ceramics, Gallery Top, Derbyshire, UK
2011 Collect in the Country, Cultural Connections, Guest of the Danes, Henley on Thames, UK
2011 Transform, Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin
2011 4th Biennale Internationale Du Lin De Portneuf, Quebec, Canada
2011 Artists Showcase, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
2010 Collect in the Country, Cultural Connection’s, Guest of the Danes, Henley on Thames, UK
201 Ceramics+, Roundhouse, Wigmore Street, London Design Festival
2010 FUNKtional, Leach Pottery and Museum, St Ives, UK
2010 The Art of Dining, RBSA Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2010 20:10, Ruthin Craft Centre Gallery, Ruthin, UK
2009 White Christmas, Naughton Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2009 Gallery Nine, Bath, UK
2009 Designer and Makers 2009, F E Mc Williams Gallery, Banbridge, UK
2009 Irish Potters Showcase, Harley Gallery, Nottingham, UK
2009 Northern Ireland Contemporary Ceramics, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2009 Beyond Traditional Boundaries, University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2008 Breaking Out, National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny
2007 New Designers Exhibition, London
2007 Ignition, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2006 Ignition, Clotsworthy, Arts Centre, Antrim, Northern Ireland