Colin Johnson
Illuminated Ceramics
Colin Johnson was born in Brighton in 1950 and has continued to live and work in South East England. After College he took a variety of jobs in between which he took the opportunity to travel with friends around Europe and throughout Turkey coming into contact with Byzantine and Islamic Art . After that he rode by motor cycle from Morocco across the Sahara to Egypt and Ethiopia, exploring the pharaonic remains of the Nile Valley (where the architecture and bas-relief made a big impression), and Coptic and Nestorian monasteries of the Ethiopian highlands.
These vast sources of inspiration are made manifest in his work with the assistance of an extensive range of advanced technical skills in ceramics acquired during 20 years of formal study and solo experimentation.
To date he has produced an eclectic range of work, from thrown domestic ware, mainly earthenware, sometimes decorated with coloured slips, to pieces that may be thrown, modelled or slip-cast or a combination of all three.
He has exhibited in group shows in the SE of England for the last 19 years and his work is profiled and illustrated in “500 Pitchers” (Lark Books – July 2006). They also used the panel “Moonflower” in another of the 500 series “500 tiles” published by Lark books (USA) 2007.
Illuminated ceramic panels are the most recent development of his work.
