Spectacular Ubiquity: Thinking About Ceramic Art

Professor Greenhalgh is probably the foremost thinker and writer on ceramics in English today. Much of his thinking was summarised in his recent all-embracing work Ceramic, Art and Civilization, and this is a rare chance to hear his uniquely broad overview in person.

Paul Greenhalgh
Paul Greenhalgh is a curator, writer and teacher who originally trained as a painter, and has been involved in ceramic and ceramic education throughout his professional career. He recently retired as Director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation in London, and is Professor Emeritus at the University of East Anglia. His previous roles have included Director of the Sainsbury Centre, President and Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, President of NSCAD University (Canada), Head of Research and Deputy Keeper of Ceramic at the V&A Museum, and lecturer at Cardiff College of Art. His books include Ephemeral Vistas (1988), Modernism in Design (1990), Art Nouveau 1890-1914 (2000), The Persistence of Craft (2000), The Modern Ideal (2004), Fair World (2010), The Nature of Dreams: England and the Formation of Art Nouveau (2020). His latest book, Ceramic, Art, and Civilisation (2021) is a study of the history of ceramic.

At our AGM in October last year the Craft Potters Association selected him for Fellowship in recognition of his pioneering work in bringing understanding to the extraordinary contribution ceramics has made and continues to make to human civilisation.