For greater than 5 a long time, Dame Magdalene Odundo has reshaped the world’s understanding of ceramics, not merely as ornamental artwork or craft, however as an mental and deeply human follow. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1950 and now primarily based in the UK, she is thought for her burnished surfaces, sensuous curves, and an nearly lifelike presence. Lately, her affect has expanded past museum partitions and into excessive trend, cementing her standing as one of the vital influential ceramics artists of our time.
But Odundo’s journey didn’t start with clay. Initially, Odundo educated as a graphic artist in Kenya and later in India. Her early training was rooted in visible communication and design, disciplines grounded in precision and readability. In 1971, she moved to England, intending to check business artwork on the Cambridge College of Artwork. Nevertheless, curiosity and a rising want to experiment led her towards night lessons in metalwork and etching, and finally, pottery.
The second clay responded to her arms, her trajectory shifted irrevocably.
What started as tactile discovery quickly developed into cultural inquiry. Between 1974 and 1975, Odundo traveled by Nigeria and Kenya, studying hand-building and low-firing strategies from native ladies potters. She additionally studied blackware pottery in New Mexico. These experiences turned foundational, shaping a signature language: hand-built, unglazed vessels burnished to a luminous glow, drawing from African, European, Indigenous American, and historic ceramic traditions.
Schooling, Educating, and Enduring Affect
Odundo’s educational rigor mirrors the self-discipline of her studio follow. She earned a BA from West Surrey School of Artwork and Design (now the College for the Inventive Arts) earlier than finishing an MA in ceramics on the Royal School of Artwork in 1982.
Thereafter, she lectured on the Commonwealth Institute, the Royal School of Artwork, and the College for the Inventive Arts, the place she later retired as a professor in 2015. Nonetheless, her dedication to training didn’t finish there. In 2018, she was appointed Chancellor of the College for the Inventive Arts, and in 2020, she was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for companies to arts training, having beforehand acquired an OBE in 2008. These honors replicate not solely her inventive excellence but in addition her lasting impression on generations of makers and thinkers.
The Vessel because the Human Physique
On the heart of Magdalene Odundo’s follow is the vessel, directly practical and metaphysical. These varieties stand in for the human physique: fragile but resilient, formed as a lot by vacancy as by construction.
Working completely by hand, Odundo employs historic coiling strategies, step by step constructing every bit earlier than meticulously burnishing its floor. Throughout firing, her signature oranges and blacks emerge naturally, with out glaze, preserving the clay’s porosity and tactile integrity.
Importantly, the silhouettes evoke the physique itself. Slim necks counsel spines; swelling bellies recall breath or being pregnant; delicate asymmetries echo human imperfection. Drawing from civilizations together with historic Egypt, the Cyclades, Aztec cultures, and Yoruba and Zulu traditions, her vessels really feel timeless. They resist pattern, but stay unmistakably modern.
Museum Recognition and Market Ascension
Because the Nineties, Odundo’s work has entered main institutional collections, together with the British Museum, the Artwork Institute of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork. Curatorial respect preceded market validation, but the latter finally adopted.
In 2020, a 1990 vessel tripled its estimate at Sotheby’s London, promoting for £723,900 (almost $1 million). The consequence marked a major second, positioning ceramics firmly throughout the tremendous artwork market’s higher tiers.
Subsequent solo exhibitions on the Hepworth Wakefield, Sainsbury Centre, Fitzwilliam Museum, and Excessive Museum of Artwork additional secured her international standing. In the meantime, her debut at Xavier Hufkens in Brussels, which included each new ceramic works and her glass piece Transition II (2014), demonstrated her willingness to experiment whereas sustaining exceptional consistency.
Style Unites with Ceramics at Dior
In January 2026, Odundo reached a wholly new viewers when her work turned a central reference for Jonathan Anderson’s debut couture assortment as inventive director of Dior.
Staged on the Musée Rodin in Paris, the Spring/Summer season 2026 high fashion present, titled Grammar of Varieties, built-in Odundo’s sculptures straight into the presentation. Anderson drew from her silhouettes, terracotta palette, and burnished textures, translating them into pleated robes, voluminous skirts, and sculptural outerwear.
The gathering was extensively praised for its craft and cultural depth. On the identical time, it sparked vital conversations about attribution, compensation, and the ethics of artist–trend collaborations. For a lot of observers, the second represented long-overdue recognition of latest African and diasporic artwork inside excessive trend.
Nonetheless Rising, Nonetheless Grounded
Now in her mid-70s, Odundo stays firmly rooted in her studio follow. Regardless of renewed international curiosity in ceramics, she resists pattern cycles. As an alternative, her work continues to attract from enduring themes: migration, identification, vulnerability, and continuity. Whether or not working in clay, bronze, glass, or graphite, her course of stays sluggish, bodily, and contemplative.
Finally, Magdalene Odundo unites previous and current, artwork and craft, physique and object. By means of her vessels, kind turns into language that resonates throughout cultures and generations. In her arms, ceramics are usually not merely formed; they’re given breath.
Featured picture: Cristian Barnett for The Arts Society
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