Alison Britton

b. 1948, Harrow

Alison Britton was born in Harrow, London, in 1948. After attending Leeds College of Art between 1966 and 1967, she completed courses at both the Central School of Art and Design (1967-1970) and the Royal College of Art (1970-1973), where she obtained an MA in ceramics. Since 1984 she has taught at the Royal College of Art, where she is currently the Senior Tutor and Research Coordinator, Ceramics and Glass. Britton was part of the radical group of RCA graduates whose work in the 1970s laid the foundations for the ‘The New Ceramics’ movement. Her work spans both craft, through the functionality of her work, and fine art, through her painterly decorated surfaces. As one of the country’s leading contemporary ceramicists, Britton has been widely collected by both private and public collectors who include the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France. In 1990 Aberysthwyth Arts Centre presented a major retrospective of her work, ‘Alison Britton: A Retrospective’, which toured nationally. In 1990 Britton was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to the applied arts. Britton currently lives and works in London.

MA RCA Ceramics, Royal College of Art, 1970-1973
Ceramics, Central School of Art and Design, 1967-1970
Foundation course, Leeds College of Art, 1966-1967

2000 Barrett Marsden Gallery, London
1998 Barrett Marsden Gallery, London
1996 Alison Britton, Craft Victoria, Melbourne Australia, and tour
1995 Form and Function, Marianne Heller Gallery, Sandhausen, Germany
1990 Contemporary Applied Arts, London
Alison Britton, A Retrospective, Two year tour organized by Aberystwyth Arts Center, traveling to Newport Museum, Aberdeen Museum, Carlisle Museum, Stoke on Trent, Cardiff Museum, York Museum, and Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam
1988 Craft Centre Gallery, Sydney, Australia
1987 Contemporary Applied Arts, London
1985 Miharudo Gallery, Tokyo
1979 The Work of Alison Britton, Crafts Council, London

Aberdeen Museum and Art Gallery
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Canada
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam
British Council Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Crafts Council, London
Hove Museum and Art Gallery
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburg
Shigaraki Ceramic Sculpture Park, Japan
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
UCW Collection, Aberystwyth
Ulster Museum, Belfast
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart
York City Art Gallery