Gwen HEENEY

View in collection A ceramic sculptor and lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton, she trained in Ceramics at Bristol Polytechnic of Art and Design (1971-1974) and gained an MA from the Royal College of Art, under the tutelage of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1987-1989). She ran her own ceramic studio in Cardiff and Mid-Wales (1977-1986) and established the Ginkgo Clay partnership, specialising in garden ornaments (1984). She became involved with architectural, public commissions, working for three months in Sweden with the ceramic sculptor Ulla Viotti (1988). The following year Heeney became research fellow in architectural ceramics at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff where she continued as a lecturer until 1997. Her large-scale garden pieces demonstrate a sense of empathy with the environment and they often have a distinct function, either as seating or to enclose a space. Public commissions include Seats in the Woods, a collaborative project organised by the Welsh Arts Council and Woodland Trust for which she designed a wild boar brick-clay seat for Gaer Fawr Wood (1990). Heeney was also involved in the Ebbw Vale Garden Festival in which she displayed a large brick wall form in the shape of a mythical creature, incorporating planting and seating areas as well as an enclosed garden (1992). She created a dragon structure as a hands-on project at the 1995 International Potters Festival in Aberystwyth

Details

• Dates: 1952-2016