Alison Lochhead studied art and ceramics at Loughborough College of Art and Design and Wolverhampton Polytechnic from 1971 – 1975. During this period she became very interested in weaving and she received a scholarship to study tapestry weaving in Poland for a year. On her return to Britain she set up as a tapestry weaver. Alison has always loved traveling and in 1981 she got a job for three years in the Sultanate of Oman working alongside the Bedouins. Alison was inspired by the incredible rock formations in Oman and back in Britain started to work with paper pulp creating large wall pieces and continued to work with paper until about 1997. Alison then returned to working in clay, and in the last 8 years has incorporated cast iron within her sculptures; increasing the tensions of materials with the firing of the ceramic and the pouring of molten iron within the fired work. Recently Alison has started working with collograph prints, increasing her exploration of textures and layered imagery.
After working in Oman, Alison became very interested in participative development and the gender politics that surround the development process, as well as daily life. She continued to work internationally in the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and Asia until September 2013. The experiences from this work are reflected in her artwork.
Alison Lochhead was born in Cardiff and grew up in Swansea. She was one of the founding members of the Swansea Arts and Designers in Wales (AADW) group in Swansea, who brought the present Mission Gallery to life, as well as the artists’ workshops above the Dylan Thomas theatre. After travelling the world Alison moved back to West Wales in 1994. She has exhibited widely from 1977 to the present day, with 20 one-person shows and over 60 group exhibitions.
Alison is a member of Sculpture Cymru and the chair of Celf Ceredigion Art, an organisation who ran the contemporary art space in Aberystwyth; Gas Gallery/Oriel Nwy from May 2013 – September 2015.
Member Since 2012My work reflects upon the memory of actions and experiences of people over time. The earth retains the marks made by humans and the memory of their presence and the injustices inflicted. Each person’s memory and experience is different and only parts remain, there is no ‘wholeness’, only fragments, but when different memories are pieced together they make a collective reflection and memory.
I work with different materials, all integral from the earth and with their own strengths and reaction to heat and to each other; iron, clay, oxides, wood. In the kiln alchemy takes place as the various materials are drawn together or reject each other, they are transformed. The reaction of the molten iron onto the ceramic, wood and other materials is equally unknown. Memories are fragile and transitory; as is much of my work.
My recent work has been based on the lead mines in the Cambrian Mountains, Wales. Using mainly clay, cast iron, wood and rocks taken from the Cambrian Mountain lead mines; the work explores the stories and marks made on the landscape and the memories from deep within the mines. Current work is based on the layered memories of conflict and war as well as working with two other artists to explore creative interpretations of astronomical research with Leicester University.
www.alisonlochhead.co.uk