Andrea Walsh

Born: 1974
Place of Birth: Stockport, England

Andrea lives and works in Edinburgh and set up her studio in 2005 following the completion of a degree in fine art, and postgraduate study in glass, at Edinburgh College of Art. She has since received invaluable support from the Crafts Council (UK) and Creative Scotland, enabling the continued creative development of her practice that pushes the boundaries of her chosen materials – ceramics and glass. A significant contribution to her practice has been the award of residencies including the ‘Artist Into Industry Residency’ through the British Ceramics Biennial – a project with the ‘Minton’ brand based at the Wedgwood ceramics factory in Stoke-on-Trent (UK), which facilitated learning directly from master craftsmen, and allowed privileged access to historical archives. This opportunity continues to influence her practice to the present day. Andrea has established a growing exhibition profile in the UK and internationally. Her work has been shortlisted for the British Ceramics Biennial Award on three occasions, purchased for major public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum and National Museums Scotland, and in 2017 was one of twelve finalists in the BBC Radio 4/V&A/Crafts Council ‘Woman’s Hour Craft Prize’. Andrea was also shortlisted for the LOEWE Craft Prize 2019.

'My work is an exploration of the box and vessel form, through which I am interested in ideas of containment, materiality, preciousness and value. Working with glass in combination with fine bone china, I seek to celebrate their shared material qualities including purity and translucency and am influenced by their alchemic nature and rich historical associations. Contained Boxes are my most recent series of work. In each piece the vessel is kiln cast in glass, forming an individual vitrine, which cradles a small ceramic box within. Intimate in scale, the work embraces tactile investigation due to it’s form, size and proportion and evokes a response akin to jewellery, eliciting the desire to hold and to cherish. Each single work in this series results in an entirely unique study of interior and exterior, their direct relationship, and captures a subtle, timeless presence. The opacity of the container can conceal, or if translucent can veil, the contained box held within, which is revealed only when the viewer is drawn closely to look inside from above. Therefore the display of these pieces is integral to the work, where differences and relationships between the pieces can be experienced, and yet where they are also afforded the space to breathe.' - Andrea Walsh, 2018.

Andrea presented her first solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery in May 2018 and her work featured in A Considered Place - The Edit in February 2020.