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Stephen Bird

b.1964

Large Spoodle Plate, 2022

tin glazed earthenware
D:44cm
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Head Cup I, 2008

glazed earthenware with decal transfer
H:11cm W:10cm D:7.5cm
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Head Cup IV, 2008

glazed earthenware with decal transfer
H:11cm W:10cm D:6.5cm
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Head Cup II, 2008

glazed earthenware with decal transfer
H:10cm W:10cm D:6.5cm
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Head Cup III, 2008

glazed earthenware with decal transfer
H:10cm W:10cm D:6cm
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Head Cup V, 2008

glazed earthenware with decal transfer
H:9.5cm W:10cm D:6.5cm
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Kali Ma (Black & Gold), 2008

glazed earthenware
H:56cm W:29cm D:17cm
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Rectangular Dish with Monkey, 2008

glazed earthenware
H:41cm W:28cm D:5.5cm
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Rectangular Dish with Man, 2008

glazed earthenware
H:42cm W:27.5cm D:5.5cm
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Man with a Raised Arm, 2008

glazed earthenware
H:57cm W:30cm D:19cm
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Idol, 2008

glazed earthenware
H:44cm W:20cm D:18cm
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Woman with a Flute, 2023

ink on paper
H:64cm W:48cm
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Two Women in the Waves, 2023

ink on paper
H:64cm W:48cm
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Miffy Gold On Blue, 2020

glazed earthenware with lustre
H:44cm W:38cm
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Woman With An Abstract Nose, 2022

glazed earthenware with enamel
H:42cm W:35cm
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Exterminator, 2020

glazed earthenware
D:28cm
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Trees, 2022

glazed earthenware
D:35cm
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Man With Dog And Stick, 2022

tin glazed earthenware
D:34cm
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Wir Schaffen Das, 2021

glazed earthenware
H:28cm W:32cm
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To Vax Or Not To Vax, 2021

glazed earthenware
H:52cm W:43cm
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Head Of A Man With A Snorkel, 2021

glazed earthenware with lustre
D:34cm
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Face Plate With Green Eyes, 2021

glazed earthenware with lustre
H:34cm W:27cm
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Large Two Guys Walking Plate, 2016

enamelled Jingdezhen porcelain
H:9cm D:54cm
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Arbitrary Tree, 2015

glazed earthenware
H:59cm W:30cm D:30cm
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Incident at Acacia Creek, 2014

glazed earthenware
H:32cm W:30cm D:20cm
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The House at Acacia Creek, 2014

glazed earthenware
H:31cm W:30cm D:20cm
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Relief Plate With Man, 2018

earthenware with honey glaze
H:30cm W:23cm
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Dance, Dance, Dance, 2016

enamelled Jingdezhen porcelain
H:43cm W:19cm D:19cm
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Man With Pug, 2009

glazed earthenware
H:75cm W:21cm D:21cm
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Stephen Bird

Photography by Charlotte le Brocque
Born: 1964
Place of Birth: The Potteries, Stoke-on-Trent

‘I work with both paint and clay to make multidimensional imagery which reflects on the global, transcultural nature of myths and ceramic archetypes.’ Stephen Bird

Stephen Bird was born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1964 and has lived in Australia since 1999 after graduating from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee. Making his home and a significant international reputation from New South Wales, Australia, he works with both paint and clay. His work is exhibited both nationally and internationally and he has won both The Gold Coast International Ceramic Award and the Deacon University Small Sculpture Award. His use of words, collage and found objects as part of the final work, results in powerful multi-dimensional imagery which reflect on the global, transcultural nature of myths and ceramic archetypes.

I believe visual art is all about humanity’s relationship to objects and I wish above all to invoke the emotional connections which are felt towards things that have been made by hand with love. I create narratives which explore hybrid identities and transgressive themes such as taboos, cruelty, war, natural disasters, unnatural affections and violent deaths. My works are located in the extremes of the tragicomic tradition. I reinterpret old stories both remembered and imagined and appropriate iconography from established pottery traditions; a decorative Royal Doulton tile, or the cabbage leaf from a Wedgwood Whieldon teapot. I am particularly interested in Staffordshire ceramic figure groups from the 18th century which contain implicit meanings and I often try to decipher their hidden meanings and reimagine these in explicit ways. Stephen Bird

Public collections include:
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh; National Museums Northern Ireland; The McManus Art Gallery & Museum, Dundee


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