Madeleine Child
Biography
Madeleine Child specialises in contemporary ceramic techniques. Since receiving a Ceramics Certificate from Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin in 1978, Madeleine has pursued the study of ceramic and glass in New York, Lisbon, and London where she received a Masters from the Royal College of Art and an Advanced Studies 3D degree from Central St Martins College of Art. She has since returned to where she began and has lectured at Otago Polytechnic School of Design since 1997.
Madeleine's extensive training and travel can be seen technically and conceptually in her work whether reflecting the distinctive colour and vibrancy of Mexican pottery or the playfulness in faux chocolate Easter bunnies. Her work evokes a sense of sentimentality that is, at times, countered with darker intonations as in Sweet As, a collection of intensely colourful popcorn. Buying her children coloured popcorn she became "fascinated by its fleshy gorgeousness, organic fecundity and forbidden fruitiness" creating hundreds of giant ceramic popcorn pieces sparking with colour to comment on food politics and additives.
Madeleine has received awards in prestigious competitions such as the Noresewear Art Awards, Waiheke Ceramic Awards, Gold Coast International Ceramics Art Awards, Sidney Myer International Ceramics Awards, and NZ Society of Potters Awards. Her work features in private and public collections internationally including the Frans Hals Museum in the Netherlands, Shepparton Art Gallery in Australia, the Dowse in Lower Hutt, the Otago Museum, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Emmanuel Cooper included Child in his 2000 publication 'Ten Thousand Years of Pottery' distributed by the British Museum Press.
Madeleine's extensive training and travel can be seen technically and conceptually in her work whether reflecting the distinctive colour and vibrancy of Mexican pottery or the playfulness in faux chocolate Easter bunnies. Her work evokes a sense of sentimentality that is, at times, countered with darker intonations as in Sweet As, a collection of intensely colourful popcorn. Buying her children coloured popcorn she became "fascinated by its fleshy gorgeousness, organic fecundity and forbidden fruitiness" creating hundreds of giant ceramic popcorn pieces sparking with colour to comment on food politics and additives.
Madeleine has received awards in prestigious competitions such as the Noresewear Art Awards, Waiheke Ceramic Awards, Gold Coast International Ceramics Art Awards, Sidney Myer International Ceramics Awards, and NZ Society of Potters Awards. Her work features in private and public collections internationally including the Frans Hals Museum in the Netherlands, Shepparton Art Gallery in Australia, the Dowse in Lower Hutt, the Otago Museum, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Emmanuel Cooper included Child in his 2000 publication 'Ten Thousand Years of Pottery' distributed by the British Museum Press.
b.1959
Place Of Birth
Nationality