Magdalene Odundo
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, 1950
Lives and works in Farnham, Surrey, England
Education
Royal College of Art, London, England, 1982
West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, England, 1976
Abuja Pottery Centre, Abuja, Nigeria, 1974
Cambridge College of Art and Design, Cambridge, England, 1973
Neon & General Sign Design & Manufacturing Ltd., Nairobi, Kenya, 1971
Nairobi Polytechnic, Nairobi, Kenya, 1971
Professorship
Chancellor of University for the Creative Arts, Kent & Surrey, England, 2018-present
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2026
Grammar of Forms, Musée Rodin, Paris, France
2025
Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium
2024
Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England
2023
A Dialogue with Objects, Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada
2021
Magdalene Odundo in Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England
New Work,Salon 94, New York NY
2019
Magdalene Odundo: The Journey of Things, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, England [travelled to: Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, England]
2017
Universal and Sublime: The Vessels of Magdalene Odundo, High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA
2016
Transition II 2014,James Hockey Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, England
2014
Tri-Part-It-Us: An Exhibition in Three Parts, The National Glass Centre, University of Sunderland, Sunderland, England
2013
Magdalene Odundo: Ceramics, Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels, Belgium
2010
Magdalene Odundo: Ceramic Forms, Longhouse Reserve, East Hampton NY
2009
Magdalene Odundo: New Work, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool, England
2008
Magdalene Odundo: Ceramics, Drawings and Mural Installation, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
2006
Resonance & Inspiration: New Works by Magdalene Odundo, Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville FL [travelled to: Hood Museum of Art, Hanover NH]
2005
Magdalene Odundo: Ceramic Vessels, British Council, Nairobi, Kenya
2004
Magdalene Odundo: Time and Again, Crafts Study Centre, University of the Creative Arts, Farnham, England
2002
Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art Ltd., London, England
Pioneers to the Present, Foyer Gallery, The Surrey Institute of Art and Design, Farnham, England
Acknowledged Sources: Magdalene Odundo, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, England
2001
Magdalene Odundo: Clay Forms, Lakeland Arts Trust, Bowness-on-Windermere, England
1998
Magdalene Odundo, List Gallery, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA
1997
New Work, Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art Ltd., London, England
Magdalene Odundo: Current Work, Pro-Art, St. Louis MO
1995
Ceramic Gestures: New Vessels by Magdalene Odundo, University Art Museum, Santa Barbara CA [travelled to: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City MO; The Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles CA; The Newark Museum, Newark NJ; The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC; Indiana University Museum of African Art, The Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC; Indiana University Museum of Art, Bloomington IN; St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis MO]
Africa 95: Magdalene Odundo, Museum of Mankind (British Museum), London, England
1994
Magdalene Odundo: African Beauty - A Retrospective, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [travelled to: Art Box, Waregem, Belgium]
1993
Sloss Institute for Metal Arts, The Historical Landmark Museum, Birmingham AL
The Sloss Furnaces, National Historic Landmark, Birmingham AL
1992
New Ceramics, Oxford Art Gallery, Oxford, England
Magdalene Odundo: Ceramics, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany [travelled to Badisches Landmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany]
1991
Magdalene Odundo, Anthony Ralph Gallery, New York NY
1989
Kunstformen Jetzt, Salzburg, Austria
1988
Beaux Arts, Bath, England
1987
Magdalene Odundo, Anne Berthoud Gallery, London, England
New Works: Magdalene Odundo, The Glynn Vivian Museum and Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales [travelled to: Carmarthen Museum, Dyfed, Wales; Ruthin Craft Centre, Clwyd, Wales; Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, Wales; Dyfed Mostyn Art Gallery, Llandudno, Wales]
1986
The Crafts Council at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
1983
Institute of Contemporary Arts Show Case, Crafts Council, London, England
The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England
1982
Rosenthal Studio-Haus, Hamburg, Germany
Rosenthal, Dortmund, Germany
Rosenthal, London, England
Royal College of Art, London, England
1979
Commonwealth Institute, London, England
1977
Africa Centre, London, England
1976
West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, England
Group Exhibitions
2026
Black Atlantic Makers: Conversations, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, England
Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
2025
Emerald Green, Mineral Green, David Parr House, Cambridge, England
Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art, Ford Foundation Gallery, New York NY
HELLO IMAGE: The staging of things, Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
The Falcon Cannot Hear the Falconer, V&A Wedgewood Collection, Barlaston, Stoke on Trent, England
2024
British Studio Ceramics: From Bernard Leach to Magdalene Odundo, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, England
London: An Artistic Crossroads, Sotheby’s, London, England
Loewe Lamps, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy
Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, The Art Institute Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
2023
Making Their Mark, curated by Cecilia Alemani, Shah Garg Foundation, New York NY [travelled to Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA; Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St Louis, MO, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.]
On Foot, curated by Jonathan Anderson, Offer Waterman, London, England
The Art of the Potter: Ceramics and Sculpture from 1930 to Now, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, England
2022
Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art, Hayward Gallery, London, England
A Passion for Form, Maximillian William, London, England
The Milk of Dreams, 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
A Matter of Life and Death, Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples, Italy
Duro Olowu Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection, Cooper Hewitt, New York NY
Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics and Contemporary Art, Two Temple Place, London, England [travelled to York Art Gallery, York, England]
Masterpieces in Miniature: The 2021 Model Art Gallery, Pallant House Gallery, London, England
We Gather, Crafts Council Gallery, London, England
Farnham, Oxford Ceramics Gallery, Oxford, England
2021
Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY
Magdalene Odundo in Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England (curated show)
British Studio Ceramics, Messums Wiltshire, Wiltshire, Salisbury, England
Pioneering Women, Oxford Ceramics Gallery, Oxford, England
2020
Constantin Brancusi and Magdalene Odundo, Albion Barn, Oxford, England
Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict, Haus Der Kunst, Munich, Germany [travelled to Royal Academy of Arts, London, England]
Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL
African Arts: Global Conversations, Brooklyn Museum, New York NY
2019
A Different Perspective: African Ceramics from the Collection of HRH Franz Duke of Bavaria, The Design Museum, Munich, Germany
2018
Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England
2017
Disobedient Bodies,curated by JW Anderson, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, England
Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven CT
2016
North Lands Creative Glass: A Portrait at 20, Dovecot Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Pots and Identities: The Language of Clay, Nairobi National Museum, Nairobi, Kenya
Material Symphysis, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, England
2015
Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design, Midcentury and Today, Museum of Arts and Design, New York NY
2012
Kith & Kin: New Glass and Ceramics, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, England
Tweak: Converts to Glass, ‘Metamorphosis and Transformation’, Museum of Glass, Tacoma WA
2011
Hand-Made: Contemporary Craft in Ceramics, Glass and Wood, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh PA
Hand Held: Personal Arts from Africa, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore MA
Design Basel, Pierre Marie Giraud Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2010
The Global Africa Project, Museum of Art and Design, New York NY [travelled to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle WA; Reginald F, Lewis Museum, Baltimore MA; High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA]
Circuits céramiques presse communiqué, Helen Aziza, Paris, France
Basins, Baskets and Bowls: Women Explore the Vessel, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis MN
2009
Unbounded: New Art for a New Century, Newark Museum, Newark NJ
2008
Black Womanhood: Images, Icons and Ideologies of the African Body, curated by Barbara Thompson, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover NH
2003
Material Differences: Artists and Identity in Africa, Museum of African Art, New York NY [travelled to: Hamline University Art Museum, Minneapolis MN; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento CA; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada]
British Ceramics: Five Artists, Frank Lloyd Wright Gallery, Los Angeles International Biennial Art Invitational, Los Angeles CA
2002
Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle WA [travelled to: Philadelphia Art Museum, Philadelphia PA; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford CT; Cincinnati Art Museum Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Cincinnati OH]
2000
British Ceramics 2000, CLAY Keramikmuseum Danmark, Middelfart, Denmark
Color and Fire: Defining moments in Studio Ceramics (1950-2000), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles CA [travelled to: Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; The Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, Tucson AZ; Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester NY]
Contemporary African Art: Five Artists, Diverse Trends, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis IN
The Jugs Show, Candover Gallery, Arlesford, England
The Millenium Mugs, Besson Gallery, London, England
1999
A Dialogue in Clay, Artizana Gallery, Prestbury, England
1998
Clay into Art: Selections from the Collection of Contemporary Ceramics, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY
1997
Old Africa – New Africa – Africa Observed, Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University, Topeka KS
1996
Design of the Times: One Hundred Years of the Royal College of Art, Royal College of Art, London, England
‘het drink glas’, Leerdam Glass Symposium, Leerdam, The Netherlands
1995
Crafts Council, London, England
Africa 95: African Metalwork, Crafts Council, London, England
1994
101 Jugs, Candover Gallery, Arlesford, England
1993
Ceramics of Europe ‘93, Westwald Museum of Ceramics, Hohr-Grenzhausen, Germany
1992
Columbus Drowning, Rochdale Art Gallery, Rochdale, England
Faculty Invites, University of Nebraska, Lincoln NE
1991
Africa Explores: 20th Century African Arts, Museum of African Art, New York NY [travelled to New Museum, New York NY; St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis MO; Mint Museum, Charlotte NC; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh PA; Miami Museum for Fine Arts, Miami FL; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Centre for Fine Arts, Miami FL; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas TX; University Art Museum, Berkeley CA; Museum Ludwig, Aachen, Germany; Tapies Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; Contemporary Arts Museum, Lyon, France; Tate Gallery, Liverpool, England]
Colours of the Earth: Twentieth Century British Ceramics, organised by the British Council, Penang State Museum and Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia [travelled to: Balai Seni Lukis Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Sabah Art Gallery, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia]
1990
Kunst und Antiquitatenmesse, Galerie L, Hamburg, Germany
1989
Candover Gallery, Arlesford, England
1986
Courcoux & Courcoux, Salisbury, England
1985
Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool, England
International Women’s Decade, Africa Heritage, Nairobi, Kenya
Modern British Ceramics: Queensbury Hunt Exhibition, Miro & Spizman Fine Arts, London, England
1984
Individual Eye, Craftsmen Potters Association, London, England
Anne Berthoud Gallery, London, England
Katherine House Gallery, Marlborough, Wilshire, England
Aldburgh Festival, Snape Maltings, Suffolk, England
New Members, Craftsman Potters Shop, London, England
1983
Modern British Ceramics, Queensberry Hunt, London, England
Fire and Smoke, Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham, England
1979
Four Artists, Commonwealth Institute, London, England
1978
Commonwealth Arts Festival, Calgary and Edmonton, Canada
1977
Africa Centre, Convent Garden, London, England
Awards
2023
London Design Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, London, England
City Lit Fellow, City Lit, London, England
2020
Appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for Services to the Arts and Arts Education
2019
Lifetime Achievement Award, International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth, Wales
2016
Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
Honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts, London, England
2014
Professor Emerita, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, England
Visual Artist of the Year, The Journal Culture Awards, Sunderland, England
Honorary doctorate from the University of Florida, Gainesville FL
2012
40 Years Anniversary Award, African Heritage, Nairobi, Kenya
2008
Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Honour’s List for Services to the Arts
The African Art Recognition Award by Detroit Art Institute’s Friends of African and African-American Art, Detroit MI
1990
Crafts Council Award
Southern Arts: Research and Travel Grant
1989
British Council: Travel Grant
1985
Southern Arts: Equipment Grant
1984
South East Arts: Equipment Grant
1982
Crafts Council: Setting Up Grant
Public Collections
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, Wales
African Heritage, Murumbi Collection, Nairobi, Kenya
Arkansas Art centre, Little Rock AR
Art Box, Waregem, Belgium
The Art Institute of Chicago IL
The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England
Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham AL
British Museum, London, England
Brooklyn Museum, New York NY
Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury, England
The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh PA
The Cleveland Crafts Centre, Middlesborough, England
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH
Commonwealth Institute, London, England
The Crafts Council, London, England
The Design Museum, Munich, Germany
The Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit MI
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England
Hepworth Wakefield Museum, Wakefield, England
High Museum, Atlanta GA
Hood Museum of Art, Hanover NH
Indiana University Art Museum, Indiana IL
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis IL
Krannert University Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign IL
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Smits Collection, Los Angeles CA
M.H. de Young Museum, Fine Art Museums of San Francisco CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka KS
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
Museum fur Kunsthandwerke, Frankfurt, Germany
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA
National Archives, Murumbi Collections, Nairobi, Kenya
National Design Museum, Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian Institution, New York NY
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Wales
National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
The Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City AR
The Newark Museum, Newark NJ
Nottingham City Gallery, Nottingham, England
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton NJ
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence RI
Rosenthal Collection, Hamburg, Germany
The Saint Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida, Gainesville FL
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle WA
Stedelijk Museum Voor Hedendaagst Kunst, Hertogenbosh, Netherlands
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo OH
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
York Museums Trust, York, England
