Biography
Christine Constant (b. Bedford, UK 1958) studied at the Central School of Art and Design (1977-1980), specialising in ceramics. She was influenced by Dan Arbeid, a pioneer of hand-building techniques during the 1960s, who was Head of Ceramics. She took an Advanced Ceramics course at Croydon School of Art where she further explored the creative potential of raku firing (1983-1984). The Crafts Council gave her a Setting Up Grant for her first studio in London (1985) and she established her reputation in The New Spirit in Craft and Design touring exhibition (1987). She moved to Gateshead, in 1987 to take up an artist residency post at Bensham Grove coach house but she never left, and established a successful practice in the North East.
Constant has managed to combine teaching and workshops/residences with the making of intricate sculptural pieces. She worked on the Gateshead and Komatsu Ceramic Artists Exchange, making a ceramic panel together with Japanese ceramicists (1994). The panel won first prize in the Japan Festival Awards for Gateshead Libraries and Arts Service. Influences on her work include her own photography of organic objects such as ferns, leaves and weathered wood. Influential artists include Brancusi, 'Outsider' basket maker Pascal Verena, Lois Walpole, textile artist Louise Baldwin, while influential ceramists include Ian Byers, Liz Fritzch, John Ward and Judy Trim. She has work permanently installed at Gateshead Leisure Centre and Newcastle's Metrocentre.
