Kenyan-British studio potter and Chancellor of the University of Creative Arts, England, Dame Magdalene Odundo is one of the world’s most revered ceramic artists. The Houghton Hall, Norfolk presents her exhibition which showcases existing and new works spanning Odundo’s 30-year career, including a major new commission made while on residency at Wedgwood, Stoke-on-Trent. Playfully responding to the traditional functionality of Houghton’s State Rooms, the exhibition will inhabit the interiors through a series of thoughtful interventions that will both highlight and disrupt the functional and decorative design schemes of Houghton’s historic rooms.
Known for her unique sculptural vessels that draw influence from historical and contemporary making practices from different cultures, Odundo uses traditional techniques to explore diasporic identity and the charged role that objects play in intercultural relationships. Odundo has created eight new ceramic works especially for the exhibition. Her hand built sculptures, each made over several months, are often reference the female body. The specific placement of her works in each of the rooms will shed light on these varied references and sources of inspiration.
A highlight of the exhibition will be a large-scale ceramic sculpture produced by Odundo at the Wedgwood factory in Stoke On Trent during her residency. Odundo’s new work is a towering centrepiece created using historic moulds from the Wedgwood archive; it is made in Jasperware, which was first developed by Wedgwood in the 1770s. Its surfaces are adorned with a decorative scheme that explores the legacies of slavery while demonstrating the urgency of contemporary political advocacy and protest. Odundo has created an object that speaks to both the past and the present, utilising clay’s universal capacity for material storytelling.
On display in Houghton Hall’s contemporary gallery space will be Odundo’s spectacular glass work Metamorphosis and Transformation (2011), a 28-part installation made up of a series of blown-glass vessels based on the form of 3500-year-old ear studs from ancient Egypt. The installation’s fluid composition, which flows across the ground and rises up into space, draws on Odundo’s interest in geological formations and narratives of migration.
The Houghton Arts Foundation continues to build a collection of contemporary art at Houghton including a number of site-specific commissions. With links to colleges and public institutions across the region, the Foundation’s aim is for Houghton to become a focus for those who wish to see great art of our time in a historic setting. The 2024 exhibitions by Magdalene Odundo and Antony Gormley follow those by James Turrell (2015), Richard Long (2017), Damien Hirst (2018), Henry Moore (2019), Anish Kapoor (2020), Tony Cragg (2021), Chris Levine (2021) and Sean Scully (2023). The exhibition will take place at the Houghton Hall, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6UE. Tickets cost £22 when booked online and £24 at the gate. 18 People 18 years and under go free while students go in for £10. Houghton Hall welcomes pre-booked groups, schools and colleges and runs an education programme. To enquire, please contact tracy@houghtonhall.com.
