Artist: Charlotte Bawden
Lived:1902 -1970
Medium: Ceramic
Catalogue number: 3243
Born Charlotte Epton, she was a contemporary of Edward Bawden, her future husband, at the Royal College of Art where she studied painting. But her real inclination was for pottery, particularly stoneware, and she went from the college to St. Ives to work under Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew. For some years Charlotte Bawden taught drawing at Cheltenham Ladies College and it was there that she met her closest friend Gwyneth Lloyd Thomas, later a fellow of Girton College, Cambridge. During the war years Charlotte was again teaching art at Cheltenham, but this time it was combined with domestic science and the institution was Pate’s Grammar School.
Education was one of Charlotte Bawden’s keenest interests and she was one of the founders of Denman College where a room is named after her. Warm, expansive and full of enthusiasm, she was a brilliant teacher and an inspiration to many fellow artists. Tirzah Ravilious’s remarkable marbled papers, some of which were shown at the Towner Art Gallery retrospective exhibition in 1987, are a conspicuous example of the results of Charlotte’s encouragement. Some of her pots can be seen at Denman College and her work is represented in the Victoria and Albert Museum.