Jemma Gowland MRSS

Jemma first trained for a BSc in Engineering Product Design, and worked in the fields of freelance industrial design and architectural model making before becoming a teacher of Design and Technology, a career followed for many years.  With experience in making using a very broad range of materials, initial sculptural ideas were created using mixed media, eventually moving to specialise in ceramics as a full time maker on l;eaving teaching in 2014.  

Woking in the Kent countryside, Jemma's work draws on the traditional history of the figurine, from Meissen to the present; echoing the pure white unglazed porcelain, often with gold lustre to highlight the statement of the piece.  Current themes build on this tradition, with it’s symbolism of the female figure as ornament and object, to highlight issues of growing up female in the modern world.  

Some major projects involve creating installations and groups - the figures massing together having a weight, a strength in togetherness, a narrative. 

The Newstead Project, on display February - October 2024; a specially created installation featuring a large number of porcelain pieces, commissioned by the Nottingham arts curator and Newstead Abbey for the bicentenary of Lord Byron, at his ancestral home.  Each piece reflects a historical style of the time, extracts of poetry, and factors of Byron’s early life.  The installation is open to the public and is distributed in often unexpected places throughout the Abbey.

Homo Faber guide listed

Ceramic Art London 2024

Collect 2024, represented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery

Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize 2023, shortlisted - exhibition & Emerging Woman Artist, runner up award, October 2023.  The Way Home multi-figure piece, acquired by the Bloom Foundation, Houston USA

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition - selected 2023 large multi-part piece ‘Facebook comes of Age’ acquired by private client - Dubai

Royal Cambrian Academy of Art Open Exhibition, selectors award 2023

Collect Open 2022; 82 figures depicting the lifespan of a woman in the UK, acquired by the Rumi Foundation.

Article: New Ceramics March 2022, ‘Jemma Gowland, Behind the Mask’, feature by Eddie Curtis.