Born in 1936 Welch has developed a considerable reputation for his freely constructed individual pots over the last 30 years, the making of which has been
interspersed with tableware production, architectural work, teaching and residencies in Australia and the United States. His ceramic education was unusually broad.
While at Penzance School of Art, he spent weekends at the Leach Pottery learning much about his materials, but his time at the Central School took him beyond the
Oriental world. Innovative teachers like William Turnbull and Gordon Baldwin helped Welch to look outside the ceramic orbit for ideas, initiating a broader more sculptural
perspective. He learnt that good pots could develop out of the discipline of drawing in the same way that painting does. After returning from a three year trip to
Australia in 1962, Welch set up a studio in Suffolk, where he is still based, and from where a steady stream of distinctive thrown, coiled and slab-built forms have
developed alongside his output as a painter.
* 1936 – Born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England
* 1952 – Studied at Nuneaton School of Art
* 1953 – Moved to Cornwall, studied at Penzance School of Art
* Awarded National Diploma in Design for Sculpture and Ceramics
* Worked at the Leach Pottery in St Ives
* 1956/58 – National Service with 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment
* Post Graduate Student at Central School of Art in London
* Later appointed Technical Assistant Ceramics
* 1960 – Started own workshop in London and part time teaching in schools and institutes. Work accepted by the Council of Industrial Design and exhibited through the
Design Centre London, in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Munich, Salisbury, Johannesburgh, Tokyo and Melbourne
* 1962 – Moved to Australia to help establish a pottery workshop with Ian Sprague.
* 1976 – Awarded CAC bursary
* 1980 – Craftsman in residence, Monash University, Australia.
* Judge for International Ceramics Award, Feltcher Browbuilt, New Zealand.
* 1983 – Craftsman in residence, Alfred University, New York State College of Ceramics.
* Craftsman in residence, Indiana University.
* 1985 – Commissioned to make large candle holders to commemorate Gilbert of Sempringham, Lincoln Cathedral. Now situated in the Angel Choir.
* Visiting lecturer at many art schools and colleges in England, America and Australia.
Selected Exhibitions:
One Man Shows:
* 1988 – Museum fur Modern Keramik Diedeshiem Germany
* 1989 – Galerie L Hamburg. Amalgam Gallery London
* 1990 – J K Hill London
* 1991 – Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath
* 1993 – Craft Potters Association, London
* Alpha House Gallery, Dorset
* Rufford Craft Centre, Nottinghamshire
* 1994 – Galerie B15 Munchen Germany
* Amalgam Gallery, London
* Lynne Strover Gallery, Cambridge
* Aldbugh 100 Exhibition Painting and Etching
* 1995 – Ceramic Arts Gallery, Vienna
* Plumbline Gallery St Ives, Cornwall
* Maggie Barnes Gallery, Yorkshire
* 1996 – Hilde Holstein Galley Bremen Germany
* The Leach Legacy Exhibition, St Ives, Cornwall
* Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath
* 1997 – Gordon Hepworth Gallery Exeter and London
* Lynne Strover Gallery, Cambridge
* 1998 – Gallerie B15 Munchen, Germany
* 1999 – Contemporary Applied Art, London.
* Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath.
* 2000 – April/May John Bedding, St Ives Ceramic Gallery, Cornwall
* 2000 – Sept/Oct Lynne Strover Gallery, Cambridge
