Professor Dame Magdalene Odundo has accepted an invitation to be the first President of Watts Gallery Trust, the charity responsible for Watts Gallery in Compton, Surrey, in recognition of Dame Magdalene’s services to the charity as a Trustee (since 2019).

Magdalene Odundo (b.1950, Nairobi, Kenya) is one of the world’s most renowned ceramic artists. Following initial training as a graphic artist in Kenya, in 1971 Odundo moved to the UK where she continued her studies at the Cambridge School of Art (now Anglia Ruskin University), the University for the Creative Arts and the Royal College of Art. In 2018 Odundo was appointed Chancellor of the University for Creative Arts (UCA) and was made a Dame in the Queen’s New Year Honours list in 2020.

She has been the subject of major solo exhibitions, most recently at Houghton Hall, Norfolk (2024) and the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada (2023-2024), and her work is in the collections of many national and international museums including The British Museum, The V&A, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C, and the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi.

Sarah King, Chair of Watts Gallery Trust, said:

“We are really delighted that Professor Dame Magdalene Odundo has agreed to be the first President of Watts Gallery Trust and we are grateful for her continuing support. Magdalene is a wonderful ambassador for our charity and, as we mark the 175^th anniversary of the birth of our co-founder, Mary Watts, it seems entirely fitting as both women artists are celebrated for their pioneering practice in clay.”

Dame Magdalene Odundo said:

“I have always been a great admirer of the pottery community that Mary Watts built around Compton, while supporting her husband George Watts to achieve his ambitious sculpture Physical Energy. These projects are now part of our history and yet continue to play an important role in Watts Gallery Trust’s present ambitions to leave a historical legacy of contemporary art and culture. It is an honour for me that the Watts Trust has invited me to continue to be part of this legacy.”

For further information: wattsgallery.org.uk

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Notes to Editors:

Professor Dame Magdalene Odundo

For further information: Magdalene Odundo

Watts Gallery

Watts Gallery Trust is an independent charity established in 1904 to enable future generations to connect with the art and ideas of George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) and Mary Watts (1849-1938) who, at the turn of the 20^th century, created a unique artists’illage in Compton, Surrey.

For further information:

wattsgallery.org.uk/notestoeditors