Christopher Williams

Bum Bowl, 1978
Glass; Blown into a metal former, ground, polished
Crafts Council Collection: G20
Photo: Nick Moss

Many of Williams’ coloured blown works are put away once cooled and selected for cutting at a later date, thus being treated as ‘found objects’. This can be seen as a reaction to, as well as the elaboration of his own work.

This means that he’s the author of both the found and the finished object, an unusual conundrum of a position. Williams began making Bum Bowls, an accident of form, as an RCA student. Though he initially intended the clefts in the pieces to be reminiscent of peaches or plums, everyone who saw them was reminded of the shape of a bum, so the elegant name stuck!

Biography

Born in Surrey in 1949, Christopher is a Royal College of Art graduate with an MA in glass who has exhibited internationally with work held in prominent collections including the Musee des Arts Decoratifs - Paris, Corning Glass Museum - New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum - London. He has exhibited at the ICA, London, Beaux Arts, Bath, Museum voor Kunstambachten Sterckshof, Antwerp, Belgium, Varberg Museum, Stockholm, Sweden and in solo and group shows in France, Vienna, the USA and Tokyo.

Related links

• Visit Christopher Williams' website