Biography
Born in London, he grew up in Fittleworth, West Sussex, attended Radley College, and then in 1939 went to New College, Oxford to read Modern History. In 1944 he returned to Oxford, having been released from the Army for conscientious objection. He obtained his degree, and spent a year in Italy based in Florence, teaching English at Pisa University. He then stayed six months in Oslo undergoing Reichian therapy, from which came the decision to try working with his hands.
In 1949 he was accepted for the pottery course at Camberwell School of Art under Dick Kendall and Nora Braden, followed by a year at Farnham under Henry Hammond and Paul Barron, before moving in 1951 to Eastcombe, Gloucestershire, where Hawkley Pottery was set up at Toadsmoor. In 1958, frustrated by the repetition involved in making and selling pots, he started to gravitate towards claywork and sculpture, and in 1959 moved to London, having found a property in Putney which included a semi-derelict outbuilding that became his studio. His studio still remains there, although he is now largely based near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
He first taught claywork at Kingston School of Art, Barking Regional College, Rush Green College of Further Education and then sculpture at Morley College, London between 1970 and 1987, and at the former Frink School of Sculpture where he was a founder trustee and with a later teaching role (1995–2001).
Read more about this topic: Alan Thornhill
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