Standige, Gary

First name: 
Gary
Initials: 
G.
Surname: 
Standige
Year of birth: 
1946
Country of birth: 
Great Brittain
Working period: 
1966
CV: 

Gary Standige is born in 1946. Between 1964 and 1967 he is visiting Stoke-on-Trent College of Art. Between 1966 and 1981 he runs a workshop in Charing, Kent. Between 1967 and 1970 he studies ceramics at the Royal College of Art. In 1970 he received a scholarship to travel to USA and Canada, studying computer technology and its influence on Art and Design. Between 1972 and 1974 he is a lecturer at Southend College of Technology and between 1974 and 1982 at Medway College of Design. Since 1981 he runs a workshop in Aylesford, Kent. Then he is a senior lecturer in ceramics, West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham.

Gary Standige produces work in oriental style of a highly controlled technical quality.

About

Gary Standige about himself (source Arts Potter's Council): I want to make something of my time. To make something that reflects the time in which I live - something with resonance, something of substance. For the past 22 years I have suffered with a debilitating illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (M.E.). During this period I have been unable to exhibit. Every day now is a battle - some I win, some I lose. Notable ‘victories’ have been acceptance of a piece for the 2007 Royal Academy Summer Show (see photo) and recent reacceptance to the CPA in 2010. Prior to this illness my work was mainly utilitarian - pots based on function and process. The criteria for making have now changed, changed to something less prescriptive but nonetheless substantive and specific. For most of my adult life I have held an academic interest in the sciences, probably as a result of attending Art College at 13 and therefore missing out. My current interests are modern cell theory and various aspects of geometry. These have formed the subjects of my work for the past ten years. For me an object without a subject has become meaningless. The computer has also had a major influence on my work, being instrumental in helping me to find my voice, the drawing applications especially. Drawing is fundamental to all I do. In 1970 I was awarded a scholarship by the Royal College of Art to study Computer Aided Art & Design in America. It’s no big deal, the computer is just like any other tool, a means to an end (on a good day). Sometimes I think my work is more about Science than Art; perhaps it amounts to the same thing, it’s all about the meaning of ‘stuff’, curiosity and wonder. I still make vessels from clay, it is a language I understand and a material I love.  As for now, I seem to squander all my time and health on my work - but it’s what I do - it has become who I am - it is all that I do ....... and it does for me!

Pictures: portrait Gary (source Facebook); lidded pot (coll. Capriolus).

Bibliography: 
  • Watson, Oliver, Studio Pottery, 1993