Joanna Bird

Gallerist
Joanna Bird Contemporary

Joanna specialises in ceramics and glass, and as a consultant and curator with over thirty years’ experience she is consulted by museums and collectors worldwide. 

JOANNA BIRD’s London gallery has an international reputation, and a loyal following in the art world. Joanna specialises in ceramics and glass, and as a consultant and curator with over thirty years’ experience she is consulted by museums and collectors worldwide.

Joanna trained as a potter with Michael Cardew, and then worked as a ceramicist in her own right before setting up a contemporary ceramics gallery in 1994. Her passion for ceramics has always been fundamental to her work and her gallery.

She also acts as an agent for many distinguished clients, commissioning the best of contemporary art. She specialises in site-specific displays of ceramics and glass in architectural settings, frequently integrating the work of twentieth-century masters so as to illustrate the creative sources of more modern pieces.

In 2012 Joanna set up the JOANNA BIRD FOUNDATION to support emerging talents in ceramics, and to explore new concepts in the wider field of the decorative arts. The Foundation’s first touring exhibition was Marking the Line: Ceramics and Architecture, supported by Arts Council England. This was conceived as a life-specific show for three venues, which opened at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.

Speaker Events

WALPOLE WEBINAR: Contemporary Craft: A Global Movement in the Making

18th Feb 2021
The total value of British craft sales increased from £883m in 2006 to over £3b in 2019, and the number of contemporary fine craft buyers has increased by almost 280% in the last 12 months, according to global platform Artsy.net. The pandemic has propelled an underlying trend to acquire the unique and handcrafted – with Millennials the driving force.