ABOUT

"Mad In England" is the art brand of Carrie Reichardt.

Carrie Reichardt's ancestry can be traced back through a long line of aristocratic eccentrics. Her grandfather, Joseph Reichardt owned estates in the Austrian Empire and was known as The Camel Hair King of America after making a fortune shipping camel hair wool from Persia via his offices in New York. He worked for the Tsar of Russia during World War I and was awarded the title of Count before fleeing the Russian Revolution. Count Reichardt was bankrupted after losing the cutting rights to all the trees on the Caspian Sea. He moved to England with three sons. The eldest became a Nuclear Scientist. The youngest was Tony Reichardt, who prospered as an influential dealer in Modern Art in post-war London and was close friends with Francis Bacon. The second son was Carrie Reichardt's father Roland, who became a Rigsbyesque property landlord as well as being a faith healer with a keen interest in erotica.

Carrie Reichardt gained a First Class degree in Fine Art at Leeds University and has had a career spanning many media, including film, performance and sculpture. She is perhaps best known as a ceramicist and mosaicist, working internationally on large scale public murals.

​A renegade who is revered in anti-establishment circles, Reichardt's preoccupation with seditious ceramics places her within an artistic tradition extending back to William Morris.

She creates anarchic artworks where vintage floral, kitsch, royal and religious crockery is given a new twist by re-firing with layers of new ceramic decals They are modified in a "radical use of traditional things" and often adorned with skulls, cheeky slogans and political statements. Her first solo exhibition, entitled "Mad in England", provided an exploration of this theme, which she has continued to pursue in subsequent work.

Carrie Reichardt has spoken publicly about the use of craft and art as protest and her skills have been put to good use as a vehicle for her own political activism, most notably her campaigning for prisoners on Death Row and her involvement with the fight to gain justice for the Angola 3. Despite having a rebellious streak, it is testament to her talent and vivacious personality that Reichardt was awarded the Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship in 2013, enabling her to work with local communities in Chile and Mexico.

Carrie Reichardt has been an outspoken advocate for using Art as a form of personal therapy and "Mad In England" is a perfect back stamp for her work. It is fitting that her house and studio in Chiswick is famously called The Treatment Rooms.

CV​

Education

2002 - 2010
Ceramic Classes
Richmond Adult Community College

1998 - 1991
BA - First Class Degree in Fine Art
Leeds Metropolitan University, UK

1997 - 1988
Art Foundation
Kingston University, UK

​Fellowships/Residencies

​2017/18
Artist-in-Residency
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Stratford Upon Avon, UK

2015
Artist-in-Residency
The Clay Studio
Philadelphia, USA

2013
Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship
"To Advance the Craft of Community Mosaics"
Funded Research in Chile and Mexico

2009
Artist-in-Residency
Camberwell College of Art
London, UK

2008
Artist-in-Residency
Single Homeless Project
London, UK​

Symposiums

2008
Hot off the Press 3
Printing on Clay
International Studio of Ceramics
Hungary​

International Collaborative Projects

2014
Culture is Liberty
Public Art
Community Assembly of Miravalle
Mexico City, Mexico

2014
Urban Mosaic Intervention
Public Art
Town Hall, Puento Alto
Santiago, Chile

2013
Arte x Parte 2
Public Art
Berazateui, Argentina

2012
Urban Interstices
Public Art
Cultural Centre of Spain
Mexico City, Mexico

2011
Arte x Parte 1
Public Art
Berazateui, Argentina ​

Selected Commissions

2016/7
South Acton Tree of Life
Ceramic Mural
Acton Gardens, London, UK

2015
Power to the People
Ceramic Intervention
Victoria & Albert Museum
London, UK

2011
Mary Bamber – A Revolutionary Woman
Museum of Liverpool
Liverpool, UK

2011
Little Miss DMT
Milan Elephant Parade
Triennale de Milan Museum of Art
Milan, Italy

2011
Dada – The Trojan Horse
Fine Form Horse Parade
Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum
Cheltenham, UK

2010
Phoolan
London Elephant Parade
Natural History Museum
London, UK

2008
Tiki Love Truck
Walk the Plank
Manchester Art Car Parade
Manchester, UK

Selected Lectures & Presentations

2015
Lecture/Presentation
Art and Conflict Symposium
Wolfson College
Oxford University

2015
Lecture/Presentation
The Clay Studio
Philadelphia, USA

2015
Lecture/Presentation
Society of America Mosaic Artists Annual Conference
Philadelphia, USA

2014
Lecture/Presentation & Workshops
British Association of Modern Mosaics Annual Conference
London, UK

2014
Artists Talk
Friday Late
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, UK

2014
Lecture/Presentation
Curating Conflicts Conference
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, UK

2013
Keynote Speaker & Workshops
Mosaic Association of Australia and New Zealand Symposium
Melbourne, Australia

2012
Lecture/Presentation
British Association of Modern Mosaics Annual Conference
London, UK

2012
Artist Talk
Urban Art Symposium
Cultural Centre of Spain
​Mexico City, Mexico