John Atkin: Reader in Fine Art, Loughborough University School of Art and Design.

The work of John Atkin includes many areas of Fine Art practice, such as: drawing, sculpture, collage, assemblage, the found object, fabricated metal, cast metal, cast paper, animation, site-specific artworks, public sculpture, and interdisciplinary projects within the public realm.

In 1982 Atkin was invited to meet Henry Moore at his studios in Much Hadham. Moore was impressed by Atkin’s works on paper and because of this meeting, Moore agreed to assist Atkin with his plans for postgraduate study. Atkin went on to study Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, in London. After graduating he was awarded the Drawing Prize and went on to exhibit new work at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne and later, at the Juda Rowan Gallery in London

From 1985 to 1986 Atkin was awarded the Stanley Picker Fellowship in Sculpture at Kingston University. Since 1986, Atkin has exhibited extensively in England, Europe, Australia and the United States, with Awards from the British Council and Australia Council: culminating in a major exhibition of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne, (formerly Heide Park and Art Gallery). Other exhibitions of his work were held at: Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney and the Jam Factory Gallery, Adelaide.

In 1998 he was invited to exhibit a series of new wall-based constructions at Hartford University, Connecticut. This exhibition and subsequent series of lectures stimulated a great deal of critical interest in his work, which resulted in exhibitions in Kansas City: Boston: Boise: Philadelphia: Chicago: New York: New Orleans: San Francisco.

His work has also been exhibited and supported by The Cass Sculpture Foundation, UK and at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy, Thinking Big- New Concepts in British Contemporary Art.

Atkin has been invited to complete several high profile public commissions throughout the UK, U.A.E and Ireland, including the Conran inspired, Great Eastern Hotel, Liverpool Street, London. Further details of these public art projects are available on his web site, www.johnatkin.net

More recently Atkin has been invited to work on a groundbreaking project for Kent County Council on a new Highway scheme for Ashford, Kent, which forms part of the new rail link from London to Paris. His role as Lead Artist for Kent County Council has meant collaborating with Landscape Architects, Whitelaw Turkington on the “Breaking Boundaries” ring road project in Ashford, Kent. This new departure has allowed Atkin to experiment with different forms of sculptural interventions within the urban landscape: creating community spaces for sculpture and street furniture.

In addition Atkin represented England at the EMAAR Sculpture Symposium in Dubai, His sculpture, fabricated in steel and glass, is destined to be located within the worlds tallest tower, the Burgh Dubai.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Committee has also asked Atkin to make a new sculpture as part of their Olympic Park. His initial designs were awarded an “Outstanding Award” by the panel of judges.

Recent publications on Atkins’ output focus on concepts relating identity, through exploring specific community’s historical legacy, culture and heritage. Interdisciplinary collaboration with a wide range of partners involved in urban regeneration/public art projects assists the process of locating a community’s history within the contemporary urban landscape. Publications include The Navigator ISBN 0-906688-40-X; Scorched Earth ISBN 1-900856-41-7; Distant Voices ISBN 1-900856-30-1; Cut, ISBN1-901560 -65 -1; The Made and The Unmade ISBN 0-9704605-0-3

Atkin was recently invited Keynote Speaker: Sculpture by the Sea Symposium, at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia.

Atkin’s research interest lies in stimulating a fresh debate for the role of art within the public realm, thereby creating a social space and a debate focussing on contemporary urban strategies and architectural practice in relation to interdisciplinary fine art practice.

Finally, he has recently been awarded the prestigious Rootstein Hopkins Award (Drawing) and this coming year will see him develop a fresh body of work based on hand-wrought processes of drawing twinned with digital technology, which will further extend his established interests in collage and assemblage.

To view bibliography click here. Or take a look through past peices of work undertaken by John Atkin and publications of his work.