Born Cambridge, England 1948
Cambridge School of Art, 1965-67
Camberwell School of Art, London, 1968-71, BA Fine Art
Open University BA Humanities Course 1997-2000
University of East Anglia, Norwich, 2000-1, MA (Culture and Communication)
University of East Anglia PhD Research 2001-05
Co-founder of Prism Print International. Curator, and Chair since 2012
Student of Sado (JapaneseTea ceremony), Urasenke Foundation, London 1978-95
1972: Litho printer; 1973-76: architectural modelmaker, freelance and including for Burrell Museum Glasgow design stages and in Beirut, Lebanon and others, also in architecture department Westminster City Council; 1976-80: studio assistant for artist and typographic designer Gordon House; 1978-81: illustrator for Academy Editions, London; 1977-78: language teacher Tokyo, Japan.
Lecturer Cambridge School of Art 1978-87.
Established John Read Design, 1984 onwards, to design and manufacture interior products, lighting, furniture, restaurant interiors, garden buildings. Products sold through various galleries and chain stores in the UK including the Futon Company; garden design; various projects including Japanese-style Tea arbour for musician Freddie Mercury 1986; oak-framed building for Shogyo-ji temple, London, 1997.
(Special thanks to Miyake Tsutomu-san, master Tea House craftsman and my mentor and friend from Kyoto, Japan, and similarly to Ogawa Masayuki, extraordinary Japanese garden designer, also from Kyoto, Japan - two brilliant masters who inspire and support, and have taught me more than I can acknowledge).
Established The Rock Horse Studio Press, 2010, to provide archival pigment ink studio printing service for artists and photographers.
Joint founder Prism Print International, 2012, to promote cross-cultural exchange through fine art printmaking and has curated most exhibitions in London, Japan, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Poland, and Italy. 48 international print artists are now represented from 18 countries - England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Poland, Italy, China, the Netherlands, Japan, Northern Ireland, France, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Thailand, New Zealand, USA, Australia, Canada, Sweden.
Trustee of the London Shogyo-Ji Buddhist charitable trust 1998 - 2008.
He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Cremona Engraving Biennial.
Member of the Printmakers’ Council.
Lives and works in Suffolk, England
Research interests:
Neuropsychology of visual experience and spatial perception (part of doctoral research at UEA, 2001-2005); representation of the creative Self in social anthropology and ethnography; ritual and religious and symbolic practices in pre-Christian East Anglia; issues of place and identity in universalist ideologies especially with regard to Kenneth Frampton’s ‘Critical Regionalism’, response in Japan, and implications for other ‘regionals’ in the West seeking progressive creativity grounded in unique environments and histories.
About, CV & Contact
Contact
© John Read 2012
All rights reserved
The constructions studio 2014