Richard Mawdsley is an American artist known for his work in metalsmithing, particularly narrative sculptures and vessels made of precious metal tubing, cogs, gears, and mechanical components.

Early years

Richard Mawdsley was born in 1945 at Winfield

Winfield, Kansas

Winfield is a city situated along the Walnut River in the west-central part of Cowley County, located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,301...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

. He attended Emporia State University

Emporia State University

Emporia State University is a university in the city of Emporia in Lyon County, Kansas, just east of the Flint Hills.- History :...

 from 1963 to 1967, majoring in Art under instructors Don Hazelrigg and Ron Hickman

Ron Hickman

Ronald Price Hickman OBE was a South African born, Jersey based car designer and inventor who designed the original Lotus Elan, the Lotus Elan +2 and the Lotus Europa, as well as the Black & Decker Workmate....

. He stumbled up metalsmithing almost accidentally as he could not get into a printmaking class and opted to take metals instead. After this introduction, Mawdsley majored in metals and began to make works inspired by Pop art

Pop art

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...

.

Upon graduation, he entered the University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

 and studied Jewelry and Silversmithing from 1967 to 1969 as a graduate student under the tutelage of Carlyle Smith.

Teaching career

After obtaining his MFA, Mawdsley taught at Illinois State University

Illinois State University

Illinois State University , founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in Illinois; it is located in the town of Normal. ISU is considered a "national university" that grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research; it is also recognized as one of the top ten largest...

 from 1969 to 1978. He then joined the faculty of Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...

) in 1978 and taught there for the rest of his teaching career, retiring in 2004 after teaching for 36 years at the university level.

Artwork

Mawdsley's artwork has been exhibited extensively since the 1960s, including many exhibitions in over a dozen countries in Europe, Australia, and Asia.
His work has been collected by several major museums, including the Renwick Gallery

Renwick Gallery

The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, located in Washington, D.C., and focuses on American craft and decorative arts from the 19th century to the 21st century...

 of the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

, the Yale University Art Gallery

Yale University Art Gallery

The Yale University Art Gallery houses a significant and encyclopedic collection of art in several buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Although it embraces all cultures and periods, the Gallery possesses especially renowned collections of early Italian painting,...

, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

Awards

Mawdsley has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowships and three Illinois Arts Council Fellowships. Other honors given to Mawdsley include the arts award from the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi

Phi Kappa Phi

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society established 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study and to promote the "unity and democracy of education"...

, North Central Regional for the 2001-2004 Triennium; Outstanding Scholar Award for 2003 from SIUC's College of Liberal Arts; elected to the American Craft Council

American Craft Council

The American Craft Council , was founded in 1943 as a national, nonprofit, educational organization to support and foster interest in the crafts in America. The council sponsers national craft shows, publishes American Craft magazine, and has an extensive awards program...

's College of Fellows in 1998; and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Emporia State University

Emporia State University

Emporia State University is a university in the city of Emporia in Lyon County, Kansas, just east of the Flint Hills.- History :...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, in 1993.