Alison Britton was part of the radical group of RCA graduates in the early 1970s whose work laid the foundations for what became known as ‘The New Ceramics’. Working from a London studio for more than three decades, Alison also writes and curates. She has taught part-time at the RCA since 1984. Her work is in numerous international public and private collections, and she has been represented by Marsden Woo Gallery, London, formerly Barrett Marsden, since 1998.

Born in Harrow, Middlesex, in 1948, Alison Britton studied at Leeds College of Art (1966–7), Central School of Art & Design, London (1967–70) and at the Royal College of Art (1970–73). Her studios have been at 401½ Studios (1973–5), St Pancras Road railway arch (1975–86), and a butcher’s shop in Stamford Hill from 1986 to the present.

Britton has exhibited her pots very widely, and lectured on her own work and contemporary British ceramics in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan and Australia. Her work features in Alison Britton in Studio by Peter Dormer (Bellew Books, 1985); a monograph by Tanya Harrod (Bellew Books, 1990) and a monograph by Linda Sandino (Barrett Marsden, 2000).

Alison Britton was a part-time lecturer at various colleges until 1984, when she was appointed as tutor at the RCA. She was made a Fellow of the RCA in 1990 and has been a Senior Tutor since 1998. She has been external examiner for BA courses at Camberwell College of Arts, Goldsmiths, the University of Dundee, the University of Westminster, University College Falmouth, the University of Edinburgh and Loughborough University, and BA and MA courses at the National College of Art and Design (Dublin). She was awarded an Honorary Degree at The University of the Creative Arts in 2006, Honorary Fellow of the University of the Arts London in 2008 and an OBE in 1990.

Alison Britton is currently a trustee of the Crafts Study Centre, Farnham, University of the Creative Arts. She is also, since September 2011, Chair of the Acquisitions Committee.