Cynthia Cousens

Cynthia Cousens was born in Suffolk, studied Jewellery at Loughborough College of Art and Design and gained a MA at Royal College of Art, winning the Princess of Wales Scholarship for best female entrance portfolio to the RCA in 1979.

She set up her creative practice in 1982 and has exhibited extensively in the UK and abroad, with inclusion in major international survey exhibitions such as New Times, New Thinking Jewellery in Europe and America, Crafts Council and Contemporary British Crafts, Tokyo National Museum. Solo exhibitions include: The Scottish Gallery; Galerie NØ, Lausanne; Hipotesi, Barcelona, and The Manchester Museum. A major solo retrospective exhibition Shift was held at Hove Museum in 2003, touring to Angel Row Nottingham and MAC, Birmingham.

Recent work has stemmed from research developed on residencies at, for example: Welbeck, Nottinghamshire; Tainan National College of the Arts, Taiwan; British Embassy in Luxembourg; Jamfactory Adelaide; UNITEC Auckland; and Charleston Farmhouse, East Sussex.

Her work is represented in the V&A, National Museums of Scotland, Birmingham City Museum, The British Council, The Crafts Council and Goldsmiths’ Hall amongst other public collections.  She was twice short-listed for the Jerwood Applied Arts prize for Jewellery and awarded an Honorary Degree in 2006 from University College of the Creative Arts. She was appointed Trustee of the Crafts Council 1999-2002.

Cousens has given lectures internationally in Japan, USA, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and Canada. She has taught at RCA 1991-93 and as a visiting lecturer at many UK Universities, joining the University of Brighton in 2000 as a Senior Lecturer (0.4) in Materials Practice, Area Leader for Metals.