John Teschendorff
John Teschendorff was born in Melbourne and moved to Perth in 1985 when he met his partner, academic and artist Annette Seeman. They have lived in Fremantle since then. John has four children: Leah, Delia, Karl and Marcel. Invited to Curtin University in 1985 as a senior academic, then serving as Head of the Curtin University School of Art from 1987 to 1995. He studied at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the Royal College of Art London. In 1998 he received an Australia Council/Visual Arts Major Development Grant, in 2008 the Australian Council of University Art & Design Schools Distinguished Teaching Award for his lifetime contribution to visual arts education and administration in Australia and SE Asia, in 2016 and 2023 WA Department of Culture & the Arts Creative Development Grants & the Patricia Toohey Painting Prize in the 2021 Mandorla Art Award. Currently a member of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, a Fellow of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology & a member of the Collingwood Football Club.
John Teschendorff has established an internationally recognised art profile whilst holding senior academic & artistic appointments at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem Israel (Artist in Residence 1981), Melbourne College of Advanced Education (Coordinator of Studies/Art & Design 1983-1984), Canberra School of Art/Australian National University (Artist in Residence 1988) Malaysian Institute of Art Kuala Lumpur (Visiting Professor 1991) Limkokwing University College of Technology Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (Professor & Senior Associate Director 1995-1996) Institut Teknologi Bandung Indonesia (Artist in Residence 2001 & Visiting Professor 2012), Burapha University Chonbori Thailand (Visiting Artist 2003), Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) Bangkok Thailand (Visiting Professor 2011), Can Serrat Centro de Actividades Artisticas El Bruc Barcelona Spain (Artist in Residence 2013), NES Arts Residency Skargastrond Iceland (Artist in Residence 2016) and Lasalle College of the Arts Singapore (Fine Arts Examiner 2017-2021)
He has held seventeen solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle (NSW), Perth (WA), Fremantle (WA) & Oxford (UK) and has participated in numerous national and international group exhibitions; representing Australia at the XXXVI Concorso Internazionale Della Ceramic D’Arte, Faenza, Italy (1978) and in Contemporary Australian Ceramics at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington USA (1981). In 1995, he was selected for Australian Ceramics 1830-1995 a major survey exhibition presented at the Museo Internazionale Faenza Italy.
Recent group exhibitions include The Cask/An Australian Icon/National Gallery of Victoria 1998, Everyday Changes/Lawrence Wilson Gallery UWA Perth 1999, Earth Objects/Galerie Soemardja ITB Bandung Indonesia 2000, Little Treasures Artists Books II/Grahame Galleries & Editions Brisbane Queensland 2001, NeoGeo/Geometric Abstraction in WA/John Curtin Gallery Perth 2001, Bankwest Contemporary Art Award 2003,On the Beach International Art Eastern Centre for Asian Arts & Culture/Burapha University Chonbori Thailand 2004, Little Treasures Artists Books III/Centre for the Artists Book Artists Book Gallery University of Western England Bristol UK 2004, International Mail Art Exhibition/Shahjah Museum United Arab Emirates 2005, Melbourne Art Fair 06/2006, Constellations/International Drawings RMIT Gallery Melbourne 2010, Harbouring Histories/Durban University of Technology Durban South Africa & Curtin University Perth 2010, Recent Acquisitions/State Library of Queensland Artists Book Collection (with Stephen Spurrier) 2012, Bodega Nights/Can Serrat International Art Centre El Bruc Barcelona Spain 2013, Bali-Return Economy Perth International Arts Festival/Fremantle Arts Centre WA 2014 Australian and International Artists Books (with Stephen Spurrier) Australian Galleries Melbourne 2017, A Tropical State/Touring Exhibition Old Canopy Artspace Gallery Cairns Qld & First Coat Studios Toowoomba Qld 2019, NES Alumni Exhibition Deiglan Gallery Akureyri Iceland & NES Artist Residency Studios Skagastrond Iceland 2019, Gifted Works from the Harrison/Hill Collection Fremantle Arts Centre WA 2019, Rottnest Island Foundation Invitation Exhibition Holmes a Court Gallery Perth WA 2019, 50FIFTY Exhibition John Curtin Gallery WA 2020, Mandorla Art Award Starla Contemporary West Perth WA 2021, Between the Sheets 5/Artist Books Gallery Central Perth WA 2021, The View from Here Art Gallery of Western Australia 2021 and Clay Dynasty Powerhouse Museum Sydney NSW 2021
Art work is represented in the permanent collections of National Gallery of Australia Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Diamond Valley Art Collection Victoria, Victorian Ministry of the Arts State Collection, Jackson Collection of Australian Ceramics Victoria, Geelong Regional Art Gallery Victoria, Visual Arts Crafts Board of the Australia Council Sydney, University of Melbourne Art Collection, Royal College of Art London, The Marer Collection of Contemporary Ceramics Scripps College Claremont California USA, Benalla Regional Art Gallery Victoria, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem Israel, University of the Northern Territory Art Collection, Monash University Art Collection Victoria, Newcastle Regional Art Gallery NSW, Powerhouse Museum Sydney, Silber Collection of Contemporary Ceramics California USA, Orange Regional Art Gallery NSW, Shepparton Regional Art Gallery Victoria, University of Tasmania Art Collection, Malaysian Institute of Art Kuala Lumpur, German Consulate Western Australia, Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Janet Holmes a Court Collection WA, City of Fremantle Art Collection WA, Curtin University Art Collection WA, State Library of Victoria Artists Book Collection (with Stephen Spurrier), Bankwest Art Collection WA, IB Tantra Collection Mas Ubud Bali Indonesia, Murdoch University Art Collection WA, All Saints College Perth WA, D & M Sheerer/Galerie Dusseldorf Collection WA, National Gallery of Thailand, Minera IRL Mining Lima Peru, State Library of Queensland Artists Book Collection (with Stephen Spurrier), Can Serrat International Art Centre El Bruc Barcelona Spain, St John of God Hospital Art Collection WA University of Notre Dame Australia WA, Federation University Art Collection Victoria and numerous private collections in Australia, Malaysia, UK, Israel, Peru, Venezuela, Austria, USA, New Zealand, Thailand, Iceland and Indonesia.
John Teschendorff lives & works in Fremantle WA