About Celia Washington
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Celia Washington is a practising artist based between London and Kathmandu.
Born in Edinburgh in 1959 to a British Army family, Celia spent a nomadic childhood — a sense of constant movement that informs the colour transitions and creative contrasts running through her work. She studied painting at the Byam Shaw Art School in London from 1977 to 1981, and since then has lived and worked in Florence, Edinburgh, Paris, Tokyo, Madrid, London and Kathmandu — painting, printing and searching.
In 2006 Celia spent seven months as Artist in Residence at Kathmandu University. The following year she set up the British charity Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Centre (KCAC), in partnership with Sangeeta Thapa of the Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu.
In her own words:
"In 2006 I spent seven months as artist in residence at Kathmandu University. I was impressed by the creativity and determination of a newer, younger generation of artists despite their difficulties and felt their voice deserved to be heard by the outside world. I wanted to help and began collecting books to expand the University Art Library. UK friends generously donated over 800 books which, with the support of the British Council, arrived in Nepal in October 2006. Over the next few months, in discussion with Nepali artists, the proposal for the KCAC began to evolve. Then I met Sangeeta Thapa, of the Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, and we discovered that we shared the same vision. I am excited to be involved with her on such an extraordinary and ground-breaking project."
Celia's work has been described as that of a majestic realist — exploring how human and animal figures can occupy the same natural setting while carrying very different emotional registers.
At Eye Feast, Regent's Park Gallery is showing Celia's limited-edition print Salome's Choice (1998) — a figurative work pulled as an Artist's Proof, signed and inscribed by the artist in pencil.