Margaret Rich

Margaret Rich was trained as a psychiatrist and worked mainly in association with St Bartholomew's Hospital. In the late 1990 she retired and took up ceramics at Adult Education classes on Holmes Road in Kentish Town where she went on to create a vast body of work over 25 years.

Q&A

Artist Statement

Margaret Rich was trained as a psychiatrist and worked in various hospitals in the UK, mainly in association with St Bartholomew’s Hospital. In the late 1990 she retired and took up drawing at Adult Education classes on Holmes Road in Kentish Town. Margaret spent a year studying drawing and from there, she was recommended to try ceramics, which was clearly her metier. When the Adult Education Centre closed, she started attending classes at the Working Men’s Collage and spent two years working towards a City and Guild certificate in ceramics. Margaret set up a studio at her home in Kentish Town, this is where she started making her tree trunks. She would take her work to her friend’s house, CK Hughes, to be fired.

She has exhibited her work at the Adult Education Centre on Holmes road, at the Working Men’s College, at a private showing in the garden of Nomi Buinstock in East Finchley and at the street festivals in York Rise.

Margaret’s work is confident and decisive, depicting natural elements that were inspired by the plant-life at Kew Gardens. She would take photographs of the plants and recreate them in clay at home and in the studio. Margaret created a vast body of work over 25 years, her practise came to an end as she lost her mobility in 2020. Her detailed study of plant life as well as her imagined fantastical creatures create
beautiful and surreal scenes with a common muted pallet and a strong visual identity.