BIOGRAPHY / / / / / / / / / / / /
Cecile Johnson Soliz was born in Germany and grew up in Merced in the San Joaquin Valley in California. She also lived in Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Italy and Ghana before moving to Cardiff in 1975 to study art on Foundation at Cardiff College of Art. She later completed a B.A. and M.A. in Fine Art at Goldsmiths’ College, London, where she lived for 20 years. She returned to Cardiff as the Henry Moore Fellow in Sculpture at Cardiff School of Art & Design (1995-1997). She was Senior Lecturer, Head of Fine Art and Programme Leader in Sculpture at CSAD between 1998 and 2011. From 2013-2014 she was a recipient of a Major Creative Wales Award from the Arts Council of Wales.
In 2017 she was awarded the Gold Medal in Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod and in 2018, won the Oriel Davies Open. In 2019 her exhibition, TWIST was at the Oriel Davies Gallery followed by, Exploratory Dances for Drawing and Sculpture, which launched the Cardiff Dance Festival. In 2022 Laboratori, a National Dance Company Wales and Chapter Arts Centre Residency led to a commission for, In Tandem and Infinity Duet, 2024-25, a collaboration with NDCWales dancer and choreographer Faye Tan and Sound Artist Richard McReynolds.
She has been commissioned for public works such as Skyline in Cardiff and Healing and Children’s Gardens for the Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital, Cwmbran.
Cecile is currently preparing to travel to Sinthian, Senegal for the Josef and Anni Albers Thread Residency.
She lives in Cardiff, Wales and works in her studio in the city centre. She regularly travels to the Continent, the US and throughout the UK.
Enquiries regarding studio visits, private commissions, art works and visiting teaching are all welcome.
Current & Forthcoming
2025 Infinity Duet, Collaboration with Faye Tan & Richard McReynolds, National Dance Company Wales, Touring
In Tandem, an evening of visual art and dance with Faye Tan & Richard McReynolds, NDCWales
Josef & Anni Albers Thread Residency, Sinthian, Senegal, October
2026 Sculpture, Phoenix Gallery, Exeter, February–April, curated by Kate McCleod
Piazza Gallery Window, Aberystwyth Art Centre June-August
Selected Solo Exhibitions and Projects
2022 Laboratori, National Dance Company Wales and Chapter Arts Centre. Collaborative Residency
2019 Exploratory Dances for Drawing and Sculpture, Cardiff Dance Festival, 8—24 November 2019
TWIST, Oriel Davies Gallery, Newtown, 29 June – 14 September 2019
2017 Here & There, Galerie Simpson, Swansea 25 August – 28 September
National Eisteddfod, Gold Medal Fine Art
2016 Made Up, Oriel Myrddin Gallery
2014 Casgliad , Artist Residency and open studio, Capel y Graig, Furnace, Ceredigion
2011 Cecile Johnson Soliz, Bay Art Gallery, Cardiff
2008/09 Sculpture Studio, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
2007 Proposition: Room, at the National Museum & Gallery of Walescurated by Mike Tooby
2004-05 Cecile Johnson Soliz, Castello di Rivara, Centre for Contemporary Art, Rivara
Cecile Johnson Soliz, Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy
2002-03 Cecile Johnson Soliz, Galerie Lindig in Paludetto, Nürnberg, Germany
2002 Property of a Lady, Museum of Barnstable and North Devon. Curated by Tessa Fitzjohn for the Torridge District Council (residency)
Warm, ‘Station’, Bristol
2001 The Potteries Museum in Stoke on Trent
2000 Warm, Castello di Rivara, Centre for Contemporary Art, Rivara, Italy
1999 Regarding the Function of Objects: recent sculpture by Cecile Johnson Soliz, National Museum and Gallery of Wales, Cardiff
Skyline, Cardiff Bay Art Trust & various temporary and permanent sites in Cardiff
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Anti-monumental, Thameside Studios, curated by Kate McCleod, London
Royal Academy Summer Show, London, June-August
Here, Now, Bay Art Gallery, curated by The Wholefood Studio, Cardiff, May/June
2022-23 Understanding: responding to Tobias & the Angel, Masterpiece Tour from the Workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, Oriel Davies Newtown on loan from the National Gallery in London.
2022 Love, Celebration & the Road Ahead, TJ Boulting, London. An exhibition to mark the launch of Hettie Judah’s book, How Not To Exclude Artist Mothers (and other parents)
2018 Oriel Davies Open, Main Award Winner
Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition, London
2017 Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition, London
2016-17 Horizon: Against Nature, Instituto Cervantes, Delhi
2015 En Plein Air, Mecklenburgh Square Gardens, London
2012 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2010 We Have the Mirrors, We Have the Plans, Oriel Mostyn, curated by Anders Plaes
2007 Things We Lost In the Fire, Leicester City Art Gallery, curated by Gordon Dalton
2006-07 Still Life, Roche Court, New Art Centre & Sculpture Park (curated by Helen Waters)
2005-06 New Acquisitions on Paper: Phyllida Barlow, Sarah Station, Cecile Johnson Soliz
Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds; curated by Penelope Curtis, Henry Moore Institute
2005 Strata, at Strata Florida, Wales and Kells, Ireland, sites-related exhibition; curated by Ann Mulrooney and Tim Davies
2002 Something in the Ether, Mostyn 12, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales
2000 Give and Take; works presented to museums by the Contemporary Art
Society in 2000, Harris Museum and Gallery, Preston; Jerwood Gallery, London
1999 In the Midst of Things, University of Central England, Bournville; curated by Nigel Prince and Gavin Wade
1997-98 Craft, touring exhibition: Richard Salmon Gallery, London; Kettles Yard, Cambridge; Aberystwyth Art Gallery, Wales
1996 Private View, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, England; curated by Penelope Curtis and Veit Gorner
Affinita, Castello di Rivara, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivara, Italy
1991 Objects for the Ideal Home, Serpentine Gallery, London; curated by Marco Livingstone (in tandem with, ‘Pop Art’, Royal Academy, London)
Selected Awards
2018-19 Large Production Award, (TWIST), Arts Council of Wales
2018 Oriel Davies Open, Main Award Winner
2017 Gold Medal Fine Art, National Eisteddfod
Small Production Award, Here & There, Arts Council of Wales
2013-14 Major Creative Wales Award, Arts Council of Wales
2004 British Council Travel Award
2000 Paul Hamlyn Short List
1995 British Council Travel/Research Award
Henry Moore Fellowship in Sculpture, Cardiff School of Art & Design
Professional Activities
Fellow of the Royal Society of Sculptors,
Henry Moore Fellow in Sculpture 1995-97
Visiting artist to UK art schools
Works in Public and Private Collections in Europe and the United States including
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
The Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, Derbyshire, England (Contemporary Art Society Purchase Scheme)
National Museum & Galleries of Wales, Cardiff
The Margaret Harvey Collection, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield (Contemporary Art Society Purchase Scheme)
Writing/papers/Conversations
In-Conversation, with Phyllida Barlow, R.A., O.B.E., at TWIST, Oriel Davies Gallery, 29 June 2019
In and Out of the Studio, lecture for the Contemporary Art Society of Wales 2015
Clay, Tools and Tooling, The Journal of Modern Craft, Vol 3 Issue 3, Berg Publishers, Nov 2010
The senses and sounds of bronze, Henry Moore Institute (‘Herd Bells’ and
other works for the ‘Strata’ exhibition) 2005; 12 October 2005
Getting in Touch with Things in Collections, (paper), Victoria & Albert Museum Research Group, London, February 2003
Making Things Flat and Drawing Things Out (conference paper), Intention and Interpretation in Ceramic Art, North Devon Ceramics Conference, July 5th/6th 2002
Artists’ notes: In the Midst of Things, ex. cat. University of Central England, 1999
Artists’ notes: Regarding the Function of Objects, ex. cat. National Museum and Gallery of Wales, 1999
Collecting and Arranging Things (conference paper), ‘Contemporary Art and Museology’,
Conference at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, May 5th,1996 coinciding with the Private View’ exhibition.
Artist’s Statement, excerpt in ‘Private View’ catalogue, July 1996
Numerous biographical articles on contemporary artists for Macmillan Publishers,
Dictionary of Art, London. Published 1996
Selected Bibliography
https://danceartjournal.com/2025/01/28/faye-tan-on-new-work-in-tandem/
https://nation.cymru/culture/the-arts-interview-cecile-johnson-soliz/
Restored to Life, Cecile Johnson Soliz (excerpt), Penelope Curtis in ‘Re: Imaging Wales, A Yearbook of the Visual Arts, Edited by Hugh Adams, Seren Books, 2006
Keeping Quiet and Finding a Voice: Ceramics and the Art of Silence, Jeffrey Jones, Interpreting Ceramics, an International, Referred, Electronic Journal, issue 5; 2004
Interpretation and Intention, Hannah Wingrave, [a-n] for artists, September 2002
Intention and Interpretation in Ceramic Art, review by Helen Felcey, North Devon Ceramics Conference, Bideford, July 5th/6th 2002.
Heatwork, Jeff Jones, Ceramic Review no.197, Sept/Oct. 2002
Property of a Lady: A New Work by Cecile Johnson Soliz, ex. Cat. Juliet Carey, 2002
In the Midst of Things, ex. cat., Nigel Prince and Gavin Wade
Regarding the Function of Objects; recent sculpture by Cecile Johnson Soliz, ex. cat.,
Juliet Carey, National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff
Artist has designs on our roofs, The Cardiff Project, Neil Jones, The Western Mail, 17.9.98
Chimneys will have a clean sweep of sites,
The Cardiff Project, Geoff Wright, The Echo, 24.9.98
Special toppings for city landmarks, The Cardiff Project, The Ashby Times, 25.9.99
Craft, ex. cat., curated by Joan Key and Paul Heber-Percy
Texts by Joan Key, Simon Watney, Janis Jeffries and Roy Voss
Craft, Sasha Craddock, The Times, October 1997
Craft, by Izi Glover, Artists Newsletter, December 1997
Private View, ex. cat., Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle (4 May – 31 July 1996)
Private View, The Times
Affinita, by Guido Curto, Contemporanea, 1996
Cecile Johnson, by James Roberts, Ceramics Review, 1994
Fixtures and Fittings, in Pop Art, Objects for the Ideal Home, Art & Design Magazine, 1992
Objects for the Ideal Home, Fixtures and Fittings, ex.cat., Marco Livingstone
L’Heritage du Pop Anglais leurres: voirs double, Marco Livingstone, Art Press, 1989
L’Sculpture Anglais entre Rigour et Baroque, Caroline Smulders, Art Press, 1989
150 Jahre Kolnischer Kunstverein, ex. cat., Kolnischer Kunstverein, 1989
Anniversary with Godchildren, Sukurier, Cologne, 26, January 1989
University Education
1987-89 Goldsmiths’ College, London; M.A. Fine Art
1983-85 Goldsmiths’ College, London; Postgraduate Fine Art Diploma: Printmaking and Critical theory
1977-78 University of Legon, Accra, Ghana; African Studies, American Literature
1976-77/78-80 Goldsmiths’ College, School of Fine Art; B.A. Hons. Degree Fine Art
1975-76 Cardiff College of Art, Foundation course, Fine Art