Stephen Dixon studied Fine Art at Newcastle University and Ceramics at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1986. He is Professor Emeritus at Manchester School of Art, investigating contemporary narratives in ceramics. His work features in numerous public and private collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Museum of Arts & Design, New York; the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; the British Council; the Crafts Council; the Royal Museum of Scotland and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. He was a Trustee of the Crafts Council from 2009 to 2013 and a member of the Art and Design sub-panel for REF 2014 and REF 2021. Early exhibitions in London with Contemporary Applied Arts and the Crafts Council established a reputation for ceramics with a biting political and social satire. The Arts Council funded project ‘Maiolica and Migration’ (2020-2022) examined the issue of refugees and asylum seekers, comparing the contemporary journey of migrants across the Mediterranean into Europe with the historic ‘migration’ of white tin-glazed earthenware. One significant outcome, ‘The Ship of Dreams and Nightmares’ took the form of a Mediterranean refugee boat, representing refugees’ experiences of the nightmare of conflict and displacement and the dream of refuge in a place of safety. It won the prestigious British Ceramics Biennial AWARD in 2021.