Sculptor, painter and teacher, born in west London, married to the teacher and sculptor Peter Kardia. She gained a sculpture diploma at St Martin’s School of Art, 1973; her master’s degree in sculpture, Royal College of Art, 1974–7; and a postgraduate diploma in art and psychology, Hertfordshire College of Art, 1985–6. Kardia taught widely throughout Britain, including Maidstone College of Art, 1973–4; Central School, 1974 and 1982; Winchester School of Art, 1977–80; Bath Academy of Art, 1982; Royal Academy of Art, 1984; Slade School of Fine Art, 1994; St Martin’s School of Art, 1987; Camden Institute, 1987–91; and Central St Martins School of Art, 1989–97. Her early work took the form of sculptural installation with cast components, made in response to particular gallery spaces.
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Painting became a central part of her output when she began to work in colour. She continued to make site-specific sculpture, often in conjunction with two-dimensional work. Kardia said: “The colours aim to speak of themselves, to be disassociated from their method of application and soar above themselves, but equally they are rooted in the materiality of pigment and surface.” She won a South West Arts Travel Award in 2001; British Council Travel Award, 2002; and a South West Arts Exhibition Award, Moule Trust Fund Award and Arts Council Award, all in 2003. Among Kardia’s many shows were Felicity Samuel Gallery, 1978 and 1980; Architectural Association, 1982; Meeting House, Ilminster, 1997; Aquariana and Schwanenwerder, both in Berlin, Germany, 2000; Max Planck Institute, Berlin, 2002; Dorset County Museum, 2003; Victoria Miro Gallery, 2004; and Royal United Hospital, Bath, 2004–5. The privately produced Carolyne Kardia Recent Sculpture Commissions, 2003, with a foreword by her husband, was a good introduction to that aspect of her work. In 2005 Becoming was Kardia’s first major show in London, a mixed-media event at St Pancras Hospital stemming from her work at the Jules Thorn Day Hospital from 1987, where she ran a ceramic/sculpture/pottery group for psychiatric patients. The Kardias lived in Broadwindsor, Dorset.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
