Paul Dash

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b. 1946, Barbados
Lives and works in London, England

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When he was 11 years old, Paul Dash travelled to the UK to live with his family in Oxford, where he completed his secondary education. Dash excelled at art in school. He completed a Foundation course at Oxford Polytechnic before being admitted in 1965 to study for the Dip. A. D. at Chelsea School of Art as he had a desire to attend art college. In his second year there, Dash met John La Rose of Caribbean Artists Movement who invited him to become a member of the group. As a member of CAM he met many of the leading painters, authors and intellectuals of Caribbean heritage of the day. On leaving Chelsea Dash worked odd jobs before going into part-time teaching, developing a successful career first in schools then as a lecturer at London University, where he acquired an MA and a PhD. Throughout his period in education Dash continued to paint. In 1979 while teaching at Haggerston School, he painted his much-celebrated Self Portrait in the kitchen of the North London flat he shared with his wife Jean. Other important artworks were made in similar circumstances. Dash was a participating artist in ‘Life Between Islands, Caribbean – British Art 1950s – Now’, the ground-breaking Dec 2021 to Apr 2022 exhibition held at Tate Britain. Dash has also shown in other key exhibitions and venues, including The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in 2023 (invited by David Remfry RA, Convenor of the Summer Exhibition); The London Open at Whitechapel Galleries, 1984; No Colour Bar, Guildhall Art Galleries, Jul 2015 – Jan 2016; The Colombia Threadneedle Street Prize, Mall Galleries, 2014; The Arrivants Exhibition, Barbados Museum, November 2018. Dash was one of three participating artists in ‘Paint Like the Swallow Sings Calypso’ exhibition at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Nov 2022 – Feb 2023.

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Notable achievements in education:

Dash co-directed the Centre for Arts and Learning and oversaw an MA module on the Goldsmiths MA Artist Teacher degree for three years, with a focus on programming. Yinka Shonibare, Grayson Perry, Faisal Abdu' Allah, Professor Sonia Boyce, Professor Leonard McComb (Keeper of the Royal Academy), Linton Kwesi Johnson, Professor Paul Gilroy, Hew Locke, Gary Stewart, Ingrid Pollard, Julian Perry, Julia Farrer, Susan Pui san Lok, David A. Bailey, and Raimi Gbadamosi were among the renowned academics and artists Dash worked with in his capacity. Contributions to a number of books, such as Addison and Burgess' Learning to Teach Art and Design in the Secondary School (Routledge).

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Educational Awards: 2000, Goldsmiths University - Awarded the Peake Award for Innovation and Excellence in University Teaching; 2002, Windrush Award for Outstanding Achievement in Education; 2000, Listed in Jacqui MacDonald’s Portraits of Black Achievement.