The antique singing bowls on this website are from the private collection of Fred and Maureen Wilkinson
Fred and Maureen Wilkinson have been collecting singing bowls and professionally sourcing ethnic and tribal Art & Crafts for museums, galleries and private collectors for almost 30 years. During their numerous buying trips they always endevoured to keep some of the very best finds for their own enjoyment, and over the years they amassed a significant private collection of singing bowls and other sacred, ceremonial and ritual artifacts.
In 2010 they sold their business interests and huge barn conversion home, and retired to a smaller cliff-top property overlooking the ocean in a remote part of Cornwall, England. They no longer have room to display everything and part of their antique singing bowl collection is now offered for sale on this specialist website. You can read about their Singing Bowl Collection here. Some of their ethnic and tribal collection is also for sale and can be viewed via the 'Ethnic' button above.
Sadly, Maureen passed away on 30th October 2015 following a series of devastating strokes and cancer. You can read about Maureen's Memorial Fund to help rescue trafficked, enslaved and 'orphaned' children here.
Fred and Maureen Wilkinson
Fred and Maureen Wilkinson met at Goldsmith's College where they obtained degrees in Fine Art in the mid 1960s. After graduating they exhibited in solo and group shows in the UK and Europe, and taught life drawing and painting. They later qualified as teachers and entered primary education as art specialists. In 1971 Fred became a full-time lecturer in Art and Art Education at Froebel Institute (now Roehampton University), where he taught post-graduate students and continued his empirical research into child art and the relationship between language and action in the creative process. Meanwhile, Maureen pursued a successful and challenging career in special education teaching maladjusted adolescents in care, and children with dyslexia and learning disabilities in the primary sector.
In 1981 they felt the need for a better quality of life and moved to a small farm in Cornwall with their three children. Virtually overnight they became farmers...growing fruit and vegetables, hand-milking two house-cows and rearing pigs, poultry, sheep and cattle in an attempt to become self-sufficient. It was here, whilst farming, that Fred took up photography and Maureen began writing...later winning several major literary awards for her poetry, and publishing anthologies of her work.
In the mid 1980s the Wilkinsons embarked on a period of world travel, their trips embracing Peru, Bolivia , Brazil, Nepal, India, China and Thailand, but particularly focusing on Indonesia (Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumba, Sumatra and Sulawesi) and the Far East. They eventually made more than 40 trips to the Indonesian island of Bali to study its art and culture. It was during this period that they began collecting ethnic and tribal art.
In 1988 they opened Cornwall’s renowned Morning Price Gallery, in Falmouth, specializing in ethnic and tribal Art & Crafts from around the world. The Wilkinsons were early pioneers of fair trade. They personally purchased and commissioned their stock directly from artists and craftsmen at source in the country of origin, and for over 20 years provided well-paid regular employment for about 200 craft families in some of the poorer regions of the world. In the early 90s they opened a second Morning Price Gallery in Falmouth and another in Penzance, followed by the Kura-Kura Gallery in Penryn. They also initiated a unique informal franchise enabling numerous independent small businesses to successfully get off the ground with customized start-up packs that replicated the ‘look and feel’ of their own business in a variety of trading formats. Their galleries remained open until 2004 when they switched the business emphasis from retail to web-based wholesale. Trading as World Art & Crafts the Company supplied fair trade decorative and ethnic handicrafts to major visitor attractions such as the Eden Project and to hundreds of retail outlets throughout the UK and Europe.
Now retired, Fred and Maureen have returned to their roots as artists, but also find time to travel...most recently to Bali, Spain, Cuba and Nepal. They were in Nepal just a week or so before the recent devastating earthquake, and plan to return again soon to help with relief and renewal projects.
Antique Singing Bowls - The Book
Fred Wilkinson is currently writing a book ‘Antique Singing Bowls’. It will focus on the various types of hand-forged antique Tibetan and Himalayan singing bowl and their unique physical and sonic characteristics. It will also offer practical guidance on choosing, playing and collecting rare antique singing bowls, and will be extensively illustrated with photographs of bowls from this private collection. If you would like to receive advance notice of its publication date please sign up for our occasional newsletter here.
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