Kenyan-Born British Scholar Prof. Anyango Odundo Awarded Queen’s Top Honor

Kenyan-born British studio potter Prof. Anyango Namakhiya Odundo is among 1,097 people listed in the 2020 New Year Honors List, which seeks to recognize some of the outstanding achievements of individuals around the United Kingdom.

69-year-old Prof. Anyango will receive the Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her contribution to art and arts education. The Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) is the highest-ranking class of the British Empire Award.

The title is awarded to British nationals, citizens of the Commonwealth Realms or anyone who has made a significant achievement for the UK. Out of the 1,097 people in the list, 315 will receive a British Empire Medal (BEM), 397 a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and 229 an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), according to Metro.

Prof. Anyango was born in Nairobi and moved to the UK in 1971 to follow her chosen vocation in Graphic Design. She completed her qualifications in foundation art and graphics at the Cambridge College of Art before she discovered pottery. In 1974–75 she visited Pottery Training Centre in Abuja, Nigeria, and Kenya to study traditional hand-built pottery techniques.

She served as a lecturer at the Commonwealth Institute in London, Royal College of Art in London and Surrey Institute of Art and Design (now University for the Creative Arts) and became a Professor of Ceramics in 2001.

In 2016, she was inaugurated as an Emerita Professor of the University for the Creative Arts. She lives and works in Surrey.