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My friend Ron Dutton, who has died aged 90, was a sculptor, medallist and teacher whose enthusiasm and generosity helped revive the art of contemporary medal-making in Britain. Ron’s own sculpture and medals were widely admired, but perhaps his greatest achievement lay in helping transform the status of the medal itself.

In 1982 he co-founded the British Art Medal Society with Mark Jones of the British Museum. At the time, medal-making was often regarded as a rather old-fashioned pursuit. Ron saw something quite different: a small-scale sculptural form capable of addressing contemporary life with imagination, wit and originality.

He encouraged artists to think beyond traditional portraiture and commemoration. For Ron, the medal’s physical limitations were creative opportunities. Under his influence, medals became vehicles for humour, satire, environmental concerns and abstract ideas.

One of my favourites is his 1990 medal The Choice Is Ours, which won a Royal Mint competition that year for designs with the theme of conservation. On one side a fish swims above piles of rubbish discarded on the seabed; on the other a magnificent tree stands amid non-biodegradable waste. It captured both his environmental concern and his quietly mischievous sense of humour. As he once remarked: “Of all the things an artist can leave behind, perhaps a medal or a coin offers a hell of a lot more eternity than anything else you can think of.”

Through initiatives such as the New Medallist Scheme and the Student Medal Project, Ron introduced countless artists and students to a medium they might otherwise never have encountered. He even personally funded awards to help artists establish medal-making studios.

Born in Nantwich, Cheshire, to Ada (nee Wilkes) and Walter Dutton, Ron attended Nantwich grammar school before completing national service in the Royal Navy, where he trained as a frogman. In 1956 he entered the fine art department at King’s College, Newcastle, which at the time was part of Durham University. There he studied under influential teachers including Victor Pasmore and Richard Hamilton.

After graduating he taught at Sunderland College of Art, then in 1964 moved to Wolverhampton College of Art, where he became head of sculpture at the remarkably young age of 28, and where he remained until his retirement in 1985. He never retired from making art and continued working from his studio well into his late 80s.

I first met Ron when, after being rejected by several art schools, I was offered a place on the sculpture course at Wolverhampton. More than 25 years later our paths crossed again when I returned to Wolverhampton as head of art and design. By then I understood even more clearly what an exceptional teacher he had been.

Most of all, I remember Ron’s puckish wit, his practical common sense and his refusal to confuse solemnity with seriousness. Many artists can seem self-important. Ron never did. He had a perfectly judged one-liner for almost every situation and a knack for making people feel valued.

A keen supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers, he followed his football team with the same loyalty he showed to friends, students and colleagues.

In 1959 he married Leila Fagelman,; she died in 2014. He is survived by their children, Eva and Ben.