Figurative sculptor and teacher who graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in furniture design and sculpture in 1971, in 1972 gaining the certificate in secondary education at Moray House, Edinburgh. He developed an interest in ceramics while teaching in secondary schools and further education, including Falkirk College of Technology, in 1991 resigning from full-time lecturing to develop his own work. Since 1985 he had run a workshop in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, where he produced slip-cast ceramic sculptures in limited editions, specializing in raku firing in two kilns, one gas- and one wood-fired. Awlson was winner of the SPA Alistair Dunn Award, 1990, and became a professional member of SSWA in 1991. Showed at RSA, Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh, Andrew Usiskin Contemporary Art, Rooksmoor Gallery in Bath and with Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and elsewhere.