Advance notice
New Picturemakers Exhibition opening soon
One of the exhibits: Dressing mill X by Barbara Matthews
Do come and meet us at our opening at Cambria Arts Gallery (above Rhiannon, The Square, Tregaron, 11 October, 2 – 5 pm.
The exhibition is open 13 Oct – 7 Nov 2008, 10am – 5:30 pm (not Sundays).
About us
The Picturemakers (www.thepicturemakers.co.uk) is a group of fourteen visual artists based in the university town of Aberystwyth, on the west coast of mid-Wales, with members living in Ceredigion and Powys. Our work currently concentrates on expressing our responses to our local environment. You will see mainly landscape and wildlife themes, ranging from the representational to the semi-abstract, in most media: oil, acrylic, watercolour, pastel and print.
We hope that you will enjoy browsing our galleries via the links in the column on the left. We are becoming bilingual, and frequently add new images to the galleries, so do come back soon.
The enlarged Group on 1 Dec 2007. Who's who? — From left to right: Rosemary, Dot, Dilwyn, June, Heulwen, Alistair, Steph, Shelley, Maggie, Barbara, Julia, Iwan, Harry. You can also hover your cursor (pointer) over a face and after a moment the artist's name will appear; click, and you'll go straight to their gallery.
The formation of The Picturemakers
The Picturemakers grew out of the idea of some students who had one thing in common: they had all been taught by Alistair Crawford in his Life Long Learning courses in art and art history in Aberystwyth. Individually they wanted to find a way to continue their personal development as artists and to continue the learning process so in 2006 they persuaded him to run an 'art discussion group'. And out of that idea, and at his suggestion, came a new artists' collective that calls itself The Picturemakers.
In its membership the group reflects the extraordinary diversity that is often encountered on such 'extra curricular' activities, and that was another reason to come together - in order to bring such diversity to bear upon the individual need to make pictures with that quest of finding a personal voice. Thus, each individual artist gains from the support and encouragement of fellow practitioners through meeting for regular discussions of the 'work in progress'. All is carried out within the framework and needs of the professional artist; of finding audiences through the creation of exhibitions, publications, the world wide web; of communicating with one another by visual means.
The officers
- President: Alistair Crawford
- Chairman: Harry Thomas
- Secretary: Dot Thomas
- Treasurer: Stephanie Mansell
- Publicity: Dilwyn Roberts
(Click a name to open an email link.)
Mini biogs
Here are brief pen portraits of the artists. You can read more about them on their gallery pages via the links in the left-hand column.
Alistair Crawford has lived in West Wales since 1974. Painter, printmaker, curator, art historian, writer, performer, he became the first Professor of Art in the history of Wales. Distinctions include invited academician of the Royal Cambrian Academy, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. Exhibits internationally and is represented world wide.
Heulwen Davies attended some local art classes about 10 years ago, completed the BA (Hons) Fine Art degree at Aberystwyth in 2005, then returned to Life Long Learning classes. Works in still life, but mainly from the landscape that surrounds her farm, with the current series based on the Nature Reserve (Cors Caron) at Tregaron, Ceredigion.
Iwan Dafis a former banker, attended some Life Long Learning art classes then enrolled on the BA(Hons) Fine Art degree at Aberystwyth. Iwan has a strong attachment and commitment to both the people and the land of West Wales, a land tilled and farmed by generations of his family, and now transformed into his paintings that distil moments in time.
June Forster studied science to postgraduate level but decided to follow a life-long ambition to paint. Following a BA (First Class) and MA (Distinction) in Fine Art, she is now pursuing an art practice PhD where she will explore aspects of landscape painting. June has also devised short practical courses for first-year undergraduates in her role as part-time studio tutor at the School of Art.
Maggie Goff moved to North Pembrokeshire in 1986. She has always been a creative little soul and is now concentrating on painting and drawing. She has a passion for colour and her semi-abstract work reflects this love.
Julia Harris is an artist who is notable for her varied and inspirational work, in a range of media – charcoal, watercolour, acrylics, and oils – according to subject and mood. Her paintings explore the light and drama of changing light, with the enduring patterns and rhythms of country life. She is particularly interested in contemporary landscape exploring and interpreting the Welsh countryside and studies of animals, to which she gives expression, life and character.
Barbara Mathews, a practising Medical Herbalist, completed the BA (Hons) Fine Art at Aberystwyth in 2005, then enrolled on Life Long Learning classes. Her recent evocative and poetic series of paintings, based on the now abandoned lead mines that surround her home in the Cambrian Mountains, comment eloquently on both our industrial past and future.
Stephanie Mansell moved to Wales 23 years ago because of her love of the countryside which she still finds, everyday, to contain its air of purity and mystery. A retired accountant, Stephanie still runs a small holding near Aberystwyth and developed her interest in making pictures initially by attending Life Long Learning classes.
Karen Pearce, already a practising artist, decided to take the BA (Hons) Fine Art degree (2001) and the postgraduate MA (2003) at Aberystwyth. Has also attended Life Long Learning art classes, as well as teaching on them and on degree courses. A distinguished painter of still life and the Welsh landscape she exhibits with many leading galleries. Karen was elected the first Picturemakers Honorary Artist in December 2007.
Dilwyn Roberts runs a successful architects practice in Aberystwyth but after attending Life Long Learning art classes has become increasingly committed to transforming himself into a practising artist. Current interests include the use of pastels combined with an investigation of his surrounding landscape, particularly when it is affected by the qualities of weather, or at dusk.
Dot Thomas took up Life Long Learning art courses following retirement as a social historian. She is a keen walker and seeks to express the feeling of well-being she experiences while exploring the countryside. Her recent series is based on Ynyslas Beach, Ceredigion, near her home.
Harry Thomas trained as a botanist and spent 30 years as a crop physiologist. He has always painted, off and on, but since taking early retirement and attending some Life Long Learning courses, has become increasingly involved in depicting the landscape around his home near the Dyfi Estuary, Ceredigion.
Shelley Upton, one time chef and restaurateur, moved to Wales and worked as a seamstress until 1993 when she undertook the BSc (Hons) in Computer Science. Since 1997 she has worked in Information Services at Aberystwyth University. The stimulation first derived from Life Long Learning art courses developed her interest in art into becoming a painter with a delicate elegance.
Above: Heulwen hanging at Morlan.
