Our current group exhibition
Aberystwyth
17 May – 2 July: Morlan Centre, Queen's Rd, Aberystwyth, a group exhibition entitled "Soar y Mynydd"
At the opening
See a slide-show of the exhibition
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Read about us on the BBC website.
About us
Founded in 2006 and rapidly establishing itself as an important exhibition group in Wales, The Picturemakers is a collective of professional artists dedicated to promoting the visual arts to a wide audience through exhibitions, publications and the internet.
The Picturemakers is currently limited to 15 members drawn from throughout Mid Wales: Aberystwyth, Capel Sion, Llangwyryfon, Tre’r-ddol, Ciliau Aeron, Llandudoch, Cilgerran, Rhayader and Llanwrtyd Wells. In their desire to find their personal voices they meet regularly, gaining from the support and encouragement received as they discuss their work in progress. Each Picturemakers exhibition takes on the hallmarks of this collective experience.
The Picturemakers reflects an extraordinary diversity of backgrounds and interests, yet is united in a common approach: that of members using their own individual experiences and observations to produce their images. In so doing each artist seeks to demonstrate what has impinged visually, as each tries to paint what is to be found in their own personal environment.
Indeed Cynefin, which translates as ‘one’s love and attachment to the familiar’, was the name given to their first ever exhibition in 2007 held at the Conrah Hotel, Aberystwyth, the King Street Gallery, Carmarthen and the Morlan Centre, Aberystwyth (2008).
Subsequent exhibitions, each curated by an individual member, have been held at Rebecca Riginals, Rhayader (2008, 2009), Pendre Art, Cardigan (2008), Oriel Cambria Gallery, Tregaron (2008) and the Morlan Centre, Aberystwyth (2009). In 2009 The Picturemakers were invited to exhibit at the new Oriel Elenydd Gallery, Tregaron, and at the Brecon Beacons National Park. To date they have been invited to exhibit in 2010 at the Morlan Centre, Aberystwyth and the Gallery of Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold. You can find more information on past and current shows in the column on the right.
We hope that you will enjoy browsing our web galleries via the links in the column on the left. We frequently add new images, so do come back soon. Some artists have their own web-sites, and you can find the appropriate links when you click on their names.
The officers
- President and Publicity: Alistair Crawford
- Chairman: Shelley Upton
- Secretary: June Forster
- Treasurer: Stephanie Mansell
(Click a name to open an email link.)
Mini biographies
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. Heulwen was voted an Honorary Member in 2009.
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.
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.
A brief history: 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 constitution, and election of members.
The full constitution of The Picturemakers can be read here.
In order to maintain a manageable and closely integrated group, we have decided to limit The Picturemakers to a maximum of 15 artists. Any invitations to join The Picturemakers will normally be issued in November, following the procedures detailed in Procedures for Election to Membership of The Picturemakers, which can be read here.
Above: Heulwen hanging at Morlan.
