Tag: Welsh artist

Designer Desire: Karel Lek

Montage of Karel Lek artworks

Karel Lek discovered his love for art as a four year old when his father would take him to museums in Antwerp where he found inspiration in Belgian artists such as Constant Permeke and James Ensor.

Lek (1929-2020) and his family fled Antwerp during WWII, arriving as Jewish refugees to North Wales in 1940 when he was still a young boy. He lived there for 17 years before he moved to Beaumaris on Anglesey.

All I ever wanted to be was a painter and coming to Wales really helped me achieve my dream.

He was educated at Friars Grammar School in Bangor and, between 1946 & 52, attended Liverpool College of Art. In 1955, Karel Lek became a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy and was awarded an MBE in 2005.

Because I am an artist, north Wales, Anglesey and Gwynedd, are my main source of inspiration.

Karel Lek exhibited across Wales and in London, Amsterdam and Chicago. His work is contained within the collections of Contemporary Art Society for Wales, National Library of Wales, University of Bangor, Oriel Ynys Môn and Kansas City Art Gallery.

When you are dead, you’re work becomes your heart and your name becomes a brand. I hope I will have left behind a legacy.

Portrait of Karel Lekcredit

Additional image credits:
Art UK | Ask Art | Invaluable

Designer Desire: Lilwen Lewis

Montage of Lilwen Lewis paintings

A couple of weeks ago on a trip into Aberystwyth, Justin walked past Oriel y Bont – and an artwork in the window really stood out for him. He went over for a closer look and found that it was painted by Welsh artist, Lilwen Lewis.

When he returned home, he told me about it, and we looked online to see if we could find any information about her and discover any more of her works.

Lilwen is local to New Quay, a Mid-Wales harbour town 20 miles south of Aberystwyth. She studied art for 5 years; first to Carmarthen School of Art then on to Swansea School of Art to study Painting & Stained Glass and finally Cardiff College of Art, graduating from Cardiff University. She returned to live and work in New Quay after her studies and a five year stint teaching Art and Craft at St Clears Secondary School. She’s a member of Cardigan Art Society.

My inspiration comes from the landscape around my home walking through woods, farms and down to the seafront among the fishing boats. Observing the changing moods of the landscape and the people.

I like experimenting with different mediums and techniques. Going from realism through to semi abstraction. You never know how work will turn out or what it will lead to.

Portrait of Lilwen Lewiscredit

Additional image credits:

Oriel y Bont | The Gallery yr Oriel

Designer Desire: Ogwyn Davies

Montage of Ogwyn Davies artworks

Born in Trebanos, Neath Port Talbot, Ogwyn Davies (1925-2015) was a Welsh fine artist, ceramist and school teacher. He attended Swansea School of Art between 1947 & 52 before going on to teach at Tregaron Comprehensive (Ysgol Uchradd) from 1955 to 1985. He was one of the founder members (along with Hywel Harries) of the Cardiganshire Art Society which was established in 1963.

I find farm buildings interest me greatly. Very often, the human association of several generations can be seen in the barns and sheds and a sense of poetry seems ever present. They record so graphically the passing of time as it leaves its marks on the walls. For decades many Welsh walls have become part of the world of protest and my interest in walls and marks have resulted in works reflecting this. The use of the words of our National Anthem came about I think after regular attendance at the Arms Park in Cardiff and hearing choirs of over fifty thousand voices singing the words so movingly [credit]

His most famous work is probably Soar y Mynydd (top left in the montage above) the Grade II listed, Calvinist Methodist chapel in Llanddewi Brefi near Tregaron, Ceredigion. Built in 1822, it’s claimed to be the remotest chapel in all of Wales.

Examples of his work can be found in the permanent collections of National Library of Wales, National Museum Wales, Ceredigion Museum and Aberystwyth University.

credit

Additional image credits:
ArtUK | MOMA Cymru | Mutual Art

Designer Desire: Ifor Pritchard

Montage of Ifor Pritchard paintings

Since moving to Ceredigion, we’ve discovered so many incredible Welsh artists. The latest in that line is Ifor Pritchard. I adore his expressive, impasto style; thick strokes of oil paint confidently applied with brush and knife to the canvas.

Pritchard (1940-2010) was a painter whose subject matter consisted mainly of the slate quarrying industry that he saw around him growing up in Carmel, Gwynedd in North Wales. He created portraits of the quarrymen (at work and at the pub), the quarry managers, the work horses, the machinery.

For many years, he worked as an art teacher mainly at Ysgol Sir Huw Owen in Caernarfon from where he retired in 1992. It wasn’t until 2007 that he mounted his first exhibition (of 30 works) in Glynllifon, south of Caernarfon.

Memories are my inspiration. Memories of a childhood in the village of Carmel in the ’40s. This is a village situated within a stone’s throw of the Dyffryn Nantlle slate quarries and was, therefore, a village that was almost totally dependent on the slate. After a lifetime of producing and teaching art, memories now transport me back to those early days. It is an endeavour to depict an extremely claustrophobic life that was, in the main, based on the quarry and the chapel. I am only interested in the human aspect of the industry. I have slate, but not the dust, in my veins.

Craig yr Oesoedd/True Grit by Myrddin ap Dafydd is an 80-page, bi-lingual study of some of his works.

Image credits:
Artnet | Mutual Art