timeline-catalogue_digital

TIMELINE
DIGITAL EDITION
Curated by
Abu Jafar and John Vincent
Fenners Group
Letchworth Garden City

Credits
Edited and Designed by
Abu Jafar and John Vincent
Photography
Christine Harrison, John Vincent and Fellow
artists
Proofreading
Catherine Turner
Front cover drawing
Christine Harrison
DIGITAL EDITION
Digswell Arts Trust
www.digswellartstrust.com
Supported using public funding by the National
Lottery through Arts Council England.
CONTENTS
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30...
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34...
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Introduction
Debbie Bent
Amanda Bloom
Lawrence Born
Claude ‘Allweathers’ Clare
Jane Glynn
Christine Harrison
Lauren Avery Hutton
Abu Jafar ARBS
Louise Lahive
Lizzy Lane
Mindful Arts (Gill Lock & Sue Morter)
Salvia Officinalis
Laurie Sproston
John Vincent
Ewa Wawrzyniak
Martin Young
A Brief History...

The Digswell Arts Trust specialises in supporting emerging artists
and since founding over fifty years ago, we have supported a wide
range of artists, musicians and maker/creators. This lineage is
reflected today in the makeup of the Digswell studio in the Fenners
building in Letchworth which currently features fine art painters, a
jeweller, art therapists, mixed media artists, a wire sculptor,
ceramicists, glass makers and an instrument maker.
The Letchworth Digswell Fellows fit into a timeline of artistic
inhabitants of Letchworth, which includes Spencer Gore and
William Radcliffe,who both lived and worked in the town. This
exhibition focuses on this theme and uses contemporary art to
describe and discuss the history of Letchworth in a non-literal way.
Each Digswell Fellow uses their practice to express their perspective
and, taken together, this exhibition represents a rich seam of
artistic expression which connects the Digswell Fellows to the
creative past of Letchworth.
The Trust would like to thank the Arts Council for their support
with this project and the Heritage Foundation for their support in
establishing the Fenners studio.
3
INTRODUCTION
Anthony Gaughan
Chairman
The Digswell Arts Trust

DEBBIE BENT
Debbie Bent is a practising artist living in Hertfordshire, she is a
fellow of the Digswell Arts Trust. She shares the
Fenners building with sixteen other artists each with their own
studio space but sharing both a project and gallery space.
Debbie’s work centres on the connection between the human body
and the natural environment, exploring similarities in cell structure
between them or using the metaphors of nature to explore complex
issues relating to the process of being human. She exhibits
nationally. Debbie has also worked on several commissions for
public and private spaces.
As well as teaching ceramics and sculpture to adults and children,
Debbie also works as a community artist within Hertfordshire.
Ongoing classes are at Courtyard Arts in Hertford but she works
widely with groups from MIND to Vale House addiction centre. She
has recently started work with The Funky Pie Company which works
with music, theatre and visual arts within special needs schools and
plans to run workshops at Fenners building too. She is passionate
about making and nurturing individuals and their ideas.
Debbie continues to train in areas such as working with vulnerable
adults as well pushing the boundaries of her own work. Permanent
sculptures are at The Maynard Galleries in Welwyn Garden City and
Courtyard Arts Centre in Hertford.
dbent2@hotmail.com
www.debbiebent.com
‘Catherine Dreaming’
Porcelain, Celadon Glazed.
Photo: © Debbie Bent
Ebenezer Howard was the founder of Letchworth Garden City and
hewas a dreamer. His dream was to build a community that would
nourish and nurture each other. I find it amazing and heart warming
to think that a man who had great business acumen and hardworking
ideals would choose to use his skills in such an altruistic way in order
to create a better place for others.
I have captured my dreamer here, my daughter Catherine. She is
facing the garden which is in full flower and the sun coming through
the window lights her face. She was 17 when I started this work and
she had already become a junior advisor to Amnesty International.
She has the same community values as Ebenezer Howard and is off to
teach science in Guyana this year. I wait to see what Catherine, my
dreamer, becomes.
My work often explores issues of us within our environment, of our
shared beginnings and connecting history. The medium I use is often
ceramic as it gives me the chance to play, explore, experiment and
change as the journey progresses. There used to be a pottery in
Letchworth called the Iceni Pottery from 1905 to 1914 before war
broke out. There is now a new ceramic studio being constructed at
Fenners which means that there will once again be a space in
Letchworth dedicated to a love of clay.
4

AMANDA BLOOM
In 1994 Amanda gained a first class degree in Three Dimensional
Design at Middlesex University and then went on to work in interior
design, before gaining a Certificate in the Therapeutic and
Educational Application of The Arts. Fascinated by the way that art
allows people to express themselves, she completed a Masters in
Integrative Art Psychotherapy, and began working with individual
clients, using the arts to help them explore their feelings.
Since moving from London to Hertfordshire in 2008 Amanda has
been concentrating on her own work, with a particular emphasis on
textiles and mixed media.
amanda.bloom@btinternet.com
‘FIRST GARDEN CITY PLANS OF DEVELOPMENT
1906/1910/1936'
Felt/embroidery/fabric
©Artist
Photo: Amanda Bloom
I am drawn to the cartography of maps for their line and shape, for
the promise of routes known or unknown and for their ability to bring
order to chaos. They give you a sense of place, of the past, the present
and even the future.
I created these maps based on the early plans of Letchworth Garden
City. The maps, like the town, grew over a period of time as I stitched.
6

LAWRENCE BORN
Lawrence has a BA Hons in Industrial Design from Exeter, followed
by a violin making course at Brighton. He has practised luthiery,
(stringed instrument making) in his spare time since 1987, whilst
pursuing a career in design and engineering but over the past few
years has built a reputation and client base to the point where his
interest has now become a full time vocation.
This means Lawrence can apply a little more creative thinking and
practical analysis to the art of musical instruments - and in particular
electric and acoustic double basses - the design and detail of which
has been in a state of flux since the Renaissance.
mail@lhnborn.com
www.lhnborn.com
‘Inside Of A Double Bass’
©Artist
Photo: Lawrence Born
Hand made string and electric basses combine the Arts and Crafts in
their most fundamental forms.
The work on display shows the evolution of a bass guitar from the
initial drawings through making of parts and ending with the finished
instrument.
Independent crafts practitioners have long been part of the make up
of Letchworth and I hope to continue that tradition.
8

CLAUDE ‘ALLWEATHERS’ CLARE
Claude has spent some time in Europe returning to Letchworth in
2010 from a wonderful ten years travelling around Spain. His trip
ended at 'Camino de Santiago’, in the northwest of the country.
He has studied at University of Hertfordshire gaining a BA(hons)
Fine Art and an MA Fine Art at Winchester, Barcelona.
roadsweeper69@gmail.com
‘One who kneels’
Acrylic paint and oil pastel on canvas
©Artist
Photo: John Vincent
Endless miles
Endless hours
Thankless task
Roadsweeper general am I
Picking up imagery as I go
Letchworth many churches possess
Intiutively
Instinctively
Intently
I address.
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'Allweathers ' Clare

JANE GLYNN
Artist, illustrator and educator Jane Glynn’s work explores
memories, stories and time. She was awarded a fellowship with the
Digswell Arts Trust in 2012 and works from their studios at the
Fenners Building in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.
She recently graduated with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration
from Cambridge School of Art and works across a wide range of
media, primarily making paintings, drawings, animations and
books. Her first children’s book ‘My Sister Likes’ will be published in
Germany by Carl-Auer Verlag in Autumn 2013.
She is passionate about education and about collaboration and runs
art projects for children and adults of all ages and abilities.
jane@janeglynn.co.uk
www.janeglynn.co.uk
‘Leap’
Three hundred and sixty six books in a glass museum cabinet
©Artist
Photo: John Vincent
In the early 1900s, in the wake of the Arts and Crafts movement,
Letchworth Garden City became home to a thriving commercial book
industry; books had not yet been marginalised by the rise of computer
technology or even television but there was a desire to return to
preindustrial ideals of craftsmanship and care in manufactured goods
including books and Letchworth became the base for many talented
book artists and designers. One of these was Eleni Zompolides, who died
in 1958, the year I was born and the year Jack Kilby created the first
integrated circuit for computers, consisting of a sliver of germanium with
five components linked by wires. As I was growing up books were taken
for granted as the place from which most ideas were disseminated but
that has changed; I’m not making any qualitative judgements about that
and I’m not here considering what will become of ‘books’. However I feel
friendly towards them and, partly because of their vulnerability, they
seem an appropriate medium to express time passing.
The three hundred and sixty six books shown here were made over one
year, during which I began working at the Fenners Building. Each book
exists as a documentation of a moment of contemplation, as part of the
whole and as part of any number of sub-groups, including: chronological,
visual and tactile. The contents of the books include: pictures, stories,
patterns, descriptions of daily activities, as well as drawings from life and
from memory. I have shown these books in different ways, usually with
no casing so that they can ‘breathe’, and I have made stop motion
animations of the books. For this exhibition I borrowed a display case
from the First Garden City Heritage Museum in order to present them
temporarily as a static piece of Letchworth history.
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CHRISTINE HARRISON
Christine initially trained in graphic design but her focus is now
predominantly painting and printmaking – drawing inspiration from
nature and the interior states of memory, connection and response.
She thrives on variety and versatility of response and this is reflected
in her use of a wide range of media – acrylic, oils, pastel, collage,
watercolour, printmaking and mosaic. Her work includes still life,
figurative, portrait, landscape and abstract pieces. She was awarded
a Fellowship with the Digswell Arts trust in 2012.
christineharrison@dsl.pipex.com
www.christineharrison.net
‘Windows’
Giclee print from original monotype series
©Artist
Photo: Christine Harrison
I started researching my work for Timeline by cycling around
Letchworth and looking at the early Garden City houses. The
proportions and lines of the architecture started to charm me and so I
made small monotype prints to reflect this. Often when I am looking
at a subject another comes to the fore; in this case it was the windows
- and more specifically, the reflections in the windows.
The second monotype series is from my memory of the reflections I
saw at different times. The third set of prints are glimpses from the
gardens and green spaces of Letchworth which were a constant
backdrop.
I enjoyed thinking about time, the passing of time and the sense of
being part of Letchworth’s history as it is being written. At first sight
the buildings seem to be the more permanent or lasting things
represented here; but then many trees are far older than the buildings
and also have within themselves the seeds of their own
continuancedown through the ages. Similarly, the fleeting memory
of reflections in glass may seem very transient, but the human desire
to express and give form to such glimpses of light and colour stretches
a long way back in time.
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LAUREN AVERY HUTTON
Painting allows Lauren to explore various concepts of colour, varying
textures and brushwork to best depict her vision. Beyond the
composition of the painting, her main focus is colour… saturating,
sensual, vibrant, intoxicating. Her application of colour is firstly
expressive, and secondly theoretical. She is always observing and
thinking about light; painting with colours to uplift and give energy.
Lauren starts with a pre-conceived idea and lets the colours of the
pigment develop instinctively. While she paints for herself, she also
hopes that some of her paintings will be psychologically uplifting
and environmentally enhancing to the viewer as well.
Lauren graduated from Skidmore College in the U.S. with a B.S. in
Art. She is currently painting landscapes (also people as landscape)
mostly in oil, but continues to paint in acrylic, as well as watercolour
depending on the composition.
lauren@laurenaveryhutton.com
www.laurenaveryhutton.com
‘Chris-Teas Tea Room’ (detail)
Oil on canvas
©Artist
Photo: John Vincent
I chose to paint this image for a number of reasons.
Digswell Arts Trust / Fenners is a near neighbour of Chris-Teas Tea
Room, which perpetuates a quintessentially British tradition.
Tea Rooms in early Letchworth would have been similar. I researched
Arts and Crafts patterns and colours to paint on the china, as
Letchworth has an important place in the Arts and Crafts period.
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ABU JAFAR ARBS
Abu Jafar is an acclaimed leading International Artist and
Philosopher of the Arts born on March 21, 1968 in a small village
called Jhilna, Patuakhali, Bangladesh. Since 1991 he lives and works
in United Kingdom. He studied fine art painting and drawing at the
Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh 1984/89,
Master Drawing of the human figure at the Guildhall University,
London 1989/90, Art and Art History at the Goldsmith’s College,
University of London 1991/92 and Philosophy of Arts at the Open
University, 1997 UK. In 2007 he became an Associates Member of
the Royal British Society of Sculptors and in 2011 he became a Fellow
of the Digswell Arts Trust, UK.
Taking his inspiration from psychology, philosophy, classical music as
well as day-to-day human existence by producing art that is far from
traditional, he is actively attempting to shatter staid ideas of the past
regarding art; his art is the synthesis of colour, element and
presentation twisted into unusual form. Most of his large scale
installations involve nature, public and the environment. His work
simplifies our daily lives and the diversity of mankind in his
imaginative notion in a way that reflects imaginative power and ever
changing creative forces of new formative arts.
abu@abujafar.com
www.abujafar.com
‘Journey’ (detail)
Drawing on glass
© Artist/DACS
Photo: John Vincent
35 different shapes of round glass objects with engraved drawings of
Letchworth past and present including 110 dots and an old map of
Letchworth. It is an impression like walking through a memory lane,
discovering an unknown past, taking a moment to look back and explore
Letchworth Garden City which began only 110 years ago. Letchworth is
the world’s first Garden City, created as a solution to the squalor and
poverty of urban life in Britain in the late 19th Century, based on the ideas
of Ebenezer Howard as published in his book of 1898 “Tomorrow: A
Peaceful Path to Real Reform”. Letchworth Garden City inspired town
planning across the globe.
5,500 acres of land.
first roundabout, ‘Sollershott Circus’.
approximately 33,600 peoples
twinned - Wissen, Germany
Chagney, France,
Kristiansand, Norway.
13.6 mile path Garden City Greenway.
black squirrel
Pix Brook.
14 schools - over 5,500 pupils.
This sculpture turns history in to contemporary art that reflects our
journey which never ends.
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LOUISE LAHIVE
Louise’s paintings are a result of observation, ritual and
contemplation. Before beginning to paint she is interested in her
surroundings, what can be seen from the window, patterns she
finds, people she meets.
Louise finds the simplest objects work well to achieve the most
complex observations. The overlooked can become extraordinary.
She works mainly with oil on canvas and builds up images with layers
of paint over a period of time.
She loves that art can lend quietude and a space for a kind of
contemplation separate from the everyday world.
Louise graduated from Kingston University in 1999 with a BA honors
in fine art painting. She has exhibited both in the USA and London.
louiselahive@hotmail.com
www.louiselahive.co.uk
‘Space Between Trees’
Oil on board
©Artist
Photo: Christine Harrison
The idea of town and country together, striving to incorporate nature
into our capitalist lifestyle is such a beautifully generous venture on
behalf of working people.
The reality of life in Letchworth and Welwyn may not be, or may never
have been, true to Ebenezer Howard’s vision, but we are left with
these beautiful parks and tree-lined avenues which were made for
Letchworthians to walk down; these places alone have a substantial
effect on people’s everyday lives be it conscious or not.
My piece ‘Space Between Trees’ began with thinking simply about the
space between trees, planned as methodically as the spaces between
buildings. The road of flowers reflects the philosophy of town and
country that merged to create Letchworth, not a town, not a modern
suburban sprawl but a unique echo of socialist philosophy, miles from
our present individualistic culture.
20

LIZZY LANE
Lizzy studied art for four years at a college in Cornwall, before
moving to Hertfordshire to study a BA Hons in applied and media art,
leading to an MA.
Her sculptures are formed around a basic framework of galvanised
steel wire. Various gauges of enamelled copper wire are applied.
Copper wire is a flexible and versatile medium, allowing colour,
texture and pattern to be added. The wire is manipulated through
knitting, crotchet, coiling or weaving techniques to apply more
intricate detail.
In contrast to the wire; beadwork, copper sheet and aluminium may
be used to further emphasise areas, adding more intricacy or to
solidify an area.
The pieces are constructed by hand using pliers only. Knitting
needles or crotchet needles are used for specific techniques. No glue
or solder is used, with all materials joined by the wire itself.
lizzy.lane@hotmail.com
‘Bee’
Wirework, beadwork, resin and copper.
© Artist
Photo: Lizzy Lane
Insects have always been a source of respect, curiosity and fascination
for me. The colours, patterns and transformations they undergo add
to their unique beauty. Their defence or attack mechanisms are
strong abilities in relation to their tiny structures, yet due to their size
all their unique qualities are often overlooked.
Due to my fascination with wildlife I was drawn to Norton Common,
which is only a short walk away from the Fenners building. Norton
Common is a nature reserve of beautiful surroundings providing a
peaceful escape from the busy life of the town and roads nearby.
The reserve has always been a part of Letchworth in some form,
though always as a home for the busy lifestyle of much smaller
inhabitants. During the 1800’s the land suffered some changes to the
usage causing vegetation and insects to decline. One type of insect
included in this event was the bee.
Bees are found all over Britain and they are never far away from us;
they are an important part of our planet’s eco system. Once a queen
has found a suitable nesting site, she will rarely travel much further
than 3 metres approximately for a new site to nest, however, if the
area surrounding has suffered and it is not suitable this will force her
to venture further. The site was taken over by Letchworth Urban
District Council in 1922, and due to the preservation and care of the
site to how it is today, the species that once disappeared are now
approving the reserve and making it their home again.
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MINDFUL ARTS
(Gill Lock & Sue Morter)
Mindful Arts is a social enterprise, whose aim is to promote
psychological health, personal and social development.
Gill Lock is a Health and Care Professions Council registered Art
Psychotherapist who has wide experience of delivering Art Therapy and
Mindfulness sessions for the NHS, both in the Mental Health service and
the Learning Disabilities service. She also works in private practice and is
a British Association of Art Therapists approved private practitioner and
supervisor. She has taught and practiced Mindfulness meditation for the
past fifteen years.
Her meditation practice stems from the Buddhist tradition, beginning
with Vipassana meditation, where she participated in 6, ten day
meditation retreats, to establish a firm grounding in the practice. When
the opportunity to study mindfulness and use this practice within the
NHS arose, Gill undertook this 8 week training (Mindfulness Based Stress
Reduction) followed by a 6 day Teacher Development Retreat, run by the
Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University.
Sue Morter is an Art Psychotherapist who is registered by the Health
Professionals Council and the British Association of Art Therapists as a
private practitioner and clinical supervisor.
She has an extensive background working within the NHS for 35 years
within Mental Health and Learning Disabilities services for adults. As
part of this role, she managed two teams of arts therapists for 10 years
prior to leaving the NHS in 2010. Through her wide experience, she has
developed advanced skills in facilitating Art Therapy sessions for
individuals and groups. Her approach enables the art-making process to
be explored within a psychodynamic framework.
info@mindfularts.co.uk
www.mindfularts.co.uk
‘ When The Heart Is Cut Or Cracked Or Broken’
Acrylic on canvas
©Artist
Photo: Christine Harrison
‘When the heart is cut or cracked or broken’, a poem from ‘The Prayer
Tree’ by Michael Leunig, inspired this piece, which expresses some of
the pain/madness that people struggle to contain when love is lost.
This piece along with its companion, not shown here, from Mindful
Arts, represent Art from the Asylum, specifically Fairfield Hospital on
the Arlesey/Stotfold border, where Art Therapy would have provided
some relief from the personal struggles of the people held there. This
painting represents the madness, while the other the containment of
the institution.
Within this image metaphors for distress can be seen; the two rabbits
represent the difficulty of relating, while the bird putting its head
inside the open heart conjures openness to emotional pain. The
Russian dolls depict layers of encasement.
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SALVIA OFFICINALIS
Salvia Officinalis is the artist name of Letchworth resident Marva
Cossey who is an artisan designer with over 30 years of experience
producing a range of handcrafted pieces.
She enjoys producing work that is adorned (jewellery), worn or
home comforts (e.g. throws made from African fabrics, cushions,
crochet).
salviao@hotmail.com
Untitled
Head dress (Gatsby inspired), wire wrapped crucifix, cuff
bracelet
©Artist
Photo: Christine Harrison
As an Artist I have cultivated an interest in the Arts and Crafts era of
the late nineteenth century in particular William Morris possibly the
most influential thinker of the period.
I enjoy making things with my hands and using as little or no
machinery in the production, creating original 'one off' products.
In this exhibition I will include a range of handcrafted jewellery made
from gold and silver plated wire with findings and semi-precious
gems. As a reference to later works produced at the Spirella building
in the town the display will also include corsetry work using wires and
fabrics.
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LAURIE SPROSTON
Laurie is a local artist who has lived in Letchworth all his life. He
specializes in acrylic paintings and his favourite themes are fantasy,
sci fi, and nature.
He has worked hard to be an artist on account of his autism, and
hopes that people like his work as much as he does.
‘The Three Magnets’
Acrylic on canvas
©Artist
Photo: Christin Harrison
The Magnets was the idea that combined the natural look and feel of
the countryside, with the urban, working, feel of the town to make
the world's first garden city. It was meant as a haven for only the hard
working men and their families.
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JOHN VINCENT
John’s work explores narrative and in each painting the scene is of a
moment in time that conversely lends itself, in part, to the ‘film still’.
The process he uses is to blend photographic or video fragments and
meld these together to form a cohesive narrative expressed either
through oil paint or analogue and digital video.
His subject is an exploration of the atmosphere generated by missing
or hidden elements within the scene that convey a sense of mystery
and the impression that a significant event has already occurred (or
that is about to) which affects the visible persons and those that may
be hidden.
Whilst this often involves the concealment of the identities it is also
achieved by the interaction of these figures with inanimate objects
within the frame.
jv@johnvincent.co.uk
www.johnvincent.co.uk
‘Brightcot Revisted’ (still)
Video: 8m 6s
©Artist
Photo: John Vincent
This house, formerly known as ‘Brightcot’, is one of the oldest in
Letchworth. Designed by architects Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin
it is a cottage originally built for the Miss Wilkinsons (presumably
sisters) one of whom was a secretary for the local suffragist
movement.
This video is a time travelling experience that seeks to discover
changes to the house and grounds and begins with the position of an
old gate bearing the house’s former name at the front of the house.
The video explores both the architecture, ideas of transformation and
the desire to travel through time and the futility of such an idea - and
yet there I am, via video wizardry, back in 1909.
30

EWA WAWRZYNIAK
Ewa Wawrzyniak was born in Poland and trained in ceramics and
glass at Middlesex Polytechnic and Surrey Institute of Art and Design
in the UK. She completed her Master of Arts at the National College
of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland, where her research explored the
technical and expressive possibilities of sand casting glass.
Since 1999 she is a part–time Lecturer for Open Studies in Ceramics
& Glass at University of Hertfordshire, UK. Since 2005 she is a
regular Visiting Lecturer in the Faculty of Art & Design (Glass)
University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK.
Ewa has done numerous exhibitions in the UK and abroad. Her work
is widely collected by museums and galleries including Broadfield
House Glass Museum, Kingswinford, UK, North Lands Creative
Glass, Lybster, Scotland, UK and BWA Ksiaz, Poland and many
private collections in UK, Ireland, and USA.
Her commissioned works include Arts & Business East Awards and
Art & Business South East Awards 2007 UK, Downs Syndrome
Ireland, Forfas Innovation Awards, Ireland Royal Bank of Scotland,
Dublin, Ireland and various private commissions in UK. and abroad.
info@ewa-wawrzyniak.com
www.ewa-wawrzyniak.com
‘£150 Cottages - The Best Glass Cottages’
Sand cast glass, ground and polished
©Artist
Photo: John Vincent
Cast glass sculptures and multi layered fused glass inspired by
architecture of Arts and Crafts movement, with screen printed
images depicting architectural details, local landscape and gardens.
32

MARTIN YOUNG
Martin is an Austrian artist. Most of the time he works with oil paints
and charcoals on big canvases. He draws and paints human faces
and bodies finding that it is very important to work out the eyes as
they represent the windows to the soul.
He finds the process of letting a painting grow, layer for layer,
interesting - to give each painting the time it needs to develop and
get alive - “It’s not just painting, it’s a ritual!”
Martin believes that a piece of art needs a kind of personal treatment
to get something like a personality. Every single painting is a new
mission. Its not always fun. Its not a hobby. Its a passion. Art includes
up and downs. There are always some kind of problems and often
solutions. It needs that mix of care and risk and a good feeling for
the right timing.
He can find happiness up to ecstasy but also sadness and frustration.
And sometimes when he has finished a piece of work there is
satisfaction and salvation.
Martin likes the possibility to surprise himself, although this does not
always happen in a good way but when it does he finds this really
motivating. There is hardly anything better than standing in front of
a finished painting or drawing and to feel proud.
‘Portrait Of William Morris’
Charcoal on canvas
©Artist
Photo: Christine Harrison
I decided to draw William Morris because he was part of the Arts and
Crafts movement whose philosophy was to show honesty to the
material and to go back to craftsmanship. A philosophy which still
deserves attention.
Next to oil, I enjoy working with charcoal because it allows me to be in
the moment and to produce in a fluent and fast style from start to
finish.
I am excited by the process of portraiture and the intimacy of
capturing character.
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A Brief History...
The Digswell Arts Trust was founded in 1957 by Henry Morris, the revolutionary educationalist,
who was also a great enthusiast for the arts. Morris passionately believed in art for people, and
maintained that artists were vital for the well-being of society. Through his energy, dedication
and influence he established a Trust for emerging professional artists. Digswell House, the first
home of the Trust, gave its name to the organisaton, and was a regency mansion with cottages
and outbuildings which provided artists’ accommodation, studios and workshops for the
selected artists, who were designated “Fellows”.
Since then, Digswell has grown to be the largest studio provider in the East of England and still
focuses on artists and maker/producers in the early phase of their careers. Via studios in
Letchworth, Stevenage and Welwyn, the Trust provides studios for approximately forty
Digswell Fellows, who for three – five years’ experience a collaborative and supporting
environment, the space to experiment and innovate within a creative community of other
Fellows who are developing both their art practice as well as their commercial skills. At the end
of their time at the Trust, Fellows have a solid basis on which to pursue their artistic careers.
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