vivienne williams rca, catalogue

vivienne williams

rca

vivienne williams rca colour rhythm balance 5 – 22 April 2022 PREVIEW DAYS

Thursday 31 March: 12-6pm Friday 1 April: 12-6pm Saturday 2 April: 11-4pm The entire exhibition can be viewed at www.thackeraygallery.com The exhibition continues until 1pm on 22 April 2022 All work is available to purchase now

18 THACKERAY STREET

|

KENSINGTON

|

LONDON

W8 5ET

www.thackeraygallery.com | enquiries@thackeraygallery.com | 020 7937 5883

colour rhythm balance First of all, I am very happy that the paintings can be seen in person in the gallery again. Two years ago, in April 2020, my exhibition was the first of the lockdown shows - the pictures were hanging on the walls but no-one could go inside.

It has been a productive and reclusive time since then.

I could say something, if pressed, about colour, subject matter and technique, but as Gillian Welch, singer/ songwriter once said, ‘Everything I had to say about the song went into the song’.

I live in a small village in rural Carmarthenshire not far from the wonderful Aberglasney Gardens. During the first lockdown it was closed to the public for months and it was strange and rather sad to know that all the spring flowers, shrubs and trees would be blossoming with only a handful of volunteer gardeners to see them. Over the following winter, 20,000 more bulbs were planted which made spring 2021 extra special. It was so moving and uplifting to see all that colour and joy - and especially, so many tulips.

As many people have experienced over the last two years, there is a renewed sense of appreciation for the ordinary things that perhaps we took for granted - time to enjoy a simpler way of life for a while.

I hope you enjoy these still life paintings of jugs and bowls, lemons and pears - and that they convey some sense of the colours and quiet intensity of those times.

Vivienne Williams RCA 2

Night Garden 1 acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm

3

4

Blue Jug with Eggs, Chillies and Grapes acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm

Jar with Lemons, Chillies and Rocket acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm

5

6

Crocus Bowl and Eggs acrylic on paper – 51 x 41cm

Kitchen Table with Red Tulips acrylic on paper – 51 x 41cm

7

Table Still Life with Pear Bowl acrylic on paper – 56 x 76cm

8

9

10

Pear Bowl with Spanish Lemons acrylic on paper – 41 x 41cm

Blue Jar with Strawberry Pot acrylic on paper – 40 x 40cm

11

12

Kitchen Still Life with Lemons, Chillies and Eggs acrylic on paper – 46 x 61cm

Watermelon and Lilies acrylic on paper – 46 x 61cm

13

14

Roses in Blue Pot acrylic on paper – 25 x 25cm

Spoon, Bowl, Apple and Pears acrylic on paper – 56 x 64cm

15

16

Aberglasney Tulips acrylic on paper – 56 x 64cm

Bouquet acrylic on paper – 41 x 41cm

17

18

Jug with Winter Apples acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm

Blue Bowl with Dark Pears acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm

19

Flask with Lemons and Figs acrylic on paper – 56 x 76cm

20

21

Jar with Five Apples acrylic on paper – 31 x 41cm 22

Garden Tulips acrylic on paper – 41 x 41cm 23

Lemons and Green Pears acrylic on paper – 45 x 46cm 24

Lilies acrylic on paper – 44 x 51cm 25

Still Life with Norwegian apples acrylic on paper – 56 x 76cm

26

27

Vessels with Pestle and Mortar acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm 28

Night Garden II acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm 29

Pale Vessels acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm 30

Table Still Life with Red Chilli acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm 31

Still Life with Strawberries and Spoon acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm 32

Spring Tulips acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm 33

Red Table with Fruit acrylic on paper – 56 x 76cm

34

35

BIOGRAPHY Vivienne Williams was born in Swansea in 1955. She studied English Literature at Reading University taking a Masters Degree in ‘The Literary Response to the Visual Arts’ in 1978. She spent the next five years abroad, teaching English in Venice and Padua and working in an art gallery in Sydney, where she began selling her work for the first time. Returning to the UK in 1983, she spent the next seven years studying and working in a Buddhist Community, before returning to Wales in 1990 and committing to painting full time.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS FROM 1992 – PRESENT: Arts Workshop (now Mission Gallery), Swansea; Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff; Attic Gallery, Swansea; Thackeray Gallery, London SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS FROM 2002 – PRESENT: Moncrieff-Bray Gallery;Thackeray Gallery, London; Hong Kong Art Fair; Lime Tree Gallery; Moncrieff-Bray Gallery, (Summer & Winter Exhibitions); RCA New Members Exhibition, Conwy, RCA Summer Exhibition; Martin Tinney Gallery; Oriel Tegfryn, Menai Bridge; London Art Fair, Business & Design Centre, Islington, London; The Jerram Gallery, Sherborne; One Hundred Years of Painting in Wales, Bodelwyddan Castle, Denbighshire; The Painted Pot, Newport Museum and Art Gallery; Essence of Wales II, St. David’s Hall, Cardiff; Selected for Welsh Artist of the Year, Cardiff; Selfridges (4-Person) Manchester; The Gallery, Manchester’s Art House; Fine Art & Antiques Fair, London; A Roomful of Flowers; Oriel Myrddin, Carmarthen, touring Wales, England and Ireland; Connecting Lines, Life Drawing; (4-Person) Arts Workshop, Swansea; Wales Art Fair; Attic Gallery; Coach House Gallery, Caerphilly (4-Person); Sydney Watercolour Exhibition, Australia

36

Back Cover: Tulips – acrylic on paper – 46 x 61cm

TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS: Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol & Long Melford;; The Jerram Gallery, Sherborne; Oriel Tegfryn, Menai Bridge; Thackeray Gallery, London; Martin Tinney Gallery; Thackeray Gallery, London PRIZES & COMMISSIONS 2017 Elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy 2008 Invited to be on panel of judges for Welsh Artist of the Year competition, Cardiff 2003 Painting purchased by Contemporary Art Society of Wales (CASW) 2001 Short-listed for University of Glamorgan Purchase art Prize, Oriel y Bont, Pontypridd 2000 Highly recommended prize winner, Welsh Artist of the Year, Cardiff; Painting in Carmarthen

County Hall, (BBC Your Paintings) 1999 Short-listed for University of Glamorgan Purchase Art Prize, Oriel y Bont, Pontypridd 1997 Commission for three paintings, Swansea University Library 1995 Painting chosen for CD cover, Swansea Bach Choir 1995 Book cover, Buddhist Publishing, Diamant Verlag, Munich, Germany 1993 Three paintings chosen for World Trade Centre, Cardiff 1993 Invited to provide programme cover for BBC National Orchestra of Wales season 1992 Artist in Residence, Ceri Richards Festival, Dunvant, Swansea 1991 National Eisteddfod of Wales, Mold, third prize

First Published in 2022 by Thackeray Gallery Ltd, 18 Thackeray Street, Kensington, London. Copyright © 2022 Thackeray Gallery Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electrical, mechanical or otherwise without first seeking the permission of the copyright owners and the publishers. All images in this catalogue are protected by copyright and should not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Details of the copyright holders are to be obtained from Thackeray Gallery Ltd.

37

18 THACKERAY STREET | KENSINGTON | LONDON W8 5ET www.thackeraygallery.com | enquiries@thackeraygallery.com | 020 7937 5883

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 10am - 6pm, & Saturday, 11am - 4pm Private Appointments Available 38