Barbara WILLS
Barbara Wills was born in Sheffield and at age 16, with the early encourage of her grandfather, who also painted, entered the Sheffield College of Art. From there she went on two years later to the Royal College of Art which continued its classes during WWII at Ambleside in Cumbria.
With her diploma she taught art in schools in Dolgellau, Dagenham, and Basingstoke. At the latter she was to meet her future husband, Edward. During the 1950s and '60s she exhibited her paintings locally and also at the RA, before the couple moved to Cornwall to live at St Hilary, where Edward's family had lived for several generations.
In Cornwall Barbara became a loyal member of the NSA, holding her first solo exhibition in 1971 at the Newlyn Art Gallery.
Her obituary in the Cornishman (19 September 2013) concludes with the following:
'As well as gaining a reputation and following for her paintings - in which she captured a strong sense of the mood and movement of the moment - she also found the time, energy and enthusiasm to teach small groups of children in her studio and also to start and tutor for 22 years in Painting for Pleasure classes at Rosudgeon.'
media
Landscape painter
works and access
exhibitions
NAG: Newlyn in Pont Aven 1977
1986: RCM & RIC Three Spires Festival Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Pottery, Truro (Opening of the RCM or County Art Gallery, by the Royal Institution of Cornwall)
memberships
NSA
misc further info
references
Cornishman Obituary 19 Sept 2013
Hardie (1995) 100 Years/Diary
Programme Notes, 3-Spires Festival, Truro, 1986