Gill WATKISS
Gill and her late husband, the painter and photographer Reg WATKISS, came to settle in West Cornwall at the end of the 1950s. From a first lodging at Mousehole, they lived in various locations around the district including Zennor, St Just, and latterly Newlyn.
Tutored at the Walthamstow School of Art, and taught by Edward Middleditch of the 'kitchen sink' group of artists, Gill has gone on to paint the people and places around herself, battling the ever present weather, wind and rain, in the ordinary round of their daily lives in the villages and lanes of Cornwall. Good examples are chosen by Cross (2002) to illustrate how she describes her life and intentions as an artist. Titles such as Watching the Storm, Porthleven (1997) and The Bathers, Perranuthnoe Beach (1993) show her evocative figures (real people) against the recognisable backdrops of the mining, fishing and farming communities in which they live.
Her work has been exhibited at the Rainyday Gallery in Penzance.
media
Painter in acrylics and oils
works and access
Works include: Walking the coast road (2008); Titles as above illus in Cross (2002).
exhibitions
1982: Solo exhibition, NAG
1987: Six solo exhibitions by NSA members
1989: Part II, A contemporary view, in 'A Century of Art in Cornwall 1889-1989' (Centenary of Cornwall County Council)
1990: Solo: A Retrospective, NAG
Great Atlantic Map Works, St Just
memberships
NSA
misc further info
references
Brittain, Sarah and Cook, Simon (2001) Behind the Canvas, 40 Artists working in West Cornwall;
Cross (2002) Catching the Wave pp80-3 (ill & photo likeness)
Hardie (1995) 100 Years in Newlyn/Diary
Hoyle, H (Feb 2012 Women Artists in Cornwall www.cornishmuse.blogspot.com) 'Grace Gardner - a life in abstraction'
W H Lane Sales Cat Sept 2010 illus