Born in Hascombe, Surrey, the eldest of five girls, and educated by a governess at home. The artist was encouraged to draw and paint from an early age. In 1908-9 she lived with her uncle in India. Her diary from that time records an expedition over the Khyber Pass on horseback, and evening parties and dances. In 1910-11 she lived in Paris and studied at Julian's Academy, drawing from the nude and learning etching and dry-point printing from copper plates. Her major influences were Meryon, Whistler and others.
In 1911 she married John Fischer Williams and they built a house on the south coast of Cornwall where they settled from 1920-1931, spending time also in Paris and travelling widely in France, Holland, Belgium and Italy. Four daughters, three of whom were to have important international careers in law, medicine and psychiatry respectively, aside from literature, were brought up by Marjorie. She was also stepmother to Barbara, Jack's daughter by his first marriage.
She specialised in drawing and etching of church architecture. Her subject matter was the back streets, peasant scenes, flowers and countryside. From 1931 the family spent summers in Cornwall and after her husband's death in 1947 she continued to visit France in order to sketch. Lino-cut designs were also an interest, and she printed curtains and cushions. Her WWII diary is available at the Hypatia Trust, along with writings by her daughters, Jenifer Hart, Dr Mariella Fischer-Williams, and Judith Hubback. Three of her etchings were displayed in the Group Show at Falmouth in 1996, Fisherman's Workshop, Cobbler's Shop (Cornwall) and Treveague Farm.
Amanda Williams Lucas was born in Wales. She studied initially at Wrexham College of Art, then became a student at Falmouth College of Arts (now University College Falmouth) where she subsequently lectured part-time.
She seeks to express a fascination for theoretical physics in visual form. Some of her work is inspired by Rorschach images.The artist has exhibited widely in Cornwall and beyond. Group shows include the London Art Fair. Her work is held in private collections in Europe and Canada.
Association with Falmouth, one painting of his, A Shipping Scene, featuring in the Falmouth Art Gallery collection.
Born in Whitstable, Kent, Willow took a Fine Art degree at the Falmouth College of Art. In Cornwall she has shown her work in a number of installation exhibitions with PALP (Penwith Artist-Led Projects) and others.
Willow is a tutor at Newlyn School of Art (2016).
Mr Wills, of the company WILLS Bros of London, lived at The Willows, Cornwall Terrace. He was the sculptor responsible for executing the statue of Humphry Davy in Market Jew Street, Penzance, and he died in the town.
Three paintings by this artist, are in the art collection held by the West Cornwall Hospital, Penzance.
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.'
Nigel Wills was born in Falmouth and the sea has been a formative influence in his life. He left school at 14 and after serving an apprenticeship at a local garage firm, he became a welder, working at Falmouth Docks and then at Compair Holmans in Camborne. Since 2011 he has begun to use his skills to create sculptures in steel of marine creatures. Each piece has its own individuality and character and is heat tempered to create a wonderful iridescent green-blue colour.
The son of Frederick J Wilmer, chemist and druggist of Wilmer & Co of Falmouth, four paintings by this artist were exhibited at the 150th Anniversary Exhibition at the RCPS in Falmouth (1983). He is credited with a triptych in the Warrior Chapel of Falmouth Parish church. In September 1900 he exhibited at the RCPS, and in 1906 Lake's Directory lists him as an artist living at 2 Park Crescent. Later he lived at Pennance Road, also in Falmouth.
Born in Lea Hall (Birmingham), the artist's initial sending-in address was in Birmingham, where she also exhibited with some frequency. From an address in Gloucester the artist exhibited Newlyn Harbour in 1904 at the RA. By 1910 she had returned to Birmingham and was again exhibiting there, though this was her last entry in The Year's Art.
The co-founder of the Lamorna Pottery, alongside CHRISTOPHER JAMES LUDLOW.
After the end of World War II, Derrick Wilshaw and Ludlow met as fellow-students at a pottery in Stoke-on-Trent. In 1947 Ludlow returned to Penzance and came across the old milk factory in Lamorna, which he and Wilshaw converted to a pottery in order to set up in business together.
Ludlow was not commercially minded and struggled with his mental health, so the joint venture was not an unqualified success. In 1952 Wilshaw married Lilian Reynolds, a Helston girl. He found the pottery and its surroundings claustrophobic. In 1956, after the tragic drowning of their son, he left Lamorna for Falmouth, where he became a well-regarded lecturer in ceramics.
In an interview for a book on sculptors by Marion Whybrow, he commented: 'Clay has a skin-like quality that is important because I like a figurative element in my work. At some point it ceases to be clay and takes on a character and personality that you endow it with...What is important for me is the historical connection, a progression of development of forms, one relating to another. You can have a conversation through the work, making a spiritual contact and something visual between yourself and the material you are manipulating.'
Paintings by this artist are included in the portrait collection at Helston Folk Museum. The two that are illustrated in the Public Foundation Catalogue are : Reverend Dr John Stevenson, First Perpetual Curate of Cury and Gunwalloe (1838-1846) and one of his wife.
Emma Saffy Wilson works from Porthmeor Studios in St Ives. Her 'hybrid' sculptures are inspired by mould growth.
The artist was born in Nottinghamshire at Whitwell, and studied at the Sheffield School of Art. His specialty was rustic scenes, and his chosen titles match similar ones in the Newlyn oervre: The Farmer's Daughter, The Light of the Cottage, Gathering Blackberries and Beside the Sea (a view from Trewarventh Street, Newlyn), etc. In 1881 he was lodging in Chelsea and working as a artist/draughtsman. At the age of 45 he was boarding in the home of a railwayman in Witley, Surrey. His studio was at Godalming, Surrey.
[From Falmouth AG Exh Cat 2000] 'Vincent has been exhibiting his work in Cornwall since 1962, when he moved from the North Wales and Lancashire area. He exhibits regularly with the artists' societies to which he belongs. In 1995 he was elected a member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen.
'Born in Mold, Clwyd, North Wales, he trained at Chester School of Art and Liverpool College of Art. He exhibited widely in Wales and was included in three Welsh Arts Council exhibitions from 1958-1981.'
In Cornwall he has shown in group shows of West Country artists in London, Sussex and South West Arts and in the South West Open exhibition at Plymouth (1990).
Jane Wilson lives and works in Looe. She originally studied printed textile design and spent many years in the fashion industry before becoming a full-time artist. Her work has been widely exhibited in the UK. She was the winner of the Dry Red Press Award at the Royal Watercolour Society's exhibition in 2022.
In 2023 she joined Prime Women Artists, a supportive and creative network for women artists of all disciplines in Cornwall.
Jessica Wilson's paintings contain a mixture of interior and exterior elements to create dreamlike, hallucinatory spaces.
Ges Wilson moved to Cornwall in the mid-1980s, and has since made St Ives her home. Previously she had studied art at Loughborough and Exeter Colleges of Art, and came to Penzance as an art teacher.
She is a member of the Penwith Society of Artists and also works freelance as an artist for the Tate St Ives. She is a former principal of St Ives School of Painting. Her semi-abstract landscapes are inspired by the 'elemental energy' of Cornwall. She exhibits widely, and her work is in private collections in the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
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Sarah Kate Wilson is exhibiting at the Newlyn Art Gallery from 19 July - 27 September, with Sophia STARLING and Kate TERRY.
Bernice Wilson is a portrait painter who lives in Menherion near Redruth.
in 2003 Jonathan Wilson graduated from Falmouth College of Art. In recent years he has been able to devote more time to his fantasy-themed paintings.
Recorded as a new member of STISA in 1933 but had died by 26th January 1934.