Interview with Paul Pigram by Diane Lawton

Hello Paul Pigram of Bodnant Art School, Founder of ART North Wales and the Conwy Arts Festival.

When did you move to North Wales and why?

I moved here with my wife Kate in the summer of 2015.

In previous years I was a partner in an advertising agency in Mold and most of my clients were based in the North Wales region. I always said that I would move here permanently... so here we are. It is truly "Heaven on Earth!"

Paul, you have a book published called Beginning Pastel. How did that happen?

That happened out of the blue just a year after moving here, in the autumn of 2016.

A leading art publisher in the USA called Walter Foster, part of the worldwide Quarto Group, asked me to produce the book. It took over six months to complete 128 pages with 300 images. Kate did all of the photography in our kitchen! It is still available and selling well across the world. 

In 2017 you opened Bodnant Art School in Tal y Cafn?

Yes! I always wanted to create an Art School where I could teach pastel painting. In January 2017 I opened my new studio and in the April I hosted a book launch for Beginning Pastel. I held many successful pastel workshops throughout the following seven years and invited other professional artists to teach in other mediums, such as oil, watercolour, acrylic, lino printing and others. 

We now specialise in pastel painting workshops held throughout the year from the River Room at Bodnant Welsh Food Centre. 

I understand you were responsible for developing and curating an impressive art gallery at Bodnant Craft Centre?

Yes we did. I put forward an idea to convert the first floor of Bodnant Craft Centre into a dedicated Art Gallery, featuring some of the best professional artists from across North Wales. We had six weeks to complete the task and launched Bodnant Art Gallery in September 2018. Over 100 people attended the Preview.

Tell me why you and Kate founded ART North Wales?

Following on from creating Bodnant Art Gallery, we had the idea in 2019 to bring together all the artists under one strong brand. So, in 2020 ART North Wales was born! It was designed to showcase the artistic talent that we have here in North Wales. This year we are celebrating our 5th birthday and we now have over fifty professional artists in our collective.

You and Kate founded Conwy Arts Festival in 2024.

What are the plans for this year?

2024 was a resounding success! We want to build on that success going forward. 

We are developing collaborations with as many like minded people as possible to make CAF25 bigger and better than last year. This year we will be including an exciting new event "The Affordable Art Fair" which will be held in the newly refurbished Neuadd Ni Church Hall, Rose Hill Street, Conwy. Opposite the Conwy Castle Car Park.

Our aim is to create an Arts Festival that suits such a world famous and historically important town. We believe in "Supporting the Arts and Businesses in the Local Conwy Community".

And finally, tell me about Paul the artist.

Do you ever find time to paint?

I try to paint as much as I can!

Living literally on the edge of the National Trust's world renowned Bodnant Garden gives me endless inspiration for my landscapes. 

In addition, I aim to create something new every year. I launched a series of Punch and Judy paintings last year to celebrate the history of Punch and Judy in North Wales. 

I'm now working on something completely different which will be revealed very soon!

Thank you Paul

What is a Conceptual Artist?

There are probably as many different ‘conceptual’ artists as there are leaves on a tree but many of them would not consider themselves to be so!

So what is a conceptual artist?

A concept is something that is conceived in the mind, an idea or a theory, so conceptual art is art that is developed from the artist’s intellectual or emotional response to something.

Conceptual art can be and can look like almost anything. This is because unlike a painter who will think, ‘how can I paint that tree?’; a conceptual artist uses whatever materials and whatever form is most effective at putting their idea across, ‘how can I show my feelings when I walking through a forest?’.

I sketch but use more then just the visual sense, I close my eyes and draw the sounds around me and the smells. I sit and meditate in the landscape, running my hands through the soil, grass or sand. I often use my non-dominant hand. All these are ways of tapping into the sub-conscious and unconscious mind.

If I explain the development my last body of work, ‘The Lost Family’ it might make more sense. I did not begin with the notion of painting my deceased family, the concept for the art work developed unconsciously when I spent time going through old photographs and trying to remember time spent with various members of my family. When I looked at photographs from my early childhood and had no memory of what I had felt or experienced.

This experience produced feelings of sadness, and a longing to recall the happy times. I tried to show this in the paintings through an exploration the themes of the myth of the ideal childhood, the temporary dreamlike quality of reality and an unconscious search for something lost.

www.marylowart.com

'The Sound of a Raven's Wings Beating' is a beautiful new book by Liz Bolloten

"Finally I can announce the publication of Sound of a Raven’s Wings beating. It is a love story really, of how interacting with Nature is a never ending source of wonder and creative responses to it.

Visiting the same place every day, you become sensitive to the subtle changes, watching dramas unfold and die back. I could easily have painted so much more as there was so much material"

'The Sound of a Raven's Wings Beating' explores Liz Bolloten’s artistic journey in a Welsh garden throughout the year. The book is 114 pages long, contains pigment info, diary entries and features over 70 of Liz’s beautiful watercolour paintings.

ORDER THE BOOK NOW - Direct from Liz's website:

http://www.lizbolloten.co.uk/

Official launch of the book and an exhibition of over 70 original paintings takes place on TUESDAY 2nd AUGUST to SUNDAY 28th AUGUST at ORIEL MON GALLERY, ANGLESEY