Home Is Where The Art Is: The Copyright Artists (series 2, Episode 3)

One of the nice aspects of Home Is Where The Art Is is the opportunity to see existing art in the homes of the client art collectors - especially when you've never seen their artwork before.

So this post is about the Copyright Artists - who also get a listing in the credits at the end (see Home Is Where The Art Is (Series 2) for more on the topic of TV credits for artists.)

Specifically it's about the artwork in the home of the art collectors in Episode 3 - who like art by northern artists. (I come from the North West - and spent seven years travelling in and out of Manchester by train to go to School - hence my interest)

I don't have a clue who the art collectors are - but they've got an impressive art collection in terms of the calibre of these northern artists. Some of whom have already had a mention on this blog

The Copyright Artists

The artists are - in alphabetical order:

• Taro Chiezo
• Reg Gardner
• Russel Howarth (it's not mispelt)
• Tony Noble
• Emma Rogers
• William Selby
• Stuart Walton

All but one of them were born in the north and all still have some sort of connection with the north. Here's a bit about each of them. A link to their website (if they have one) is embedded in their name. Most have their work sold through art galleries.

Taro Chiezo (1962-present)

Taro Chiezo is a Japanese artist based in Manhattan.

Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1962, he studed art in New York.

His works include Super Lambanana, a sculpture in Liverpool, England. He's exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions all over the world and his work is in several public collections.

A small version of the Super Lambanana was seen in the show.

Super Lambanana (1998)
 Painted Concrete

A replica of the 17ft (5.2m) high Superlambanana sculpture is to be created in Liverpool after six months of negotiations saw permission given.
The popular Merseyside artwork will then go on public display for the next 80 years.
The current version was limited to a 10-year display licence and will be handed back to its creator, Japanese artist Taro Chiezo. 

Superlambanana proved popular in Liverpool last year when the Go Superlambananas Parade saw 119 scaled-down models hit the city for 10 weeks in the summer and was hailed as one of the key highlights of the Capital of Culture celebrations. The models were eventually auctioned and raised £600,000 in one night for a Lord Mayor's Charity Appeal.  BBC Merseyside 2009 

Reg Gardner (1948-present)

Reg Gardner is a British Postwar & Contemporary painter. His artwork reflects the urban landscape of the North West, capturing the homely yet industrial feelings of Manchester and Stockport

• born in Prestwich in 1948 to a working class family but spent his formative years in Ardwick.
• age 12 he won his first art competition in the Manchester Evening News. 
• At the age of 14 he won a scholarship to the HIgh School of Art in Manchester.
• He has painted professionally since his first exhibition in the Colin Jellicoe Gallery in Manchester in 1969.
• Between 1973 and 1980 he mounted several one-man shows in venues like Stockport Art Gallery, Rivington Great House, The Barbican and the National Theatre in London. 
• He sells his work through art galleries.
• His work also sells in auctions - consistently above mid-estimate

extract from Invaluable site re works sold at auction

Russel Howarth (1927-present)

Russel Howarth has perhaps been the most geographically dedicated painter in the north of England over the past century. His 70-year commitment of unwavering effort to draw and paint the Saddleworth area of Oldham must be regarded as a great artistic compulsion.

Examples of work by Russell Howarth at the Castlegate House Gallery - who have sold a lot of his work

• 1927 - born on 28 May 1927 in Glodwick, Oldham
• 1937 - moved to Waterhead, Oldham - in a house he has lived in ever since, living with his parents until they died in 1975
• 1941 - left school (age 14) and became an apprentice toolmaker 
• studied at night school to achieve various qualifications and skills. 
• after the war began working for Platt Brothers, a huge textile machinery manufacturer in Werneth. His draftsmanship and technical skills meant he worked in the drawing office
• late 1940s Russel took some evening watercolour classes
• began painting scenes of Saddleworth after work and at the weekends (he never married)
• 1951 joined The Saddleworth Group of Artists
• 1961 - became a member of the Saddleworth group of Artists
• 1980 - retired from being an engineer
• He also taught pottery for 30 years until..... 
• 1992 - retired age 65.
• 2017 Russel Howarth - Saddleworth in a Lifetime - Retrospective Exhibition - Saddleworth Museum and Gallery - 7th April - 8th May 2017
• He's still painting.....

His subject is the rugged landscape of The Pennines in general and Saddleworth in particular - for 70+ years. His artwork is painted in oils on boards - in very muted tones - using predominantly earth colours. Like LS Lowry, he maintained a full time job and painted in evenings and at weekends

For thirty years he taught art part time, and exhibited his own work with various one man shows and at numerous exhibitions, including the Royal Society of British Artists, Uppermill Gallery and Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester.

His work is now increasingly sought after.

There's an excellent account of his life in an article about him for his retrospective exhibition in 2017

I was very impressed with this painter - which is slightly odd as I usually like more colour in paintings. However his compositions are fabulous and he draws you into the landscape. I'm not of the Pennines but I know them well enough to know that he is capturing them perfectly. He may be older than my mother but his work has a contemporary edge - perhaps because of skills as a draughtsman?

Tony Noble

Tony Noble is an artist living & working in Batley, West Yorkshire. He graduated with a BA (Hons) in fine art from Loughborough College of Art. He used to work as a primary school teacher but has been a full time professional artist since 2008. 

He has an EXTREMELY impressive track record of exhibiting in national open exhibitions and art competitions - I've seen few as good - including The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2015, 2016, 2019) ; The John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition(2014); The BP Portrait Award Exhibition, The National Portrait Gallery (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013); The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Exhibition (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013); The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition (2010 (winner of The Meynell Fenton Prize), 2011, 2013, 2014); The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Exhibition, (2013, 2019); The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Exhibition, ( 2011); The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition (2009, 2010, 2019) and The Royal Society of British Artists Exhibition (2011).

The couple in the episode had a LOT of this artists paintings

When I like a painter's work I always look back to see if I have identified him before as producing good work - and lo and behold there he was

• back in 2010 in my review of the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - with his really wonderful commissioned painting of Austin Mitchell. I can honestly say that this one of the few portraits in that RP Annual Exhibitions which has stuck very clearly in my head over the years - to the extent that I could have drawn what it looked like in outline from memory. That's always the sign of both a good composition and a painting which grabs my eyes!  
• I hadn't realised he was also the painter of The Roadhouse Crew - which sticks in my mind as one the best ever group pintings selected for the BP Portrait Award - and gets a mention in BP Portrait Exhibition 2013 - Video & Review

I liked The Roadhouse Crew. Each figure is painted very simply and yet there's a lot of personality for a bunch of blokes in black leather and helmets standing next to their customised motorbikes.

So it was very nice to see how he tackles the urban landscapes of the north - and he really does not shy away from the gritty bits!

Northern landscapes by Tony Noble

Emma Rogers

Emma Rodgers (aka the lady behind the Cilla Statue - commissioned by the Willis family) born in 1974, she completed BTEC first diploma in art and design, pre foundation and foundation in art and design courses at Wirral Metropolitan College before graduating from Wolverhampton University in 1998 completing both BA degree and MA courses.

So a local lady to the art collectors.

She has a long and interesting description of how she arrived at what she does and how she works on her website. I wish more artists would take the trouble to talk about their work on their website in a non "artsy" fashion like Emma does.

She she has exhibited worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Stricoff Fine Art N.Y., Lineart –Ghent , Cork Street, Royal Academy of Art, Collect at The Saatchi, S.O.F.A. Chicago and New York, Wei Ling Gallery Kuala Lumpur, Art Paris at the Grande Palais Paris and most recently the Alice Mogabgab Gallery, Beirut, Curated by Luc Jacquet writer and director of March Of the Penguins.

You can Download image brochure of Emma's work in PDF format

My sculpture #RiseUp has now been collected. Many thanks @MaddoxGallery @HelpThemHelpUs_ #ArtForHeroes for the opportunity to support such a great cause over £1million raised. Thank so much @Attache36Art for making this happen! Feel honoured to have been part of it. pic.twitter.com/N4e5j3d3JT

— Emma Rodgers (@emmarodgersart) June 12, 2020

William Selby (1933-present)

The one name I definitely recognised in part due to the fact that William Selby comes with RBA NEAC ROI RSW RWS after his name!

• 1933 - born in Yorkshire, the eldest son of a Yorkshire coal miner
• he worked in coal mining, enginnering and insurance
• a self taught artist with a love of contemporary painting he's been exhibiting professionally for 50 years
• his contemporary paintings are in collections worldwide
• he's been elected a member of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal Water Colour Society, the Royal Society of British Artists, New English Art Club and the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour.

Stuart Walton (1933-present)

One site tells me that Stuart Walton's work has been rediscovered and sought after by Yorkshire collectors.

• 1933 - Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
• brought up in Middleton, Leeds
• showing an intrest in art from an early age he won prizes in childrens art competitions.
• no formal Art School training - he is a self taught artist
• 1948 - became a trainee display studio artist/designer.
• 1952-52 - National service with the RAF
• after national service he began painting the fast disappearing parts of Leeds,cobbled streets, terraced houses and dark yards.
• 1956 became interested in modern art and later started painting abstacts based on torn posters.
• 1960s - produced many hard edge abstract painting, constructions and reliefs.
• 1970 - gave up his job to paint full time.
• 1975 - appointed first Yorkshire Television Fine Arts Fellow in 1975.
• 1990s - developed trouble with his eyes - since treated and he now produces abstract works.

He has exhibited in solo and group shows extensively in London and northern cities and towns.

His are the paintings with the distinct pattern of hardboard under the thin coats of oil paint.