John Uzzell Edwards - The Quilt Paintings
This engaging and remarkable lecture about painter John Uzzell Edwards was written and delivered by his wife, Mary, who now lives in Brecon.
The talk accompanied the exhibition of The Quilt Paintings at y Gaer. It was recorded by Brecon Story for the Brecknock Society and Museum Friends as part of their monthly Talks at y Gaer.
John Uzzell Edwards, born in the mining village of Deri, in the Rhymney Valley, drew and painted from the age of 10. He avoided art school, exhibited widely, studied Celtic art in Europe, and held fellowships in York University and the British School in Rome.
His last painting theme was inspired by a study of Welsh quilts. He loved the structure and often random use of colour and material in these survivors of ‘Old Bedding’ that he remembered sleeping under as a child. His use of found objects as part of the surface collage reflects the recycled material in these 19th and 20th century coverings.
Now he looked at them with a painter’s eye, and he linked the form to Mark Rothko, Sean Scully, even Jackson Pollock. And he saw them as an example of the artistic expression of our forbearers, and therefore a very important part of our Welsh culture.
The featured short film is reproduced by kind permission from The National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, which was filmed by them at his studio in the Upper Swansea Valley.
