Tribute Exhibition - Gwilym Prichard

About

  Gwilym Prichard was born in Llanystumdwy, near Criccieth, in 1931. He trained at Birmingham College of Art, then taught in Anglesey until 1973. In 1955 Gwilym was runner-up for the Gold Medal for Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. Among the judges were the painters Charles Tunnicliffe and Kyffin Williams, both of whom became his friends. He was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy in 1970, and was an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales. He exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, and is represented in many public collections including Aberystwyth University, The Welsh Arts Council and the Contemporary Art Society for Wales.

Gwilym spent his lifetime capturing the coastlines and countryside of Wales. From the foothills of Snowdonia to the Pembrokeshire coast, he has painted the landscape countless times, capturing the changing seasons and the beauty of his native land. Together with the figurative artist Claudia Williams, he embarked on a creative journey that spanned several decades and countries. Travelling between Greece, Italy and France from 1984-2000, he explored varied landscapes through oil paints, gouaches, watercolours, pastels and mixed media compositions. 

He continued to paint until the final months of his life and died earlier this year at the age of 84. Asked whether he had ever had to wait for artistic inspiration, he replied: “If you’ve got to wait, you may be waiting a lifetime. It may never come.”