About GILLIAN REDWOOD

Discovery

Redwood was born in Cardiff, Wales in the baby-boomer year of 1948. At the time, Shirley Bassey who was born in Tiger Bay, a wild dockland area of the city, sang her way through school in Cardiff. Roald Dahl went to the same primary school as Redwood and was returning from war as a fighter pilot, Richard Burton grew up in Port Talbot, a rough smokey steel town west of Cardiff where Anthony Hopkins was also raised, and Dylan Thomas, one of 13 children born in Swansea was on his way to the United States as an acclaimed international poet.

It was in this Welsh, rough cultural haven that Redwood was raised. Creating a safe and secure family her parents worked hard. Her father returning from 6 years of active duty in World War II, was a tough and charming man. He married her mother in Llandaff Cathedral in a society wedding creating a privileged environment for their 3 daughters. Winters of wet, muddy walks in the countryside were matched with summers spent at the coast in a family house. it was a very protected, idyllic childhood leaving a lasting impression on a sensitive child.

Art school in Cardiff changed everything. Here Redwood met her new life. An exciting mix of lively, amorous creative students accepted her as everyone else was accepted, with enthusiasm and interest. This year of tuition in the basics of colour and gesture, line and mark-making was the fundamental teaching of the craft of painting that was the basis of Redwood’s art throughout her career. 8 hours as day was spent standing at long tables mixing paint, or rubbing charcoal into gestural sweeps and complimentary shapes. It was fascinating, She credits these young teachers with all of her technical knowledge and skills in painting.

A degree in Art & Design, a couple of years in London was followed by marriage, 3 children and life in Wales. While working professionally in Graphic Design, Redwood continued to paint. In 1986 the family moved to Canada to live in the Canadian Rockies in the town of Canmore. A small, rugged mountain town in those days, the earlier coal mines had closed leaving a few older Welsh families and many lively Canadian climbers and lovers of wilderness to open restaurants and stores. The primary school was as different from Welsh schools as the family could imagine. Newly built with bright white walls and staffed with happy, committed teachers, the children brought home art and crafts almost every day of the week. The winter Olympics opened, the town grew and thrived.

An exhibit of her landscape wooden collages in Canada was well received. Art had become her focus.

Returning to Wales in 1991, Welsh life of travel and change created a rich fabric of visual material. In 2004, after the breakdown of her marriage, Redwood returned to Canada to marry her Canadian friend, Caelen.

Travel to Italy, a studio in the artist haven of St Ives in England, a studio-Gallery in the Kootenays of British Columbia, Canada and a professional art studio in Victoria. Redwood exhibited in many galleries and sold her large, vibrant acrylic paintings far and wide.

Born and brought up in Wales UK, I had a secure start in life. We lived in the countryside, and every summer was spent down by the ocean: sun, sea, cousins, waves, deep hot baths, Sunday lunch, chasing, digging, swimming, the roar of the ocean in storms and the smell of bracken after rain. I had a rabbit called Topsy, a blue bicycle, magical Christmas memories and the puffing roar of a steam train passing us children as we picked primroses on the railway line for Easter Sunday. When I left school my parents asked me what I wanted to do. I didn’t know. After an uncomfortable silence I said that my art teacher thought I was good at art. ‘Perfect’ said my Dad.

At art school we spent hours, days, weeks, mixing paint and creating gestural images in charcoal. I loved it and was good at it too. Our tutors were committed to the discovery of art and the ability to create being directly connected with the technical knowledge of mark making. Years later I wrote ‘Every line tells a story, even the very tentative ones’. Feeling and seeing a line or brush stroke I can sense almost everything about the creator and their story.

I start with chalk pastel drawings. They are soft and smudgy and carry the ability to create hard edges, qualities that can easily be reproduced in acrylic paint.

The first layer of the painting covers the primed canvas completely. Then layer by layer I introduce aspects of the subject, planning and testing, praying for God’s grace to flow through my work.

My husband and I spent 6 months in the artistic haven of St Ives, Cornwall. It was his idea and I was reluctant. However my time there was blessed. I found a studio to rent for 6 months and met a Jewish artist who was busy painting all her canvases flat, pinned to the wall. Then she rolled them up and took them with her on the plane back to Israel. This freedom of transport and expression has had a lasting affect on my work.

Feeling, movement, energetic content, light and connection, these are the aspects that hold my interest and drive my art.

‘Redwood’s paintings nearly vibrate with energy. It’s almost like watching a play rather than than seeing a still canvas. Movement and force parade across the canvas in bold strokes while energy flows in ribbons of colour, connecting one person to the next and to the world around them.’ Korina Miller, Focus Magazine

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Artist Statement