find: Visual Arts U.K. BAFA © 2007. All material here is copyrighted. See conditions above. William Brown   printmaker / painter,   Wales / U.K. I was born on the shores of a large grey Canadian lake forty-odd years ago. I cannot recollect a time when I did not make pictures. I have an early memory however of a museum visit in Toronto and my surprise at seeing a roomful of pictures of a dumpy little man with an assortment of hats on. This was (I realised this much later) the touring exhibition of Rembrandt´s self portraits and it subtly impressed on me that all paintings do not have to be beautiful -at least conventionally so. Socratic pronouncements such as "the unexamined life is not worth living", don't mean much to a five year old boy but I do remember wondering at the time why he had painted his own aging -and financial- decline. Later I discovered the vast canon of Rembrandt's graphic work but that first "lesson" has been the most enduring. Mirage, oil on canvas, 120 x 152 cm. Photo: Graham Matthews. Loup-Garou, diptych, acrylic on canvas, 400 x 280 cm, 1995. Photo: Graham Matthews. I am a self taught printmaker who prefers low-tech methods and the early graphic work of the Northern Renaissance has affected me deeply. In particular the robustness and simplicity of the Dutch and German printmakers induced me to begin making my own woodcuts -usually related to my paintings... Ciosg Talysarn (Talysarn Telephone kiosk) woodcut by William Brown in March, a book of poems (in Welsh with English translations) by David Greenslade. I have conducted innumerable printmaking workshops in Britain, Germany, France and Canada always pointing out the fact that there is no real scope for profound technical innovation with such basic materials. I remind people that geometry can be explained with a stick on the beach if the stick is wielded in a creative and heartful manner... Little things have always interested me and often my work has a playfulness either in the use of line or colour. I exhibit widely and continously and it satisfies me deeply that I can derive an avenue of expression and a living from what I make. These days I work in the remote Saint Stephens Church near the village of Llangynwyn, South Wales, with my rollers, chisels and gouges. If I need company I know where to look. The solitude suits me well enough. Excerpts from Arts Dialogue, December 1998, page 12 The New Bestiary - Le Nouveau Bestiaire, is a book of woodcuts and poems (in French with English translation), made in collaboration with the Belgian poet, Lucien Suel. Price: 20 British Pounds. March, is a book of woodcuts and myths in collaboration with the Welsh poet, (in Welsh with English translations) David Greenslade. Price: 4 British Pounds. Send your cheque to William Brown at: 31 Newcastle Hill, Bridgend, S. Wales, CF31 4EY, U.K. Illustration: Ciosg Talysarn, Arts Dialogue, February 2000 Artist Profile: Arts Dialogue, December 1998 Illustration: Arts Dialogue, December 1997 Arts Dialogue, Dintel 20, NL 7333 MC, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands email: bafaOMIT THE TEXT IN CAPITALS@bahai-library.com