Born: East Dean, East Sussex, August 1941
Chichester High School for Boys, Distinction in Art at ‘A’ level 1952-1960. St. Luke’s College, Exeter. Teaching Certificate in Art/Design and Diploma in Physical Education 1960-1963.
In a career spanning 38 years, I taught Art and Design to secondary level both in the UK and abroad; notably in Tehran, Iran and later in Mexico City at Greengates International School. Briefly, in 1976 we left England in a single decker bus which I had converted into a mobile home. We travelled to the tip of Southern India and stopped on the return leg to teach in Tehran. The journey in itself was a rich experience; however we sadly had to leave Iran for England in the June of 1979 after the revolution. Two years later, I put the same bus on a boat ‘The William Adams’ and met up with the family at Miami airport. After five months travelling across the States with many more amazing experiences to draw on, myself, my wife Carol and our teenage kids all landed in the same school, Greengates. Here, I found teaching the International Baccalaureate course extremely rewarding. My students were a constant source of inspiration and went on to attend some of the finest institutions globally to study Art, Design and Photography, becoming professional artists themselves.
Mexico is steeped in its own rich culture which without doubt has influenced my work. The small mountain village of San Luis Ayucan, where we built the house I designed, still continues their traditional religious festivals and the Monday market stalls around the church are a riot of textures, smells and colour each week under the red awnings. I retired from teaching to paint full time in 2002, which allowed me the opportunity to exhibit my work in Mexico City and in Valle de Bravo. My work now hangs in private collections in many different parts of the world: Mexico, USA, Europe and China. After fifteen years in San Luis we decided to return to Brixham, England. This is the beginning of a new life for us.