edwardpovey
edwardpoveybiography
1951 Born in London, England on 1st May - the only child of a seaman and a shop girl.
1959 Begins painting in oils - produces landscapes and still lifes for his family
1962-67 Educated at Crown Woods Comprehensive School, Eltham, London
1967-69 Works as an office boy in the city. Writes poetry and composes music
1969 Emigrates to Canada, tours and sings in music venues
1970 Lives with the Blackfoot Indians in Alberta, tours with his band "Synergy", and begins making drawings and paintings
1971 Follows Vivien Alsworth to Israel where he paints his first mural Abraham and Isaac. Returns to live on the English south coast to paint.
1972-73 Marries Vivien Alsworth.
Completes an Art Foundation Course at Eastbourne College for Art and Design. Spends the summer painting in the Shetland Isles.
1974 Moves to North Wales and enrolls at the University of Wales on a four-year art teacher training course. Simultaneously begins his apprenticeship in portraiture and mural painting. His progress as a muralist begins to be followed by the national media.
1975 Buys a Smitheries cottage in Bethesda and paints shopfront murals in Wales. His art enters a period in which it is based on “The Tapestry of History” His first son, Daniel is born.
1976-77 He accepts increasing government, corporate and private commissions for murals and paintings. His second son, Thomas is born.
1977 Leaves university with a Bachelor of Education degree, and commences full time painting.
1980 Returns to Israel and gathers material for a new period of work based on Observation and Experience
1981 Moves to Shropshire, England, to a large studio to work on " The Trial of Saint Deiniol“ which is 17 x 22 feet. His name is now established in Wales after painting 25 multi-story murals.
1982 Moves to the West Indies in search of solitude in which to evolve his canvas painting, and a simple culture in which to raise his children.
1983-85 Receives his first commissions from American art collectors. During these years of learning he develops the use of symbolism in many complex paintings. His international market slowly enlarges through visiting collectors. He continues to revisit Britain to paint public commissions.
1986-87 Spiritual and marital problems are tackled alongside artistic revolutions involving a new awareness of the importance of color. He has his first reception with New York art collectors in April 1986, and begins to visit his collectors in Connecticut.
1988 Moves to a studio in Cleveland, England. Exhibits in Brussels and begins visiting the USA twice-yearly to conduct initial lecture salons about his work.
1989 His Body and Soul Together exhibition tours Wales. Divorced from Vivien Alsworth.
1990 Expanding private sales and commissions lnvoive the USA, Belgium, Canada the West Indies, and Britain.
1991 The period of “Observation and Experience" draws to a close and he enters a dark period of “Childhood Memories” in his paintings
Art Gallery Gerard of the Hague introduces his work to the Dutch Art market, and he commences a relationship with the Midtown Parson Galleries on 5th Avenue in New York
The Laguna Gloria Museum of Art in Texas acquires a Povey painting for their collection
He develops his first "Presentation Salons" in which he speaks in depth about the symbolism and evolution of his work to private gatherings of art collectors in the USA
The University of Wales award Povey a commission for a 20 x 40 ft mural in their chamber concert hall
1992-93 He Returns to Wales to complete the University of Wales commission
He is invited to become a member of The Royal Cambrian Academy of Wales - the Welsh based arm of the Royal Academy of Art
He increases his reputation through circles of collectors as he commences regular presentations of his art in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Texas
The University of Wales offer him a building for use as a studio, in return for paintings for their art collection
1994 Following the death of his father his themes leave “ChiIdhood Memories” and enter the "Inner World" in which he draws on the subconscious for his imagery
He accepts representation from the Martin Tinney Gallery in Cardiff, Wales
Stages two eight week, extensive presentation tours of American collectors
Representation commences at Louis Newman Gallery in Beverly Hills and the Horwitch Newman Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona
1995 Represented at the Miami Art Fair by Horwitch Newman Galleries
Represented at the Islington Art Fair in London by Martin Tinny Gallery
Represented by Eleanor Ettinger Gallery, New York at ART ASIA in Hong Kong
1996 One man exhibition with Martin Tinney Gallery in Cardiff, Wales
Eleanor Ettinger Gallery begin to show Povey paintings in New York
Extensive presentation tours of his American patrons continue twice-yearly and also being to include educational lecture visits to Texas state prisons
Buys a home in Llansadwrn, Wales
1997 Hanson Gallery in New Orleans begin selling Povey paintings
The National Library of Wales buys its first three works and begins to document Edward Povey's art
The University of Wales offers him a larger studio on campus in Bangor
He employs a full-time assistant to allow him more hours in the studio
1998 Invited to Singapore. The British High Commission of Singapore purchases a painting
John Martin Gallery of London commences showing Edward Povey paintings
Hanson Gallery of both San Francisco and Carmel, California, being selling Povey paintings
Hanson Gallery in New Orleans stages a one-man show to coincide with the opening of the art season
Biannual tours of U.S. collectors. He conducts his first presentations in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, and continues to visit his now wide circle of collectors in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Texas
He makes his first edition of bronze sculptures, and, in collaboration with the University of Texas, he makes his first stone lithograph
1999 Continues sculpting, refining his technique with two more bronze sculpture editions.
Invited to be artist-in—residence at SACI, an American art college in Florence, Italy
Begins building the estate: "Arcady" in Llansadwrn, Wales
2000 Invited to join group exhibitions in Brittany, France, AMOA in Texas and Bangor Art Museum, Wales
One-man shows in Cardiff and San Francisco
Executes his first major bronze commission for a private collector in New Jersey
Invited by Her Majesty the Queen to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, London
2001 Gains media attention for his 7 ft monumental bronze "A Man Giving Birds to the Sky", commissioned by Texas Tech University for the atrium of a new teaching hospital in Texas
Shows at the Hanson Gallery in New Orleans
Commissioned by the Contemporary Art Society for Wales to create a stone lithograph for placement with all the art museums in Wales. The remainder of the edition sold out in three months.
2002 Completion of Arcady in Wales - his first architectural project
Group shows in the Royal Cambrian Academy of Wales
He increases his reputation through circles of collectors as he commences regular presentations of his art in Seattle and Florida
Shows with The Martin Tinney Gallery in Wales and the Hanson Gallery, New Orleans
The University of Wales continue to provide him a building for use as a studio in return for paintings for its art collection
2003 Continued Salon Lectures in six states of the USA twice yearly
Group shows with Hanson Gallery in New Orleans. Accepts representation from the Serendipity Gallery in West Palm Beach, Florida
Leaves the Martin Tinney Gallery in Wales
Meets Donna Tolar, commercial real estate agent, in Sarasota, Florida
2004 Reduces Salon Lecture tours and begins creatively re-evaluating his art in preparation for a new commercial approach
Shows with the Royal Cambrian Academy in Wales
Shows with the Serendipity Gallery in West Palm Beach
Begins discussions with the BBC and HTV about two major life and work documentaries
Initial discussions with publishers in Wales for a biography
The Wales International centre in the Chrysler building, New York approaches Edward Povey to discuss future plans to promote him
Returns to West Indies to create a series of paintings based on the T.S. Eliot poem "Sweeny amoing the Nightingales"
2005 Studies the gay theatre community in New York for a collection of paintings
His Gallery in New Orleans is hit by Hurricane Katrina and his gallery owner in West Palm Beach dies tragically
He is invited to present lectures about his life and career at the Royal Cambrian Academy in Wales, and Plas Glyn y Weddw Museum in Wales.
He creates two further bronze sculpture editions
He and the artist DL Tolar link on a "salon lecture” tour of the U.S.A
The BBC interview him about changing government Arts Funding policies. He presents the radical view that all arts funding should be diverted into art education
2006 The University of Wales announces plans to demolish the building currently used as the Edward Povey Studio. In response, the Welsh government discusses the idea of an Edward Povey Museum of Art for North Wales – dedicated to his art. Sites are visited and building plans discussed.
The BBC films his estate, Arcady and it is titled "The Most Artistic House in Wales", on the BBC website and in the national press.
He and DL Tolar conduct two “salon lecture”tours of the U.S.A, introducing their new oil painting collections and new bronze editions.
Edward Povey and DL Tolar present lectures at the Royal Cambrian Academy in Wales and at Plas Glyn y Weddw Museum in Wales
Proposed for Knighthood, O.B.E, supported by Sir Kyffin Wlliams, Lady Anglesey, Professor Eric Sunderland, Paul lslvwn Thomas — Head of Arts for the BBC in Wales, and Professor Anthony Jones CBE Dip, Ad, BA, MFA, DFA, HonAIA, FRCA, FRSA — President of Chicago Art Institute College.
2007 Povey is featured in an international publication titled “At Home With The Joneses.” This publication was produced by the Wales International Center, to showcase twenty world famous Welsh-based celebrities. This included such illustrious names as, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sir Tom Jones and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
Povey is hosted by a famous political consultant in Virginia, and is welcomed by the mayor of Virginia Beach. He stages a two man show with DL Tolar of their works in the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Va.
Two well - known Povey paintings jointly worth £40,000, are stolen in London. Interpol and the major auction houses go on alert, and local and national newspapers, radio stations and the BBC and other television companies cover the story extensively.
Edward Povey publishes a series of Lithographs of the murals painted in Wales in the 1970’s with extensive press coverage.
The BBC film the interior of The Edward Povey Studio at the University of Wales before its closure for demolition and site replanting, in an extraordinary documentary.
Povey works with the famous Curwen Studio in the publication of a lithograph of his painting, PATRIOTS, shortly before the half centenary of the Curwen Studio is celebrated in the Tate Britain, Tate Modern and in wide media circles.
He buys land in a remote area of the USA, and Povey and DL Tolar commence designing plans for an extensive studio there.
He presents lectures about his art at The Royal Cambrian Academy, Plas Glyn Y Weddw Museum in Wales and in six states of the U.S.A, prior to entering a long - expected period of designing ambitious paintings for museums and major galleries.
2008 The press in Wales features a series of weekly “Povey painting” articles, exploring his art, painting by painting.
Povey is granted an O-1 Visa by the US Government. This extraordinary classification is granted to those who are considered to have made a major contribution to their professional field. Granted to only a handful of artists, actors, and sports stars each year.
On the eve of his final departure for the United States, a seven city retrospective tour of his past and present works is hosted by many venues throughout Wales. The tour culminated in a one-man show featuring Povey telling the story of his life and the many adventures in his career, which made him a household name in his native country. The tour was covered extensively in the media, with several programs chronicling his career: a career that has inspired and delighted the public for nearly four decades.
Povey works in seclusion in the USA, evolving a collection of major works. He continues this self-imposed sabbatical from gallery representation, in order to explore a new direction and inspiration in his work that will redefine how his work is perceived.
A media launch was held in the USA to welcome Povey to the States. Attended by local dignitaries and covered extensively by the media.
Povey is asked by several Arts Organizations in the USA to develop a lecture series for artists in the building of a successful career in the arts.
2009 Greek publisher Iosifidis Kiriakos publishes a chapter on Povey murals in his book “Mural Art - Volume II.”
He continues to speak to large audiences on various subjects concerning his art, his career, his life and his philosophical ideas.
Povey also continues to build his major collection of paintings, whilst undertaking several large commissions for private collectors.
2010 Povey concludes his period of artistic isolation and begins to make plans for his return to exhibiting internationally.
© Copyright Edward Povey 2009