Min WARDMAN (1951-2024) Poetry Oil on canvas, studio stamp v...

Estimate

£50 - £100

Min WARDMAN (1951-2024) Poetry Oil on canvas, studio stamp verso, 25cm x 25cm, 28.5cm x 28.5cm framed. Min Wardman (1951-2024) Artist - Feminist - Gardener Min was born in Yorkshire in 1951, her mother an artist, father a civil engineer. After a comprehensive education she was awarded an opportunity to study art in Birmingham, followed by postgraduate studies in both History of Art and Painting in London. After graduating, Min found the London party scene not to her taste, finding it too difficult to be taken seriously as a female painter. At the time, Devon was developing a Community College and it is here that Min worked, developing Textile and Print-making courses across Bideford College, promoting modern ideas of Art and Art Education. After being promoted to Head of Department, teaching painting, ceramics, textiles and design, Min realised she wasn't having enough time to create her own work, so went part-time. Min studied art all her life and motifs were often found within her work. Landscape is a near constant: there are stone monuments, myths and legends, birds and plants and others which pass in and out of her work. Favourite artists included Miro for block colour, Manrique for art and community planning and Picasso for returning to images and perseverence and female artists, such as Barbara Hepworth, Rose Hilton, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Frida Kahlo and Tracey Emin were admired for their ability to keep working despite the patriarchy. Min was very private about her art, never exhibiting, rarely signing her work, allowing people into her studio or even talking about it. For her, art was her expressing her thoughts and not for the public to analyse or judge. On the wall of her studio were two unattributed quotes: 'Painting down to the bones of the matter', and 'Make slow paintings with mystery'. When Min died in 2024, she requested no announcement, funeral or obituary, - 'throw my body out in the orchard for the dogs...'