Gwyneth Rowlands
During the 2000s Gwyneth Rowlands (1915 - 2009) created a three volume collage-like commentary of her influences from poetry and art, ‘Fox-hunting’. From this we know she was teaching in Berlin 1938-1939, and witnessed the Nazis brutal rise, ending on the observation, “And I said nothing.” Principally working as a teacher during the War and afterwards, she travelled to Argentina, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa.
It is probably around 1962 she was admitted to Netherne mental hospital, and met the pioneer of art therapy Edward Adamson. In his studios she produced unique works, painting on river pebbles, flints, bark and wood, ceramic piping, Lino remnants and other found scrap objects. She transformed these materials into a treasure trove of works with figurative representations of birds, animals and faces, and abstract patterns. Almost all her 400 known works are with Adamson Collection Trust.
She left Netherne in the early 80s and stopped her painting practice as far as we know, and worked on ‘Fox-hunting’.
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
2017 Mr A Moves in Mysterious Ways, Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck School of Art, London
2015 Art as Healing, Speaker’s House, Palace of Westminster, London
2014 Art as Healing, Edward Adamson Festival, Bethlem Gallery, London
2013 Art in the Asylum, Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham
1984 Selections from the Edward Adamson Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada
