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Emrys Parry
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Born in Bangor,
Gwynedd, Emrys Parry was brought up in Nefyn on the Llyn Peninsula.
He attended Pwllheli Grammar School where he was a pupil of
Elis Gwyn Jones.
Emrys Parry in his studio.
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| "Rembrancers Lament" by Emrys
Parry |
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| 'For
nearly forty years, Emrys has lived and taught in East Anglia,
most recently as Head of Diploma and Visual Studies at Norwich
School of Art and Design. He retired from teaching in 1997 to
work full time as an artist. He has however, never lost sight
of his childhood home in Nefyn, nor the landscape, the people
and the rich fabric of history associated with Llyn. He returns
to North Wales as often as he can to provide fuel for his work. |
"Two Heads" by Emrys Parry
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It
is important to Emrys those things seen and heard remain indelible
in the memory across a lifetime and it is part of his skill
as a painter to make these memories available to others through
his images. He draws on both living memory and ancient tradition;
particular events or features of a contemporary world and memories
of a Celtic mythology and legend are present in his art, not
as direct illustration but as an integral element in the landscape
and its features.
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| "Because I spent a great
deal of time away from my home, following my studies, whenever
I returned I would tend to bump into old friends and acquaintances
along a popular coastal path on the Llyn Peninsula. This work
suggests the meeting of two entities and the passing of thoughts,
ideas and emotions between them." |
'His
work conveys certainty and generosity, and being naturally an
heir to a strong oral and literate tradition, I see his work
as that of a poet writing in cynghanedd-in the strict metres,
the strict metres of poetry expressed in colour and line.'
Elis
Gwyn Jones |
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"Eglwys Pystyll" by Emrys Parry
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'These
are sober paintings, lean and sparse of fleshy detail. They
suggest the possibility of a threshold between living forms
and death. This threshold is akin to a landscape wherein to
meditate rather than a sharp boundary suggesting an extended
passage of time rather than a spontaneous moment.' |
'In
"When Was Wales?", Gwyn A. Williams describes
the Welsh as a people who "...have lived by making and
remaking themselves in generation after generation, usually
against the odds, usually within a British context". These
paintings and drawings take their place within that tradition.'
Victoria
Mitchell |
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"Welsh Black" by Emrys Parry
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ARTIST'S
STATEMENT
'The
land has a memory and when age upon age of it's inhabitants
lie quietly in the soil, the stones will speak'.
Emrys Parry
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'The rich fabric of history associated with Llyn and its people
are the main influences on my work. Although I have lived in
East Anglia for most of my adult life, I have never spiritually
left Wales and my work relies heavily on memory and on drawings
done on regular visits to my childhood home.
In Llyn tangible evidence of the past can be seen in Iron Age
hill forts, sacred stones and Celtic churches on the pilgrim
route to Bardsey or Ynys Enlli, thought by some to be Avalon
and the burial place of Myrddin Emrys or Merlin. |
"Signs" by Emrys Parry - from the collection
of the National Library of Wales.
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It is
a threshold place where the boundary between this world and
another seems very thin. Llyn has a presence that reveals itself
through the spirit of place or anima loci, which is experienced
more than seen and is the essential personality of a location. |
Memory,
myth and legend are intertwined and woven into the landscape.
What we observe as tree, stone, bird or animal can also be seen
as players in another, more ancient truth which is on the edge
of vision and beyond our normal comprehension. My work attempts
to access this other reality.'
Emrys Parry |
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"On the
Beach" by Emrys Parry.
This work is now
also part of the National Library of Wales collection.
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| To
Contact the Artist: |
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For further information
about Emrys Parry or to purchase any of the works on this
website please contact him at: emrys.parry@ntlworld.com
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