Mike Knowles originally from Liverpool, and former Head of Art at Liverpool Polytechnic, paints in the only way he knows how, honestly, and true to his artistic beliefs. CONTACT || GALLERY
Mike Knowles' Artists Statement (2004) I have been drawing and painting as a serious occupation for over forty years, but whatever led me to this pursuit probably goes back to childhood. That is to say that much of what interested me then, continues to engage me now. – landscape and people –nature, curiosity about all of this, and a delight in the art of the past (initially through Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia). Student years at Liverpool and the Slade, my contemporaries, the artists who taught and those whom I discovered for myself, have all been formative. At Liverpool , Arthur Ballard, Charles Burton, and Nicholas Horsefield were influential in different ways. The Slade of the 1960's under the shrewd leadership of William Coldstream enabled contact with such major influences as Michael Andrews, Leon Kossoff, Fran Auerbach, and Euan Uglow amongst others of similar distinction. Although by no means a group, these were artists integral to the re-emergence of figurative painting as a progressive force. Together they set the highest of standards, exemplified continuity between the great art of the past and contemporary practice. For the greater part of my career I have been based in North Wales , initially on the flanks of the Carneddau, and for the last 30 years or so in the same house in Anglesey . I have also kept a studio in Liverpool . For most of this time I have worked from landscape , not always fro m preference, for I have always enjoyed working from the figure, but partly because of the difficulty in finding models with the necessary commitment and patience. Perhaps this is why for me, elements of the landscape, particularly trees can take on anthropomorphic characteristics.
Mike Knowles - Selected CV & Biography Born 1942 Warrington, Lancashire, England. Studied 1959-63 Liverpool College of Art 1964-66 Slade School, University College London. Awarded Tonks Prize for Drawing, Landscape Painting Prize. David Murray Lanscape Scholarship (Spent In France) Teaching 1966-67 Part time teaching at Liverpool & Manchester College of Art 1967 Appointed Lecturer at Liverpool College of Art (Polytechnic) 1984 Appointed Head of Dept of Fine Art 1991 Retired from Teaching to Concentrate on Painting 1991 Appointed Professor Emeritus of Fine Art Visiting Lecturer and Examiner to Various Art Schools, including the Royal Academy & Slade School.
MIKE KNOWLES
