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Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
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Illsley, Bryan
'I know as little about my work as about my walk, talk or signature. And as when speaking - no matter the subject, complaint or feeble joke - the voice is the same. Its peculiarities of accent, diction, stress or pronunciation clear, no doubt, to a listener but unrecognised by the speaker, being habitual and largely involuntary. Given tools and materials and the practises developed over many years, the work too is formed in a way largely involuntary and unrecognised by the maker.
As it says in the song: "It's second nature to me now".'
1937 Born Surbiton, Surrey
1953 Apprentice stonemason
1954-57 Evening classes, Kingston Art School
1964 Assistant, Leach Pottery, Cornwall
1966-82 Partnership with Breon O'Casey
Exhibitions include:
1988 Souvenirs From St Ives, Contemporary Applied Arts, solo
1989 Out of the Wood, Crafts Council
Clay Bodies, Contemporary Applied Arts
1990 Residency, Chiltern Sculpture Trail
1991 Anniversary Show, Electrum Gallery
1989-92 Jamison-Thomas Gallery, Oregon
1997 Rough Magic, Contemporary Applied Arts
1998 Fifty Gold Pieces, Contemporary Applied Arts
2001 Jewellery by the Top Ten, Contemporary Applied Arts
Public Collections:
Crafts Council
Victoria and Albert Museum
Contemporary Arts Society
Portsmouth City Museum
Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
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