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Allen. (for Comfrey or Camomile please click on
the CONTENTS box above)
Born
1933 in Bury, Lancashire. Left school at sixteen and worked on a 200 acre
arable farm in Shropshire for a year, then a year on a 120 acre dairy
farm in Warwickshire.
Two years' National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, mostly in
Germany – Hanover - where he ran the Orderly Room and also worked on wards.
After three years in the University College of North .Wales, Bangor, studying
Agriculture he spent the next two years on a remote island (Pabbay) in
the Inner Hebrides. A small island of 150 acres, owned by one family,
growing oats to feed the beef store cattle, sheep for wool and meat, free-range
chickens for eggs and the table, and vegetables for the family. It was
here that he began to appreciate the value of organically grown food and
in such a beautiful environment he began painting.
Allen then returned to North Wales and in Pentraeth, on Anglesey, with
his wife , Liz, for the next fifteen years, developed a bedding plant,
flowering shrub and perennial plant nursery, vegetable and fruit growing
business. Very intensively, organic in principle, selling direct to the
public from the site. Growing all produce from seed or cuttings, no bought-in
stock for re-sale.
Divorced. Moved first
to Rhosgadfan, in the mountains, behind Caernarfon, painting and making
a living, - just - by producing paper weights that encapsulated wild flowers
and seeds and sold through craft shops.
He took a pitch in London,
on the Sunday Bayswater Road Market, selling paintings for a while and
then moved to the old Covent Garden Market selling paintings and paperweights.
Then, for two years, he worked with
the Sue Ryder Foundation as co-ordinator, helping to host visits by concentration
camp survivors from Poland. People of all ages and from all walks of life,
some of the few who had survived terrible experiences and who the Foundation
invited to England for three weeks to see our culture and history and
for a holiday as some small reparation after their awful imprisonment.
He acted as interpreter and guide (speaking German and some Polish).
He then took a post-graduate teaching
diploma in Bangor and taught in special schools in London with children
who have learning and behavioural difficulties, ending up as head of special
needs in a large junior school.
He has two daughters now twenty six and
twenty two. He lives separated from his wife, she is in London,
he in Beaumaris, and they remain good friends.
On retirement from teaching Allen opened
a two acre show garden in Llynfaes, Anglesey. Organic in principle, minimum
digging, growing a lot of comfrey as a basis for all composting and plant
feeding. The cowsheds were converted to a studio and gallery.
He
sold this after eight years and moved to Barton Lodge, Maentwrog, near
Penrhyndeudreath where he did some repair work to the old granery and
converted the dairy to a studio.
This property was sold in 1999 and he moved to
Hen Felin Wen – The Old White Mill – in Dwyran, Anglesey where he renovated
the house and rescued the garden to be a studio and small organic garden
plus sculptures.
In 2001 he published a novel about a man's life
from 1992 to 2065. -
Set in Anglesey, based on the production of electricity
from under-water tidal power but also from all other renewable sources.
About the whole of Anglesey going organic, having its own Assembly independent
from Cardiff or Westminster; improved education; no pollution, no petrol
or diesel, maximum speed 30mph anywhere , no drugs, full employment.
A perfectly possible Utopia . . . . . see further details by clicking
on the book 'Turning the Tides' box either above or below . . .
In 2002 he moved to 6 Stanley Street, Beaumaris and again has a
working studio and small sculpture garden .
Ring 01248 810 661 for a visit.
The sculptures are of wood or bronze and are based
on the twisted natural forms found within the grain of very old tree roots
originating from the ancient sessile-oak woods of North Wales.
Although each piece is named, this is not definitive; they invite attention
to detail, sensitivity to form, and a fusion of the sculptural imagery
with the viewer's imagination and empathy.
His interest in line – how much you can express
with how little - is shown in many line drawings of plants and
people.
His paintings – oil and water colour – reflect
the strength of line of these drawings and sculptures, and have developed
over the years to cover a wide range of subject matter – theatre, musicians,
mythology, ideas, emotions, abstractions and the reality of the countryside.
The style is classical rather than ultra modern with particular attention
to the inner design of the painting as well as the colours used.
You are warmly invited to visit his working studio
and small sculpture garden – but please ring beforehand, leaving a message
with telephone number if necessary, to make sure he will be in when you
wish to come. A visit does not mean you have to buy anything.
Empathetic interest is valuable! Croeso! Dw i'n
medru siarad Cymraig eitha da..
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