2018 December Artwork of the Month
Title: Christmas Market (St Peter Port), 1991
Artist: Barry Owen Jones (1934-2018)
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Barry Owen Jones, R.W.S., R.E. was born in Highgate, London. He grew up in North Wales during the war, returning to London in 1946 where he was educated at Barnet Grammar School. He studied Graphic Design at Hornsey College of Art between 1950 and 1955. While at Horsey, Barry studied etching under Norman Jones and lithography with Henry Holzer and Allin Braund.
After leaving Art College Barry worked in London in advertising and publishing, gaining awards of merit in book design from the Design and Art Directors Association of London. In 1974 he moved to Guernsey where he developed his painting and etching. Through both these mediums Barry illustrated an extraordinary graphic skill, which contained a linear quality seen in the work of all great draftsmen.
Just a year after his arrival in Guernsey, Barry co-founded the Coach House Gallery, which became the principal exhibition venue for professional artists, both local and international.
Barry was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Painters-Etchers and Engravers (R.E.) in 1982 and an associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours (R.W.S.) in the same year, and a full Member of the in 1986.
Although Barry based himself for the rest of his life in Guernsey he regularly exhibited with the R.E. and the R.W.S. at the Bankside Gallery in London. His work is not only found in the Guernsey Museum collection but also worldwide.
