Julie Giles   Graham Giles

Julie Giles and Graham Giles

Graham discovered Suffolk in 1962 on his pushbike with a landscape scholarship from the Royal Academy; Julie came from Lancashire and they met at Camberwell School of Art. They bought the disused village school in Monk Soham in the depths of the countryside and converted it into their home and studios: they are still there.

As well as their long term involvement with Suffolk, there are two locations abroad where they have worked over many years. One is Casole d'Elsa in Tuscany where they both taught at Centro d'Arte Verrocchio and spent whole summers painting in Italian light. The second is in south west France where the Vers flows into the River Lot; Graham works from the dramatic limestone gorges while Julie prefers to paint people at the confluence of the two rivers.

Julie Giles

I came to painting through a love of landscape and the natural world. I believe we paint the things we know best. For me they are the lanes, green and farmland of our village and the magical light of the nearby weathery coast: the beaches, marsh and tidal channels of the River Alde. Trips abroad to a different light refresh my eye. During the confinements of lockdown I found new subject matter in the garden. My interest in field botany and ecology led to the wildflower paintings.

This collection of work selects from these different threads. They are all oil paintings on either Khadi paper or canvas.

I work outside from direct observation planting my easel in a likely place for a painting to evolve, then contemplate the shifting scene before me: sky, shadows forever on the move, changing light and people . I love to include people, tiny in a vast landscape. We identify with them and they draw us into the world of the painting. Perhaps the idea will be resolved outside where it began, or perhaps in the studio.

There are experiments with different coloured grounds, brown, bright yellow, or for a warm Tuscan light, rose red. Paint can be thick impasto, but most of this work uses a white background which shines through thin paint and glazes for increased luminosity.

Graham Giles

My instinct as a landscape painter is to get outside and immerse myself in my subject. I love being out of doors and I am transported by what I see and smell and hear; I never paint from photographs. However the sheer amount of information can be bewildering, as can practicalities like having a clear view of both my subject and my picture without reflections or patches of sunlight falling across it .

Painting from observation for me is not just recording appearances but creating a picture with its own life which is intimately about the subject. I love the feel and smell of the paint (I often paint with my fingers); rather than following “techniques” I open myself to the suggestions the paint makes, sometimes making drastic changes without knowing in advance how it will turn out - I discovered the excitement of improvisation through my son who is a jazz musician.

In Suffolk my subjects are all around me: the cornfields through the changing seasons, the Suffolk coasts and rivers and the red roofs of Aldeburgh in front of the sea.

I have painted trees all my life; over the past years I have made a series of pictures of the majestic Scots pines at Aldringham, and during the recent lockdown I made seven of the biggest pictures I have ever painted out of doors of the two great oaks at the bottom of our garden directly on to giant sheets of Khadi paper - whilst sticking strictly to the rules!

Julie Giles curriculum vitae

Camberwell School of Art DipAD 1965-9 studied painting

Solo shows

John Russell Gallery 2016, 2008, 2006, 2000, 1989
Chappel Galleries 1995, 2003
Aldeburgh Gallery 2002
Gallery 44, Aldeburgh, 1993, 1987, 1985, 1983
Sackhouse Gallery, Wells Art Centre 1986

Shared shows with Graham Giles:

Chappel Galleries: Fellow Painters 2021
John Russell Gallery 2017/18, 2012, 1998
Buckenham Gallery Southwold 1987
Radlett Gallery 1977
Howarth Gallery, Accrington 1973
Bury Art Galley 1971

Other shared shows:

John Russell ‘The Chosen Few’ with Graham Giles, Sargy Mann, France's Mann, Barry Newis and Joan Hodes
Chappel Galleries with Frances Mann, Sargy Mann and Graham Giles 2009
The Cut, Halesworth with Graham Giles and Sargy Mann 2007
Chappel Galleries
Cadogan Contemporary with Frances Mann and Philippa Hoyland 1988
Ripley Gallery with Frances, Mann 1979

Mixed Exhibitions include:

Chappel Galleries, 'Southwold, the East Coast' 2007, ' Blythe Spirit' 2002, 'Continuing the Tradition, Walberswick Post War' 1998.

Other mixed shows

Suffolk Group Annual, Peter Pears Gallery 2008-2019
John Russell Gallery 1989-2017
Belgrave St Ives 'Camberwell 1940-1980'
Casole D'Elsa Centro D'Arte Verrochio Millennium Exhibition 2000
New Grafton Gallery 'Painters of present and Future'
Deben Gallery, Critic's Choice
Gainsborough House 'Drawing for All'
'Cows' Cadogan Contemporary
Eastern Open, Kings Lynn 1994, 1996
The Mall Galleries, Laing exhibitions
Ellingham Sealink 1980

Teaching includes

Centro D'Arte Verrocchio, Italy visiting tutor 1987-1997
Norwich School of Art visiting tutor 1989-94
Secondary education, art teacher 1971- 2003

Graham Giles curriculum vitae

Solo Exhibitions

John Russell Gallery 2003, 2005, 2007 2009, 2015
Chappel Galleries 1999
Cadogan Contemporary 1988, 1990, 1993, 1996
Radlett Gallery 1976

Shared Exhibitions with Julie Giles

Chappel Galleries 2021: Fellow Painters
John Russell Galleries 1998, 2012, 2017/18
Radlett Gallery 1977
Howarth Art Gallery, Accrington, 1973
Bury Art Gallery, 1971

Other Joint Exhibitions

2009 Chappel Galleries with Francis Mann, Sargy Mann, Julie Giles
2008 Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, Biloxi, Mississippi “The Will to Endure” (catalogue front cover)
2007 The Cut, Halesworth, with Julie Giles, Sargy Mann and Frances Mann
2006 John Russell Gallery “The Chosen Few” with Barry Newis, Sargy Mann, Frances Mann, Joan Hodes, Julie Giles
1991 Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich - Retrospective Exhibition with Sargy Mann
1970 Three Artists, Morley Gallery

Mixed Exhibitions include

2015 Belgrave St Ives - “Camberwell 1940/1950”
“Blythe Spirit” with book: Richard Scott ‘Artists at Walberswick 1880- 2000’ Chappel Galleries 2002
Cadogan Contemporary Summer Exhibitions 2002, '01, '00, 1999, '98 '97 '96 '95 '94 '93 '92 '91 '90 '89 '88
2000 Cadogan Contemporary Millennium Exhibition
“Continuing the Tradition – Walberswick Post War, to Present” 1998 Chappel Galleries
“Continuing the Tradition – A Survey of East Anglian Artists II” 1993 Chappel Galleries
“Past and Present” - South Bank Centre Touring Exhibition 1987/88 - Manchester City Art Gallery, Birmingham City Art Gallery, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, Nottingham Castle Museum, Norwich School of Art Gallery
“From Life” Camden Arts Centre
“Dick Lee's Practical Dada” - Camden Arts Centre
Gainsborough House, Sudbury
John Russell Gallery, Annual mixed
Christmas Exhibitions
New Grafton Gallery
Thackeray Gallery
Critics Choice, Deben Art Gallery, Woodbridge
Camberwell School of Art Staff
Exhibition, South London Art Gallery
Phoenix Art Gallery, Lavenham
King of Hearts Gallery, Norwich

Art Education

1960/'63 - Regents Street Polytechnic School of Art
1963/'64 - Chelsea School of Art
1964/'65 - Royal Academy of Art, Stockholm - Swedish Government Scholarship
1965/'66 - Beaux Arts, Paris - French Government Scholarship

Teaching

1966/'72 - Visiting Lecturer, Colchester School of Art
1966/'88 - Visiting Lecturer, Camberwell School of Art, BA(hons) Fine Art
1966/'85 - Visiting Lecturer, Camberwell School of Art, Foundation Studies
1985/'89 - Visiting Lecturer, Norwich School of Art, BA(hons) Fine Art
1989/2002 - Senior Lecturer, Norwich University of the Arts
1985/2005 - Summer painting courses at Centro d'Arte Verocchio, Italy
2006/'17 - Visiting Lecturer, Norwich University of the Arts BA(hons) Fine Art