Peter Wakelin BA MSocSc PhD FSA
Peter Wakelin, born ca.1959 in Cardiff (see R&R.Wakelin Award below), is The Secretary of the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Aberystwyth University School of Art and of the Department of History at Swansea University, an Honorary Member of The Welsh Group and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. As well as publishing several books he has written regularly for publications such as The Guardian, Landscape History, Design History, Modern Painters, Planet, Art Review, New Welsh Review, Heritage in Wales and The Western Mail.
Peter's partner is the artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins, whose work can be viewed here
Art administration and curatorship
2004 Curator, An Art-Accustomed Eye: Dr John Gibbs and art appreciation in Wales 1945-1996, National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff
2004-7 Member, Advisory Board, Planet: The Welsh Internationalist
2002 Purchaser, Contemporary Art Society for Wales
2000- Member, Publications Committee, Council for British Archaeology
1999 Curator, Creating an Art Community, Art in Wales Gallery, National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff
1999- Advisor, Richard and Rosemary Wakelin Purchase Award, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
1999- Honorary Member and Advisor, The Welsh Group
1998- Consultant to 56 Group Wales on archive management, preparing papers for deposit at National Library of Wales
1998 Selector, Swansea Open Exhibition, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
1998- Executive Committee, Contemporary Art Society for Wales
1995-2004 Wales Correspondent, Art Review
Selected publications
Obituaries for The Guardian (including Elizabeth Organ, Tony Goble, Frank Roper, Ernest Zobole, Howard Roberts, David Tinker, Alexander Mackenzie, Nicholas Evans, Bert Isaac, Richard Avent)
Hidden Histories: Discovering the Heritage of Wales (RCAHMW, Aberystwyth, 2008) (ed., with Ralph A. Griffiths)
‘Cedric Morris and his influence in Wales’ in Curtis, Tony (ed.), After Petra (CASW/Gwasg Gregynog, Newtown, 2008)
The Painter’s Quarry: The art of Peter Prendergast (Seren, Bridgend, 2006) (co-author)
A Guide to Blaenavon Ironworks and World Heritage Site (Cadw, Nantgarw, 2006)
‘"Unifying harmonies of line": the lyricism of Ceri Richards’, in Ceridwen Lloyd Morgan and Christine Kinsey, eds., Imaging the Imagination: (Gomer, Llandysul, 2005)
An Art-Accustomed Eye: John Gibbs and art appreciation in Wales 1945-1996 (National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff, 2004)
‘Art through Children’s Eyes’ Planet (2004) (with Joseph Gibbs)
Visions of the Valleys (Attic Gallery, Swansea, 2004)
‘Introduction’, in Gross Innovations (Welsh Group and International Society for Experimental Artists, Cardiff, 2004).
‘Enter the Dragon’ (the Artes Mundi Prize), in Art Review (March 2004), pp.34-6.
Glenys Cour: paintings and works on paper 1980-2003 (Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, 2003) (with Mel Gooding)
‘Benton End Remembered (Cedric Morris)’, New Welsh Review, 60 (2003), pp. 13-23
‘Through a Glass Darkly (Shani Rhys James)’, in Planet 157 (2003), pp. 119-121.
‘Art Histories’ (the disputed territory of art history in Wales), in Planet 161 (November 2003), pp. 7-14
‘Arthur Giardelli and the Art of Conversation’, in New Welsh Review 55 (Spring 2002), pp.43-8
‘Maurice Cockrill’, Art Review, (September 2002), pp.
‘Sea Changes: the Art of Brendan Stuart Burns’, in Not the Stillness: paintings by Brendan Stuart Burns (Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Newport, 2002)
‘Ceri Richards’, Art Review, (October 2002), pp.
Dennis Creffield: Impressions of Castles (Globe Gallery, Hay-on-Wye, 2002)
‘Rhondda Songs (Ernest Zobole)’, Planet 153 (2002), pp. 125-6.
‘Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past’ in Journal of Design History, vol 15 no 1 (2002), pp. 60-2.
‘Getting to Grips with Ceri Richards’, in New Welsh Review (Autumn 2002), pp.
‘David Tinker and the Art Community in Wales’, in Enter The Conjurer’s Cabinet, University of Wales Aberystwyth School of Art and Museum, Aberystwyth, 2002), pp. 21-4
‘John Piper at War’, The David Jones Journal (Summer/Autumn 2001), pp. 164-6
‘Looking Out’ in Looking Out (Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Newport, 2001), pp. 7-14.
‘Charles Burton’, Art Review (November, 2000), p. 84.
‘Artists in Custody’, in Planet 143 (2000), pp. 95-7.
‘Innocent Eyes’ (naïve realism in mid 20th century Welsh art), Planet 140, (April/May 2000), pp. 33-41
‘The Twentieth-Century Landscape: Heritage or Horror?’, in Context 65 (2000), pp. 31-3.
‘The Art of the Book’, in Dorothy A. Harrop, Frances McDowall, Nicolas McDowall and Peter Wakelin, The Old Stile Press in the Twentieth Century (Old Stile Press, Llandogo, 2000), pp. 22-32
Creating an Art Community: 50 years of the Welsh Group (National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff, 1999)
Nomination of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape for inclusion in the World Heritage List (Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments, 1999) (co-author)
‘A Dominion for Art?’, Art Review (May 1999) pp. 54-5
‘Bert Isaac’, Modern Painters (Autumn 1998) p. 116
‘The Enigmatic Shepherd: the sweet and bitter love of Richard Barnfield (1574-1627)’ a biographical essay on the Elizabethan poet, in Richard Barnfield, The Affectionate Shepheard (Old Stile Press, Llandogo, 1998) pp. 49-57
Bert Isaac: Remembered Places (Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Newport, 1997)
‘Focus on Wales’, Art Review (April 1996) pp.53-6
‘Article of Faith: John Elwyn’, Art Review (July/August 1996) pp.36-7
‘Industrial Germany’ (review of major museum projects), Heritage in Wales 3 (Winter 1995) pp. 14-15
Collieries of Wales: engineering and architecture (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1995) (co-author)
‘Landscapes Revisited: The Penguin Guide to the Landscape of England and Wales by Paul Coones and John Patten’, in The Local Historian, vol 17 no 5 (1987), pp. 300-2
The Richard and Rosemary Wakelin Award
Richard Wakelin (1921-1987) and Rosemary Culley (1919-1998) were both artists, based in Swansea from the late 1950s. They were born in Cardiff and met as students at the Welsh School of Architecture in 1939 before entering the services for the duration of the war. They married in 1947. Richard worked as an architect in private practice in Swansea and later with the City Council (where his role included care and alterations at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery). The family lived in Sketty, and Rosemary moved to Oystermouth in 1990. As artists they both worked in abstract styles, but they appreciated all forms of art and craft. They worked through several organisations to further the visual arts, notably the Swansea Art Society, the Association of Artists and Designers in Wales, the 74 Guild of Artist Craftsmen, the Welsh Group, and the Friends of the Glynn Vivian. They were co-founders of the Swansea Arts Workshop in Swansea’s Maritime Quarter, now the Mission Gallery. They were always particularly keen to help and encourage talented artists and craftspeople, especially those struggling for recognition, and to broaden the enjoyment of the arts in Swansea and Wales generally. Their four children are Martin, Andrew, Sally and Peter Wakelin.
The Award is administered and co-funded by the Friends of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and is generously supported by donations in memory of Richard and Rosemary Wakelin. They were always particularly keen to help and encourage talented artists and craftspeople, especially those struggling for recognition, and to broaden the enjoyment of the arts in Swansea and Wales generally.