For the past several years Wilf Robert's work has followed a consistent subject matter and theme: the traditional farm houses and cottages of Anglesey, and in particular around the area of Bodafon, where his family have lived for generations.

The majority of his pictures are groups of buildings in landscapes devoid of people, animals or birds and yet, like the empty chapels found all over the island, they contain invisible memories of people from the past. To him some paintings are very much alive, some with memories of his grandmother who gave him his first box of paints. Another painting shows the house of a neighbour, a lone man who used to kneel on the earthen floor of his one-roomed cottage each Sunday and pray from dawn to dusk.These are affirmations of an invisible cultural connectedness with a people and place. He is unhappy with changes to buildings that challenge his perception of the island he loves and he will often paint out a new extension to a farm or the appearance of a new bungalow.

His time as a young art student and teacher in Croydon in the 1960's exposed him to an urban landscape quite alien to his own experience of place. "I was very excited by what I saw around me in London. The pace of change there was a great stimulus. Although I painted city-scapes I only have one piece of work left from that time, and I'm not sure if I like it. I have a great sense of contentment when painting here on Anglesey. Even a trip to Blaenau, forty miles away, feels quite alien. I can paint the light, colours and rows of houses, yet I don't feel the same sense of belonging."

Wilf paints alone from nature. Occasionally he will allow his dog to accompany him. More recently he has been drawn to the seashores around the island, exploring the constant motions and dark moods of the waves. Interestingly, his most recent painting of a building has included, for the first time in many years, two figures, a mother and child walking towards the observer.

Curriculum Vitae

1941 Born Llanfaelog, Ynys Môn. 1952-1959 Llangefni Grammar School (became Comprehensive in 1953). 1959-1961 Normal College, Bangor. 1961-1963 Art Teacher, Fairchildes School, Croydon. 1963-1971 Head of Art Department, Fairchildes School, Croydon. I96 -1973 Croydon Art College. 1971-1973 Head of Art Department, Overbury School, Croydon. I974-1996 Gwynedd County Council (Social Services and Education). Lives and works at Mynydd Bodafon, Ynys Môn.

Exhibitions (solo)

1964 St. John, West Wickham, London. 1966 Fairfield Hall, Croydon. 1972 Fairfield Hall, Croydon. 1974 The Library, Holyhead. 1996 Oriel Cemaes, Ynys Môn. 1996 Oriel Ynys Môn, Llangefni. 1997 Oriel Cemaes, Ynys Môn. 1997 The Library, Blaenau Ffestiniog. 1997 Oriel Cemaes, Ynys Môn.

Other exhibitions (joint and mixed)

1957-1964 A number of small exhibitions in North Wales and London. 1965 Amhem Gallery, Croydon. 1968 Gordon Gallery, Wimbledon. 1969 Gordon Gallery, Wimbledon. 1972 Gordon Gallery, Wimbledon. 1973 New Gallery, Bond St., London. 1973 South Croydon Gallery. 1973 The Gallery, S. Audley St., London. 1997 The Attic Gallery, Swansea. 1998 Oriel Ynys Môn, Llangefni.

Illustrations ( books posters, etc.)

National Youth Bureau (NYB). National Association of Youth Clubs (NAYC). North Wales Council for Alcoholism. Drugs Advisory Council