Biography

Prizes/Awards       Awards          Awards       Awards       Awards       Awards       Awards       Awards       Awards       Awards       

             1975 Certificate of Painting after 3 years’s at the Royal Academy Schools

             1986 Rank Xerox Printmaking Prize 1986 London

             1987 John Player Portrait Award 2^nd Prize National Portrait Gallery

             1987 Norsk Hydro Painting Award, Darlington

             1991 WHSmith Illustrated Book of the Year/joint First prize with Wordsworth                                                                                                                                          book  2009 Artichoke Printmaking Award, London

             2011 Made ‘Painter of the North’ in the London DISCERNING EYE show

                 2012-2018 Winner of The Great North Art Show, Ripon Cathedral and from 2012 onwards many One-man's including....

First Art School 1968-70: 
Byam Shaw School of Art, London:  Studied under the tutelage of three 'greats': painterly Peter Garrard and the wonderful Principal Maurice de Saumarez and Bernard and Diana Dunstan (Armfield she 'trades' under) , but the palette knifed oils of  Vaucluse landscapes by Maurice  hugely affected Piers in his early oils at the Byam Shaw 1968-70, while the Dunstans' work never ceases to inspire.
When Maurice de Saumarez died in 1970, PB borrowed money to buy a mini-van, slept therein for a year and stored wet painting in racks therein as he drove throughout  Europe, selling what he painted, drawing people in cafes  but mainly copying classic works of art eg. Titians in both The Louvre, Paris,  & in Rome's  Borghese Gallery.
Driving and painting all the way from Paris to Palermo in Sicily, before moving on into a wee central African walk and paint time!!....  The works inspired by these first  European travels were shown in Piers' first one-man exhibition at the Malvern Festival Theatre way back in 1971 while the largest African work, an oil, is still in PB's possession - do enquire.
1972-75 A good idea to further train at the  Royal Academy Schools, London where PB won the David Murray Landscape prize two years running &  especially loved  the vastly underrated Peter Greenham's tutelage. 
During this time Piers also attended Islington Studio, a professional print-making workshop where he was taught by the late, truly great Hugh Stoneman. This period gave him, tho' part time, the best 3 years of etching and engraving skills that  later led him to become a much sought after etcher.

1975  Piers settled in Wensleydale - and each long morning for ten years did the ramshackle house up, milking cows each dawn for a local kind farmer to get free eggs and milk. 
 
1988     Whilst still painting as ferociously as when he turned professional in 1975, Piers saw the publication of his first book:
              'A Shropshire Lad' illustrating the poems of  A E Housman in etchings, paying homage to the county of his birth.  This 4000
               edition mass publication - foreword by Kingsley Ami - obviously with photographically reproduced etchings, followed on from
                an earlier limited edition of just 25 beautiful handmade 'coffee-table' books.  These handmade books were exquisitely
                produced in hand-set type with
                hand printed etchings all done by Piers himself and again were large format, what's called 'coffee-table' size.
                THIS was the significant first of PB's (by 2017) THREE handmade books


1989   His next book followed: 'An Elegy in Arcady' 1989 (Edition 8000) - an artist's view of Housman's poetry, written and illustrated with 31 black & white engravings. Some of the poetical criticism is a bit awry but "..he gets away with it and the book has sound scholarship ", Giles Auty.  Prof. James Simpson: "Wonderfully reaable, unlike most literary criticism".

1991 - John Murray published his next large book 'William Wordsworth - A Lakeland Anthology', selected and illustrated Wordsworth Poetry with 54 coloured etchings.  This book was joint first in the WH Smith Illustrated Book of the Year Award, 1991.  Many of these etchings as well as the book are sold out. John Mortimer wrote the foreword quite emotionally.

1993 - Piers began composing pop music set with his published verse. WENSLEYDALE'/FREYA/ HENRY'S SONG from 2019 La Route des Violetted are all available privately from PB.

1993 - November - In conjunction with the Council for the Protection of Rural England, Piers presented a large show of his Oils and Etchings at Smith's Galleries, Covent Garden.  Later, at the invitation of the Government of Iceland, he took the exhibition to Reykjavík.

1994 - His fourth book - 'Wensleydale: Etchings and Verse' was launched at the Medici Gallery, London.  SOLD OUT HRH Prince Charles: "I find your pictures hauntingly and evocatively beautiful. In fact, having seen them I hardly dare do any more myself!"
1994 - Exhibition of Javanese pictures Ropner Gallery, London and always showing well at the RASummer Show and other good London venues as ..... 1996 - May:  The 'Shropshire Lad' etchings were shown at the Royal Festival Hall's Poetry Library.

1998 - Exhibition of "Watercolours to Drypoints" at Zella Gallery, Fulham, London in May.  Almost the last show at Zella's where Piers had been showing since 1972 as Zella Gore most sadly died around then.

2001 - February:  Piers' "Boscobel Oak" etching was presented by Piers to HRH Prince Charles at Boscobel House near Wolverhampton when Prince Charles planted a replacement oak at the site where Charles II hid in an oak tree after losing the Battle of Worcester in 1651. HRH wrote the foreword to THE GLORIOUS TREES of GREAT BRITAIN the following year - The Boscobel oak was one of the many etchings repro'd in this vast work  (see 2002 below)

2001 - October:  'The Aegean Seen' show at Godfrey and Watt in Westminster Arcade, Harrogate was the start of many almost sell-out one-man shows there. The gallery closed in 2011 or '12

2002 - The main launch of Piers' magnum opus:  'The Glorious Trees of Great Britain' book took place, with an exhibition of huge and small oils, together with etchings reproduced in the book, at the North Light Gallery, Huddersfield.  This book was the culmination of over 15 years work and contained 167 full-colour reproductions of the etchings produced for it. PB was already an established artist in York's BLAKE GALLERY where he has had many One-man's and is now in Haxby so PB, being with the WALKER CONTEMPORARY in Harogate and York's PYRAMID GALLERY thought to leave the Blake around 2010.

2002 - Piers began work on ‘Sonnets for a Siren’ - his third totally handmade book in an edition of 20, which would take the next five years to complete. There are of the edition, about 6 left which PB is not pushing into the market. When he approached the Bodleian in Oxford and Cambridge =University Libraries, both bought a copy as did 10 or so patrons - for many thousands!

2003 - March/April:  The Scottish launch of the 'The Glorious Trees of Great Britain' book with all etchings, took place in the spacious Broughton Place near Peebles, when run by the distinguished watercolourist Graham Buchanan Dunlop. The second or third one man there
2003 - May:  Piers had a well visited large stand at The Chelsea Flower Show. prof David Bellamy who had written the chapter forewords fot the TREES book, with David Shreeve - joint directors of London's renowned CONSERVATION TRUST
2003 - August:  Finally, after 25 years of showing in Wensleydale's local group of good artists and potter Andrew Hague, exhibitions by the Askrigg Group ended.

2004 - March/April:  Show of new small oils & etchings at Godfrey & Watt, Harrogate,..PB had 6 One-mans there over the years till its closure in around 2010
2004 - 29 May /June:  Aberystwyth venue for tree etchings and large oil in the foyer of extremely well run and well curated shows at The National Library at Aberystwyth.
2004 - October:  Huge one-man exhibition of seascapes around Whitby & the Scottish Highlands at the Blake Gallery, York was very successful.

2005 - March-June:  The Craft Centre & Design Gallery, the City Art Gallery, Leeds where 10 of Piers' largest etchings were on show.
2005 - April 2006:  Small works were shown at Godfrey & Watt in Harrogate while 2006  saw a major show of 24 original oils, drawings & watercolours from which etchings were made for Piers' Tree book at Radnorshire Museum in Llandrindod Wells with later, in
October, a show of large, some huge oils at The Blake Gallery, York.

2007 - Piers showed at The New Grafton Gallery, Barnes, London - a sign of 'arriving' - sadly that gallery has folded...Piers now with the Russell Gallery in Putney, happily.
2007 - Completion and binding of 'Sonnets for a Siren', Piers' latest handmade book and indeed, with 167 etchings therein, a magnum opus 
2007 - ICA London Book Fair and various one-man shows until 2009 - In Peter Blake's Originals printmaking show at the Mall Galleries he showed two etchings, one of which won the Artichoke Printmaking Award.
2009 - Major One-man show at 54 Gallery, Mayfair, London of SEASCAPES
2009 - August:  Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, received Piers' largest oil ever at 10ft across, of the Eildon Hills near Montrose. 
2009 - November/December:  Seascapes show at the Blake Gallery, York and next year, in September, more  and new Seascapes were shown at The Jericho Gallery, Oxford in what Piers thought the best hung show he has ever been involved in.
2010 - October/November:  New watercolours shown at Herriot's Gallery in Hawes, North Yorkshire where he since has continually show i.e. 2014 Autumn a major One-man here
2010 - November - January 2011:  The Craft Centre & Design Gallery, City Art Gallery, Leeds showed 4 huge etchings

2011 - April:  One-man of Yorkshire & Scottish oils at the Blake Gallery in York, his last show there.
2011 - One-man again at 54 Gallery, Mayfair, London 'Joy in the Aegean':  new west coast of Turkey large oils and watercolours etc - a major show + launch of slim volume of new poems  called  'Love in the Aegean' there,  2 copies bought by the Poetry Library in the Royal Festival Hall and oliterally half a dozen or less left (2017)
2011 - October:  One-man show, 'Sunshine! Sunshine!' was on at Herriot Gallery in Hawes, North Yorkshire, where PB shows near every year and has permanent spots of little oils and etchings.

2011 - November:  With two oils accepted, Piers won the Painter of the North of England prize with one of the oils in the renowned ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London,  and showed one of the 'Dawn' series of large etchings at the New English Art Club also at the Mall Galleries.
 
2012 - January:  Opened with Piers showing a large oil in the North East Open Show in Scarborough's really lovely Museum and Art gallery.

2012  - January/February:  A show of over 80 old and new colour etchings in Highgate Contemporary Art in north London..PB still shows there and has prints in a bin there and oils in store

2012 - June:  Organised  charity 'Britannia Rules the Waves' show in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  A joint show held in local Askrigg with Piers showing large and small seascapes, along with photographs by Joe Cornish and watercolours from Kane Cunningham.  
2012 - won the Great North Art Show prize - Jenny Agutter awarded prize in Ripon Cathedral the evening of 31st August 2012, while at the same time his latest etching: 'Winter Dawn: Upper Wensleydale from Ellerkin' was accepted in the prestigious Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers show in London. This suite of 8 large colour etchings is Piers' magnum opus of the last 20 years

2013 first, 'FIFTY SHADES OF BROWNE' a 100 etchings = Oils show in Grays Court, York then PB launches of the 5 years in making large 21" square multi-plate colour SEASONS etchings at the Dales Countryside Museum  
(April) and The BLAKE GALLERY (York) in all May where 8 oils which helped make the etchings were also shown
(June) One man MEDITERRANEAN OLIVES & BRITTANY SEAS  Piers Feetham Gallery (Fulham) with 57 paintings and some etchings
(September) Huge One-man at SUTCLIFFE CONTEMPORARY ART in Harrogate where many Yorks land and seascapes especially sold, so much so that he could donate £500 to each charity - MEDECIN SANS FRIONTIERES & SAVE THE CHILDREN to alleviate the ongoing and awful suffering of Syrian refugees - photo presentation of blown up cheques in October's end 2013
  ( all Summer) A good 3 plate colour etching accepted and hanging in the RASummer show - 'OAK, PINE & LARCH: WINTER SUNSET' - must be his 20th or more - which sold out of its edition quickly and helped to make 2013 the best profit for the RA ever, they said!
(December) Perhaps as prestigious as the RASummer Show, PB shows TWO good sized oils at the NEAC in London at the Mall Galleries near Buckingham Palace
(All Winter) 3 large etchings from the SEASONS suite at the COOPER GALLERY in Barnsley in a major show of Prints - while in London, some small OILS at the prestigious Russell Gallery in their Christmas mixed show in Putney, London

2014  January 14 - Feb 8: a Major One-man at HIGHGATE CONTEMPORARY ART in Highgate, n London called THE CALL OF CELTIC SEAS which includes to date his best seascapes of the last few years, all for sale. (There is a catalogue £5 from Piers or the gallery still!) amd has echibited seascapes in ajoint One-man there since
          (Autumn) Herriots Gallery, Hawes One-man - mainly small oils of great panache and detail, landscapes of Wensleydale, seascapes   of Yorkshire and elsewhere - but all small apart from one major large oil. There will be a few NEW Etchings too.

2016 Dec and 2017 jan and poss Feb: PB shows 10 etchings framed in BOSTON CONSULTANCY in London's Manchester Square
2017 After a few years writing the 'novella' and making the 34  etchings (most coloured),  'LA ROUTES DES VIOLETTES' is




1974 & 1975 - David Murray Landscape Prize, London from the RASchools art school
1986 - Rank Xerox Printmaking Prize, London
1987 - John Player Portrait 2nd Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London - with a huge portrait of his dad with a daisy chain around his neck. (2500 entries, but it was the daisy chain which alerted the judges to the humour and worthwhile-ness of hanging )
1987 - Norsk Hydro Painting Award, Darlington
1991 - WHSmith Illustrated Book of the Year joint First prize for 'William Wordsworth - A Lakeland Anthology' book
2009 - Artichoke Printmaking Award, London - and other prizes from the Mall galleries, London
2010 - The Printing-on-Line Award for Highly Commended etching at the Ropewalk Gallery, Barton-on-Humber
2011 - Painter of the North of England prize, ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, November 2011
2012 - Chosen to show an etching, from 8000 considered digitally, by the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers in their Open Show in August at the Bankside Gallery
2012 - Winner of The Great North Art Show, Ripon Cathedral
2013 May: launch of 4 + year's work: 8 SEASONS etchings at the Blake Gallery in York, with 10 Oils that helped over the years to shape the etchings, PB being primarily a colourist. The SEASONS then went to the Dales Countryside Museum Museum in Hawes on the Pennine Way till the end of July '13.
"MEDITERRANEAN OLIVES & BRITTANY SEAS" of oils and etchings show his love of HEAT, sea and trees and the  'Med' life and all the smells of broom and herbal bushes growing up hillsides - and views from and of high mountains - as in Corsica, and this could be a toruing show - if asked! He went to Tunisia just as a revolution broke out and when approached by gun toting govenrment secret police, told them to sit and have a lesson in landscape painting which they obediently did, pocketing their guns which pobably were used on them later.  An exciting 2010 that was - and a nice visit to grab 30 degrees C just n of the Sahara where he lived with Olive pickers happily, VERY happily. It is the working farmer he understands most.
2014 saw a fantastically successful one-man 'CALL OF CELTIC SEAS' at highgate Contemprary Art in n London, followed by a show at HERRIOTS GALLERY in his local Hawes in September -  and then back to Highgate for inclusion in a mixed Xmas/Dec show  there.
2015  PB is in a joint little show with some rapid oil sketched ther from Feb 11 - 28, Then..THE MAJOR SHOWs of the last 25 years or more: major large-ish oils and binfull of etchingshave been at  WALKER CONTEMPORARY ART in Montpellier Parade Harrogate and Pyramid Gallery in York.
from April  11-18 2015. He shares a small one man of original prints with the great Denise Burden's superb work in the Yorkshire Pennine's world famous SWALEDALE FESTIVAL in the summer at Leyburn's superb Arts Centre, going on even stronge these days.
2016 saw the culmination of having written the words, music and designed sets for FREYA -  performed brilliantly at the very drama orientated RICHMOND SCHOOL in North Yorkshire - with a few songs. It really is a Musical, but the School did a superb job with drama.

Collections:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Cambridge University Library
Bodleian Library, Oxford
British Library, London
Leeds, Plymouth, Darlington, and York City Art Galleries etc
Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes, North Yorkshire
National Trust Collections
Numerous company premises including:  Price Waterhouse, Guinness, Newby Hall, Tarmac
Numerous private collections including:   HRH Prince Charles, Felix Dennis, Edward Guinness CVO & many ex Ministers of the Arts, Julie Andrews, Julie Christie, John Mortimer to name a few

To date Piers has had over 75 One Man exhibitions as far afield as Reykjavik, Malibu, Munster (North Germany) and for 20 years was part of the Askrigg Group, who exhibited in Wensleydale every August.
 
Piers shows regularly at the Royal Academy Summer Show (as in 2013 - see ETCHINGS/British page) where he has had 24 oils and etchings hung, and New English Art Club's November show.  He is proud both to regularly show at the Great North Art Show, held in Ripon Cathedral each September, and to be a Patron there.

Praise for Piers' work: Royal Academician artists Diana Armfield and her husband Bernard Dunstan kindly wrote: "We both admire the wonderful intensity of Piers' vision, and in some of his oils, the handling, the rythmn of the paint marks, make for a strange beauty all of their own......and his etchings are superb."

As an etcher, Piers is mortified by the advent of the expensive GICLEE when applied to reproducing PAINTINGS and even etchings - pls read this:

THERE IS MORE THAN a bit of a confusion over the term "Limited edition Giclee print” to the buying public. Nowadays, by completely casual deceit, a photographed painting or whatever two-dimensional artwork, signed and beautifully framed, is passed over to people as a “Limited Edition’ print. It is often exactly the same price as a hand-made, truly valuable, non-photographed "Limited Edition, Original prints". The public are often convinced this giglee print is ‘original when only the signature is! Caveat Emptor! IF IF the word REPRODUCTION was added, then at least the public would not be almost 'conned'.