Viv Kersey is our featured artist for May. Viv makes original prints and has a special interest in making images of the rich variety of birds and other wildlife in the area, which are for sale at Crafts Alive as prints or greetings cards.
Viv enjoyed drawing animals from an early age, encouraged by her artist father. On leaving school she did a foundation course at St. Albans Art College and then went on to study graphic design and illustration for three years in Leeds. She particularly loved the printmaking part of the course which created great opportunities for developing her drawings.
On leaving college she worked as a graphic designer in London for some time before travelling to India where she spent a year helping out in a rural children’s clinic. The experience made her want to change direction and she returned to London to train as a nurse. She moved to Wales in 1980 and subsequently trained and worked as a health visitor.
She continued to draw as much as possible but it wasn’t until she retired that she had the opportunity to return to printmaking after becoming involved in the ‘River Through Time’ project in 2011. This led to the establishment of Tywi Printmakers, a group of artists living in the Tywi Valley who support each other by sharing facilities and expertise in printmaking. Viv now has her own studio at home with an etching press and she makes small editions of original prints using different processes such as linocut, woodcut, etching, drypoint, monotype and collagraph. She tries to use the unique qualities of each process to express the character and spirit of her subjects.
She has taken part in the Tywi Valley Open Studios Art Trail for the past 4 years, held in the last week of July, when you can visit her studio and see printmaking in action. She has exhibited with Tywi Printmakers in King Street Gallery, Carmarthen and had a solo show at the Wildlife and Wetlands Centre in Llanelli as well as taking part in Art At The Hall exhibitions in Llangathen. She has been a member of the Crafts Alive Co-operative for 6 years.
