Brenda Irene Chamberlain (17 March 1912 – 11 July 1971) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

artist, poet and writer. She won the first two

Gold Medals A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

awarded by the

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Eur ...

in the Fine Art category, for her paintings ''Girl with a Siamese Cat'' (1951) and ''The Cristin Children'' (1953), and her written works include ''Tide-race'', a memoir of 15 years spent living on

Bardsey Island Bardsey Island ( cy, Ynys Enlli), known as the legendary "Island of 20,000 Saints", is located off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The Welsh name means "The Island in the Currents", while its English name refers to the "Islan ...

. An expatriate on the island of Hydra, Greece, from 1961 to 1967, she then returned to Wales, where she died in 1971. Her papers are preserved by the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

; examples of her artworks are found in several collections.

Early life and education

Pilgrimage to Bardsey Island (5099145559)

Chamberlain was born in Bangor, the daughter of Francis Thomas Chamberlain and Elsie Cooil Chamberlain. Her father worked for the railway. Her mother served a term on the Bangor Borough Council, and was later Mayor of Bangor during World War II.Jill Piercy, ''Brenda Chamberlain: Artist and Writer'' (Parthian Books 2013). In 1931, Chamberlain began her studies as an artist at the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

in London."Brenda Chamberlain"
Wales Arts, BBC Cymru Wales. Tyn-y-mynydd, Mountain Street, Rachub - geograph

Works

Chamberlain ran the Caseg Press in Bethesda, Wales, with her then-husband the artist John Petts, and the poet Alun Lewis. The collective produced postcards and bookplates, for which Chamberlain made

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s. Caseg Broadsheets featured poetry by Chamberlain and others.Alison Smith, ''John Petts and the Caseg Press'' (Ashgate 1999). The cottage they shared, Ty'r Mynydd, bears a plaque commemorating their work. Chamberlain also produced prose works, including ''Tide-Race'' (1962), a memoir of life at Carreg,

, where she lived and worked from 1947 until 1962. The publication of ''Tide-Race'' coincided with a solo exhibition of Chamberlain's paintings at the Zwemmer Gallery in London. Chamberlain won the first two

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s awarded by the

for Fine Art, in 1951 for the painting ''Girl with a Siamese Cat'' and in 1953 for ''The Cristin Children''. In 1961 Chamberlain went to live on the Greek island of Hydra, but returned to Wales in 1967. Her novel ''A Rope of Vines'' draws from her time in Hydra, while her play ''The Protagonists'' (published 2013, first performed 1968) details the 1967 right-wing coup which led to the

Greek junta The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels, . Also known within Greece as just the Junta ( el, η Χούντα, i Choúnta, links=no, ), the Dictatorship ( el, η Δικτατορία, i Diktatoría, links=no, ) or the Seven Years ( el, η Ε ...

Legacy

There are artworks by Chamberlain in the

National Museum Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Bangor University , former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms ...

Cyfarthfa Castle Cyfarthfa Castle ( cy, Castell Cyfarthfa; ) is a castellated mansion that was the home of the Crawshay family, ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The house commanded a view of the valley and the works, which � ...

and

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

. There is a collection of her papers, including sketches, letters, poems, photographs, diaries, and unpublished works, in the National Library of Wales. Kate Holman published an academic biography of Brenda Chamberlain in 1997. Jill Piercy published another biography of Chamberlain in 2013.

Personal life

Before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Chamberlain moved in with the artist John Petts. They married in 1935, and in 1936 they moved to Rachub, a village near Bethesda. The cottage they shared, Ty'r Mynydd, bears a plaque commemorating their work. The couple were divorced in 1944. Chamberlain died in 1971, age 59, in Bangor, after an overdose of sedatives. Her remains were interred at Glanadda Cemetery in Bangor.

Published works

*''The Green Heart'' (1958) *''Tide-Race'' (1962) () *''The Water Castle'' (1964) () *''A Rope of Vines'' (1965) () *''Poems with Drawings'' (1969) ()

References

External links

* * – archive held at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Brenda 1912 births 1971 deaths 20th-century Welsh women artists 20th-century Welsh novelists 20th-century Welsh painters 20th-century Welsh poets 20th-century Welsh women writers 20th-century memoirists Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Anglo-Welsh poets British women memoirists Drug-related deaths in Wales Members of The Welsh Group People from Bangor, Gwynedd Writers from Bangor, Gwynedd Welsh Eisteddfod Gold Medal winners Welsh expatriates in Greece Welsh women painters Welsh women novelists Welsh women poets Welsh memoirists