Mabel Pakenham-Walsh (2 September 1937 − 19 August 2013) was a British painter, sculptor and designer, and pioneering

female artist The absence of women from the canon of Western art has been a subject of inquiry and reconsideration since the early 1970s. Linda Nochlin's influential 1971 essay, " Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" examined the social and institut ...

in post-war European figurative art. She worked in many mediums, but is particularly well known for her colourful wooden relief sculptures. Her work was significantly influenced by primitive and

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...

, and created primarily from recycled materials, earning her recognition as an early eco artist.

Life

Mabel Pakenham-Walsh was born in Lancaster, England, the daughter of Robert Pakenham-Walsh, a prominent psychiatrist. Born with congenital

hip dysplasia Hip dysplasia is an abnormality of the hip joint where the socket portion does not fully cover the ball portion, resulting in an increased risk for joint dislocation. Hip dysplasia may occur at birth or develop in early life. Regardless, it doe ...

, she lived with a lifelong physical disability; and in 1957, while a student at university, she was badly injured in a major car accident which compounded her disability. Consequently, Pakenham-Walsh campaigned throughout her life for disability rights, especially for children and youths, ultimately leaving a legacy with the Snowdon Trust to assist disabled students in future. Pakenham-Walsh was active in the London arts scene throughout the 1960s and '70s, and befriended many significant figures, including

Lord Snowdon Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in ''Vogue'', ''Vanity Fai ...

, Frances Bond, Martin Leman, Maeve and

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

Wendy Ramshaw Wendy Anne Jopling Ramshaw (26 May 1939 – 9 December 2018) was a British ceramicist, jeweller and sculptor. Her signature ringsets are in 70 public collections in both museums and art galleries. Life Ramshaw was born in Sunderland in 1939. She ...

, and

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

. Pakenham-Walsh also taught woodcarving classes to

Further Education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

students in Kent, England. In the late 1970s she moved to Aberystwyth, Wales, where she continued to create, and became a local legend and beloved eccentric.

Education

Pakenham-Walsh trained as an artist at Lancaster and Morecambe College of Arts and Crafts (1954–58) and

Wimbledon College of Art Wimbledon College of Arts, formerly Wimbledon School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London specialising in theatre, screen and performance art. It is located in Wimbledon and Merton Park, South West London. H ...

(1958-59). The writer and artist

was an early mentor.

Career

From the beginning of her career, Pakenham-Walsh created drawings, paintings, and sculptures made almost exclusively from mundane and salvaged materials; this unique strategy was borne of necessity as Pakenham-Walsh encountered "social barriers associated with being a female artist in the mid twentieth century, which made it difficult for her ..to acquire raw materials for her art." Pakenham-Walsh's first published artwork was in the early 1960s when her

biro A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian and Philippine English), or dot pen ( Nepali) is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a "ball point". ...

drawings appeared in the literary journal ''

Transatlantic Review Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...

''. At that time, she was employed as a designer at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...

, where she created set-pieces for major motion-pictures, including ''Cleopatra''; she also worked as a sculptor at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused w ...

. From 1965 to 1982, she exhibited at the Summer Exhibitions of the

Royal Academy of Arts 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. During this era, select London artists rejected abstraction and conceptualism to pursue "the depiction of the human figure and everyday landscape"; Pakenham-Walsh also sought to depict ordinary daily life, creating art that was both "playful and profound oinvoke the

deep time Deep time is a term introduced and applied by John McPhee to the concept of geologic time in his book ''Basin and Range'' (1981), parts of which originally appeared in the ''New Yorker'' magazine. The philosophical concept of geological time w ...

of human nature." Pakenham-Walsh "exhibited widely in her lifetime in many art galleries and museums" worldwide. Her work has been shown at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, and is held in numerous public and private collections, including: 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 ...

, the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

, and the

UK Craft Council The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

; the actor and art historian

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

and the photographer

also admired and collected her work.

Selected solo exhibitions

* 1984: ''Mabel Pakenham-Walsh: Painted Wood Carvings and Paintings'' at

Aberystwyth Arts Centre Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Welsh: ''Canolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth'') is an arts centre in Wales, located on Aberystwyth University's Penglais campus. One of the largest in Wales, it comprises a theatre (312 seats), concert hall (900 seats), s ...

(and tour of UK) * 2006: ''Drawings of Aberystwyth and Beyond'' at

Ceredigion Museum Ceredigion Museum ( cy, Amgueddfa Ceredigion) is a museum in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. Location Ceredigion Museum is located at the Coliseum, Terrace Road, Aberystwyth. It is housed in a restored Edwardian theatre and is managed by Ceredi ...

* 2012: ''Mabel Pakenham-Walsh: A Retrospective'' of carvings and drawings at

References

External links

*
Craft Council Online Collection: Mabel Pakenham-Walsh

Mabel Pakenham-Walsh: A Retrospective, Video Interview (2012)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakenham-Walsh, Mabel 1937 births 2013 deaths People from Lancaster, Lancashire People from Aberystwyth British people with disabilities English sculptors 20th-century English painters Artists with disabilities Outsider artists 20th-century English women 20th-century British sculptors