Ian
uses his middle name as a signature to his art work.
Primarily a caver since his late teens Ellis started
developing his interest in art relating to caves only
in the last few years by writing poetry. (Examples
are to be found elsewhere on the web site - See
poetry page). From this he wanted to capture the
sense of being in the cave environment and found that
sculpture in metal, mainly recycled copper sheet with
solder, could show the profiles, textures and space
within an underground passage.
Robin
Gray
Robin
Gray trained at Beckenham School of Art,
studying painting. On leaving art school he ran a
night club in Earls Court, London while he developed
his painting skills. Having had enough of the night
club life he returned to Beckenham and became involved
in teaching. During the 1970´s he built a reputation
as a colourist specialising in abstarct art. He had
of course delved into the local mines around Merstham,
Surrey. but visiting the Mendip Hills, Somerset, to
cave as well. By 1978 he had become so involved with
the caving scene he moved to Somerset. Still working
as an abstract artist he made his first cave related
work about 1980. A lino cut of Swildon´s Hole
sold well in a local sports and caving shop. Seduced
by local legends and influenced by the Ruralists he
briefly turned to painting highly detailed and very
realistic paintings of Arthurian tales before returning
to his abstract obsession.
Peter
MacNab Snab.
When in the Royal Air Force in the Uk in the early
1960´s met the crtoonist ´Sutol ´whose
work was apparaeing in a number of car magazines.
With a few tips and lessons form Sutol Snab revived
a latent talent fot drawing cartoons. At about the
same time he took to caving joining clubs assocoiated
with The Mendip Hills near Bristol.With satirical
cartoons he contributed regularly to the Mendip Caver
and The Speleologist, a national magazine. He moved
to Scotland and his cartoons appeared in the publications
of the Grampian Speleological Group. In the 1970´s
he started painting in oils, mainly Scottish landscapes
and wildlife and experimenting with subterranean scenes.
He then switched to watercolours and also produced
acrylic paintings of prehistoric art topics on cork.
These were sold through show caves.
He discovered encaustic art at a craft fair in Evesham
and bought a starter set, asking advice at the same
time as to how get the effect of limstone using the
wax. Another sale bought him an iron for 50 pence
and his subject matter was caves. He has been known
to take his iron underground where there is supply
of power. He continues to experiment and develop the
medium to show his life long interest in caves and
caving through the wax paintings.
Ceris
Jones
Chris
Day
Chris
lives in Shropshire, United Kingdom and enjoys the
out doors, especially horse riding but does go underground.
She was introduced to the subterranean landscapes
by a friend in the International Society for Speleological
Art (ISSA) in 2001 and now frequently goes into caves
and mines with a sketch book to draw in charcoal.
Chris is inspired by the formations, textures and
colours of the rocks and by the difficult experience
of trying to draw using the light of a single head
lamp. She has worked in various mediums and is currently
exploring the use of oil paint. Chris is fascinated
by the abstract way a picture can develop from the
sketch which she likens to a second journey when working.
