Islwyn Waktins obituary
The artist Islwyn Watkins, who has died aged 80, was an outstanding maker of elegant and witty constructions and collages derived from found materials.
He also ran a celebrated antique country pottery business in his adopted town of Knighton, in Powys, on the Welsh borders. Lively and imaginative, Islwyn was a natural performer, stimulating and, often, mischievous in conversation. I showed his artwork, from 1994 and on various scales, as curator of Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery, in Brecon.
Born in Tonypandy, Rhondda, to David Watkins, a butcher then fabric printer, and Gwyneth (nee Hickman), a nurse, Islwyn attended the local grammar school. He studied at Cardiff College of Art (1954-59) travelling daily by train with fellow students. Although attracted by the work of St Ives artists, the greatest influence upon him was the work of the German émigré Dada sculptor and collagist Kurt Schwitters.
Islwyn taught art at Ravenscroft school, Barnet,(1959 to 1964), then studied lithography at Hornsey College of Art and became a lifelong friend and collaborator with the anarchic and multitalented Jeff Nuttall, the author of Bomb Culture (1968).
Both members of Group H, they participated, at this time of cold war anxiety, in provocative happenings and performance art. Together with Bruce Lacey, John Latham and others, they created the sTigma, a 1965 installation at Better Books in Charing Cross Road, London. Islwyn left for the US, taking a master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and taking part in other remarkable happenings.
In 1967 he became a lecturer at Birmingham’s School of Art Education. He exhibited in Midland Art Now at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery in 1976.
In 1978, disillusioned with educational developments, he moved to Knighton and involved himself in the Welsh art world. He was appointed chair of the Association of Artists and Designers in Wales and the Welsh Group. He exhibited regularly, including, to encourage a dialogue with art, in shops and cafes.
Reprising his 1960s collaboration with Nuttall during the 2000 Brecon Jazz festival, they created Merz Jam, a huge Schwitters-inspired walk-through installation in which the saxophonist Lol Coxhill performed.
Islwyn’s final exhibition, last year, was staged at the Old College, Aberystwyth.
He is survived by his partner, Ruth Fowler. Although a marriage to Fay (nee Exworth Dent) in 1967 came to an end, for many years they remained neighbours.
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