Anglesey Art Exhibition - Steve Palin - July 2023 at The Bulkeley Gallery
Posted by Lydia Unwin on
STEVE PALIN Exhibition
2nd July – Sunday 30th July 2023
Steve currently lives in Llanerchymedd on Anglesey. He spent 38 years in education as a teacher and headteacher and has always painted. In 1986 he wrote and illustrated 18 packs of children’s worksheets for Encyclopaedia Britannica and In 1994 a set of 40th anniversary tea cards for Brooke Bond PG Tips. In 1996 came Steve’s first book, “A Dissimulation of Birds” illustrating collective nouns of birds. It was marketed by the RSPB who asked for one on animals, fish and insects, so “A Menagerie of Animals” was published. Continuing the link between language and wildlife, Steve’s next book was “Pickcheese, Billy Wise and Cobble”, about folk-names of British birds. “The Songs of Birds” came next, an anthology of bird-related poems and folk tales from around the world with text by Hugh Lupton of Storytellers fame. American company Sierra Club then produced a series of “knowledge cards” combining the images from both of Steve’s collective noun books. Steve was then asked to illustrate and produce a series of 28 greetings cards for the company Images and Editions.
More recently, the two collective noun books were published by Merlin Unwin as a single volume called “A Murmuration of Starlings”, still in print and going strong, Collectively, these books have sold over 45,000 copies. In 2020, Merlin published Steve’s “The Anniversary Book” illustrating the themes and symbols of the different anniversaries! These paintings, along with those from Steve’s most recent book “A Box of Frogs” will be in the exhibition alongside the books themselves.
Along the way Steve has painted many commissions (including pub signs and wedding album calligraphy). He has exhibited at a number of galleries including the North West Exhibition of Wildlife Art and the British Birdwatching Fair. He is currently working on his next book “Pundemonium”, illustrating animal puns whilst he develops his wildflower meadow on his Anglesey property.