The artist, illustrator and printmaker, Steven A. Spencer, was born 1959 in Bradford. After leaving school he worked in the local textile industry, but became involved in several large scale mural projects in two Bradford nightclubs, prompting a return to education to study art and design at Bradford School of Art. Significant influences on the direction of his work at that time were through his tutors: the sculptor, Ian Taylor, and watercolour landscape painter, Ian Gardner – a founder of The New Arcadian Press, and its prestigious Arcadian Journal.
From Bradford, Steven studied Fine Art Painting at Wolverhampton University School of Art (1984-87) under the tutelage of the painters, Knighton Hosking, Paul Hempton, and Paresh Chakraboty. Steven’s artwork was exhibited respectively at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Dudley College during 1987.
After graduating from Wolverhampton, Steven was employed, 1988-1999, as a Designer and Finished Artist at Empire Stores and La Redoute mail-order catalogue companies. From 1999 to 2015, he then worked as the Editorial artist at the Bradford Telegraph & Argus newspaper, involved in news graphics, promotions, and stand-alone covers. He also produced a popular series of cartoons for the daily ‘Letters’ section of the newspaper.
In parallel to his employment, Steven created and exhibited his own artwork. He says of the influences on his work:
Landscape, in reality or art, has always been a dominant factor in my life. Coming from Bradford, where the hills rise high on every side, it’s impossible to escape the sheer physical power of nature. The moors, woodlands and fields of Bradford and district have limitless possibilities for the eye, but so too do our post-industrial landscapes, with their edifices and relics to past industrial empires whose powerful motifs I am constantly drawn back to.
‘Toter Baum’. Watercolour and mixed media
Open landscape ceased to be the main influence on my work as I became aware of the extraordinary forms and individuality of so-called inanimate objects that exist within those landscapes. Each object has a secret life and a powerful impassive mystery, and although their use may have long gone, or is at first not obvious, they continue to impose themselves on the landscape, defying the changes of both man and nature.
‘Blue Wall’. Watercolour and mixed media.
Steven’s work has been exhibited locally, in solo and group shows. He had a solo exhibition, ‘The Object in Landscape’ at the St. George’s Hall, Terrace Gallery, Bradford, in 1992. Group shows have included at the 7th Yorkshire Artists Exhibition; the Bradford Open at Cartwright Hall; at The Dyehouse Gallery, Bradford College; and the ‘Point of View’ and ‘Urban Light’ exhibitions respectively at RiRis in Keighley and The Bucaro, Sunbridge Wells, Bradford.
‘Wool Waste’. Watercolour and mixed media.
Artist contact: Steven Spencer
‘Tarmac Tipton, West Midlands.’ Linocut.
(Images shown on this post are by courtesy of, and with the permission of, the artist.)