Mike Chaplin
Encyclopedia
Michael James Chaplin (Mike) NDD, RWS
, RE, FRSA (born 19 September 1943) is a British
artist
, known primarily for his work in the mediums of etching
and watercolour. He was guest art expert on the Channel 4
art programme Watercolour Challenge
with Hannah Gordon
.
, to the south of St. Neots, in Huntingdonshire
(now part of Bedfordshire
), and attended primary school in Sandy, Bedfordshire
.
In the early 1950s, he moved with his parents and older sister to Harpenden
, on the outskirts of St Albans
in Hertfordshire
. His love of art was already starting to develop.
He attended St Albans Boys' Grammar School (since renamed Verulam School
) and was a contemporary there of Colin Blunstone
and Chris White
, who later formed the pop group The Zombies
. In fact, Mike was the guitarist in an earlier band, along with Colin Coke and Chris White, called the Markysparks, in reference to Markyate
, Chris White's home town.
Leaving school, and following a spell of working in the art department of his Alma Mater, Mike studied graphic design at Watford School of Art, gaining his National Diploma of Design. He followed this up with a postgraduate course in Printmaking at Brighton school of art, now The Faculty of Arts and Architecture, part of the University of Brighton
.
After completing his studies, Mike moved with his wife Gay, a teacher and artist in her own right, to Maidstone
, in Kent
, where they are still based. They have one son, Nicholas (b.1977) and one daughter, Briony (b.1980).
In 1971, at the age of 28, Mike was elected as an associate of The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers
(at that time known as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers), becoming one of the youngest people ever to receive this accolade. He was later elected to full membership, subsequently serving as Honorary Secretary and Vice President, and is now a senior fellow of the society.
In 1997, having been an associate since 1993, Mike was elected to Full Member of the Royal Watercolour Society
. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
pictures for the dust-jackets of books, while still a student. He became a professional artist in his own right at the end of 1960s, selling his first picture for seven Guineas. His earliest pieces in his own right were almost exclusively in the medium of etching. The influence of Mike's background in graphic design is very clear to see in these first pictures, which are highly stylised, bordering on abstract. Already at this stage, however, Mike's love of architecture, particularly industrial, was becoming apparent. (An early etching depicts the workings of a disused power station, a theme which Mike would revisit later in his career.)
Mike’s work, both in painting and printmaking, has made him one of Britain’s most well known painters, and he is represented in many public and private collections worldwide, including those of HM The Queen, HM The Queen Mother, ex-King Constantine of the Hellenes
, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
, The Ashmolean Museum
, Oxford
, The Fitzwilliam Museum
, Cambridge
, and the Daily Express
(mural for the Boardroom).
Mike achieved great popularity as resident art expert on the hit Channel 4 programme Watercolour Challenge with Hannah Gordon. With 3 series and over 60 programmes, Mike reached an audience of over 1 1/2 million . He also filmed an hour-long follow-up video, which was made to accompany the series.
He was commissioned to produce a series of handling sheets of watercolour techniques for the Tate Gallery
to accompany the Thomas Girtin
Exhibition (Summer 2002) and demonstrated painting techniques during the El Greco
Exhibition at the National Gallery
(2004).
2003 saw Mike filming for BBC2
's Open University
Art History Unit, following in the steps of J. M. W. Turner
and re-creating some of his paintings of the Lake District
. In 2005 Mike again worked with the Tate Gallery recording audio notes on the Turner exhibits for the acclaimed Turner, Whistler & Monet
exhibition.
In 2007 Mike was given the enormous privilege of using J M W Turner's pigments to be ground by him into watercolour. The paint was subsequently used by him for filming Turner's watercolour techniques for a permanent exhibition at Tate Britain
in London.
Mike loves teaching adults of all ability levels on residential courses in Britain and abroad.
Mike worked with the family of J M W Turner to establish the Turner Award for Watercolour as part of the Royal Academy
Summer Exhibition, and was himself the recipient of the award in 2011.
He has had two books published, 'Mike Chaplin's Expressive Watercolours' and 'The Complete Book of Drawing and Painting'. In 2010, he presented a DVD, The Challenge of Watercolour.
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is an English institution of painters working in watercolours...
, RE, FRSA (born 19 September 1943) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, known primarily for his work in the mediums of etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
and watercolour. He was guest art expert on the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
art programme Watercolour Challenge
Watercolour Challenge
Watercolour Challenge was a daytime television programme broadcast in the United Kingdom.It was presented by Hannah Gordon and directed by Tim Conrad and was shown on Channel 4 from 1998 until 2001....
with Hannah Gordon
Hannah Gordon
Hannah Cambell Grant Gordon is a Scottish actress who is well known in the United Kingdom for her television work, including Upstairs, Downstairs, Telford's Change, My Wife Next Door, Joint Account and an appearance in the final episode of One Foot in the Grave.-Early life:Gordon was born in...
.
Life
Mike was born at Little BarfordLittle Barford
Little Barford is a village and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the county boundary with Cambridgeshire, adjacent to the town of St Neots...
, to the south of St. Neots, in Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
(now part of Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
), and attended primary school in Sandy, Bedfordshire
Sandy, Bedfordshire
Sandy is a small market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is between Cambridge and Bedford, and on the A1 road from London to Edinburgh. The area is dominated by a range of hills known as the Sand Hills. The River Ivel runs through Sandy. The dedication of the Anglican church is to...
.
In the early 1950s, he moved with his parents and older sister to Harpenden
Harpenden
Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.The town's total population is just under 30,000.-Geography and administration:There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural....
, on the outskirts of St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. His love of art was already starting to develop.
He attended St Albans Boys' Grammar School (since renamed Verulam School
Verulam School
Verulam School is a state secondary school for boys in St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK. It was founded in 1938 and was originally named St Albans Boys' Modern School. The name was changed in the 1940s to St Albans Grammar School for Boys and subsequently, following its change of status to a...
) and was a contemporary there of Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone is an English pop singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the pop group The Zombies, and for his participation on various albums with The Alan Parsons Project.-Biography:...
and Chris White
Chris White (musician)
Chris White was the bass guitarist and songwriter with the 60s British Invasion band The Zombies.Although born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, he was brought up in Markyate where his parents owned a village shop...
, who later formed the pop group The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
. In fact, Mike was the guitarist in an earlier band, along with Colin Coke and Chris White, called the Markysparks, in reference to Markyate
Markyate
Markyate is a village and civil parish in north-west Hertfordshire close to the border with Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.-Geography:Having a number of former names, including Markyate Street and Mergyate, it has been a part of all three counties since it was first founded as the county...
, Chris White's home town.
Leaving school, and following a spell of working in the art department of his Alma Mater, Mike studied graphic design at Watford School of Art, gaining his National Diploma of Design. He followed this up with a postgraduate course in Printmaking at Brighton school of art, now The Faculty of Arts and Architecture, part of the University of Brighton
University of Brighton
The University of Brighton is an English university of the United Kingdom, with a community of over 23,000 students and 2,600 staff based on campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. It has one of the best teaching quality ratings in the UK and a strong research record, factors which...
.
After completing his studies, Mike moved with his wife Gay, a teacher and artist in her own right, to Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, where they are still based. They have one son, Nicholas (b.1977) and one daughter, Briony (b.1980).
In 1971, at the age of 28, Mike was elected as an associate of The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers
Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers
The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, until 1991 the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers is an art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers was a society of etchers established in London in 1880 and given a Royal Charter in 1888...
(at that time known as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers), becoming one of the youngest people ever to receive this accolade. He was later elected to full membership, subsequently serving as Honorary Secretary and Vice President, and is now a senior fellow of the society.
In 1997, having been an associate since 1993, Mike was elected to Full Member of the Royal Watercolour Society
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is an English institution of painters working in watercolours...
. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Career
Mike's first work as a professional artist was to create woodcutWoodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
pictures for the dust-jackets of books, while still a student. He became a professional artist in his own right at the end of 1960s, selling his first picture for seven Guineas. His earliest pieces in his own right were almost exclusively in the medium of etching. The influence of Mike's background in graphic design is very clear to see in these first pictures, which are highly stylised, bordering on abstract. Already at this stage, however, Mike's love of architecture, particularly industrial, was becoming apparent. (An early etching depicts the workings of a disused power station, a theme which Mike would revisit later in his career.)
Mike’s work, both in painting and printmaking, has made him one of Britain’s most well known painters, and he is represented in many public and private collections worldwide, including those of HM The Queen, HM The Queen Mother, ex-King Constantine of the Hellenes
Constantine II of Greece
|align=right|Constantine II was King of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1973, the sixth and last monarch of the Greek Royal Family....
, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
Prince Michael of Kent
Prince Michael of Kent is a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary, making him a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. He is also the first cousin once removed of Prince Phillip. Prince Michael occasionally carries out royal duties representing the Queen at some functions in Commonwealth realms outside...
, The Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, The Fitzwilliam Museum
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, and the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
(mural for the Boardroom).
Mike achieved great popularity as resident art expert on the hit Channel 4 programme Watercolour Challenge with Hannah Gordon. With 3 series and over 60 programmes, Mike reached an audience of over 1 1/2 million . He also filmed an hour-long follow-up video, which was made to accompany the series.
He was commissioned to produce a series of handling sheets of watercolour techniques for the Tate Gallery
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
to accompany the Thomas Girtin
Thomas Girtin
Thomas Girtin was an English painter and etcher. A friend and rival of J. M. W. Turner, Girtin played a key role in establishing watercolour as a reputable art form.-Biography:...
Exhibition (Summer 2002) and demonstrated painting techniques during the El Greco
El Greco
El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
Exhibition at the National Gallery
National gallery
The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...
(2004).
2003 saw Mike filming for BBC2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
Art History Unit, following in the steps of J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
and re-creating some of his paintings of the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
. In 2005 Mike again worked with the Tate Gallery recording audio notes on the Turner exhibits for the acclaimed Turner, Whistler & Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
exhibition.
In 2007 Mike was given the enormous privilege of using J M W Turner's pigments to be ground by him into watercolour. The paint was subsequently used by him for filming Turner's watercolour techniques for a permanent exhibition at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
in London.
Mike loves teaching adults of all ability levels on residential courses in Britain and abroad.
Mike worked with the family of J M W Turner to establish the Turner Award for Watercolour as part of the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
Summer Exhibition, and was himself the recipient of the award in 2011.
He has had two books published, 'Mike Chaplin's Expressive Watercolours' and 'The Complete Book of Drawing and Painting'. In 2010, he presented a DVD, The Challenge of Watercolour.