Thelma Chambers

EDUCATION

1976-1979 CFA Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art – Oxford University

1979-1982 MA –Fine Art Royal Academy Schools Piccadilly London

EMPLOYMENT

2012 - present
Freelance Fine Artist, currently in Residence at the Palace and Gardens of Monserrate, World Heritage Site, Portugal

1999-2012
NATIONAL FILM SCHOOL IRELAND
Institute of Art Design and Technology
Dublin Ireland

Course Director - B.A. Hons. Animation
Lecturer and Course Director - M.A./MSc. Digital Media
1989 –99 Ballyfermot Senior College , Dublin.
Position: Co-ordinator – Diploma in Animation Production Course
Tutor in Art and Animation Studies
FREELANCE
2007-2010 Broadcasting Commission of Ireland Sound and Vision Panel
2003-10 Photography and painting studio work

2009/2010 Produced Animated Dyslexia DVD for the Dyslexia Association Ireland
2008 Created and Directed the film NEON JIVE. Funded by the Hugh lane
Gallery and Dublin City Council. shown in the Hugh Lane Gallery .

1999-2000 Arts Facilitator Co-operation Ireland of cross border arts activities.


SELECTED PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE:

1988-1989 Governor to Chelsea School of Art, London
1987-1988 Community Arts teacher, Shepherds Bush Arts Centre
1988 Restoration Assistant, National Heritage Trust, Marylebone Church, London
1986-1988 Designed and presented Community art classes, Hammersmith and Fulham
1984-1988 Lecturer in Design and Applied Art, Inchbald School of Design, London

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS : IRELAND

1990 Limerick City Art Gallery. EVand A.Exhibition
1990 Mansion House, Dublin. Irish/Soviet Exhibition
1990 Wyvern Gallery, Dublin
1991 Bank of Ireland Exhibition Centre. Dublin.
1992 Limerick City Art Gallery. EVand A.Exhibition
1993 West Cork Arts Centre. Solo Show.
1991-95 Green on Red Gallery Dublin
1990-95 Dolan Moore Gallery, Athlone. Solo and Group Shows.
1997 Steven Lawlor Gallery, Kinsale.
2005 Grafton Gallery Group exhibition of painting Grafton St.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS : ENGLAND

1998-90 Thursday Gallery, Bath.
1985-88 Sue Rankin Gallery, Fulham, London. Solo and Group Shows.
1982 Battersea Arts Centre, London. Solo Show.
1982 Christies Inaugural Pick of the Graduates
1981 Oxford Playhouse, Solo Show.
1981 Reading Hexagon Theatre, Solo Show.
1981 Royal Academy of Arts, Stowell’s Trophy Awards.

AWARDS

1990 Dublin Corporation “City of Culture” Grant.
1991 Arts council of Ireland. Documentation Grant.
1992 Arts Council of Ireland. Exhibition Grant.
1994 Leicestershire Council Arts Grant
1979 Vandlheur, Sparks And Leverhume Scholarships to the Royal Academy Schools

RESIDENCIES, IRELAND
1990 Artist in Gallery for EVand A Limerick City Art Gallery.
1992 Artist in Gallery for EVand A Limerick City Art Gallery.
1993 Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annaghmakerrig. Co Monaghan

COLLECTIONS
Oxford University, St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
Leicestershire Collection, Beaumanor Hall, Leicestershire.
Royal Hospitals Collection, London.
Guinness Peat Aviation, Ireland.
Private collections


ABOUT THE PAINTINGS

Painted using the medium " Distempera" ( pure pigment and size) (plus gouache and casein at times ) on paper, it has a very matt quality and the colours are very fine. The pigments come from a variety of sources , metals, chemicals, the earth and stones. I buy mine from Corneillisons of London which is a cross between an old fashioned sweet shop and a very ancient chemist.

Distempera is related to tempera where the pigment is mixed with egg or some other binder,it is also likened to fresco painting where the pigment is painted into wet plaster. It is a water-based medium with a matte surface. It has been used throughout history, for example, by Renaissance painters Mantegna,Raphael and Leonardo and schools of, for the underpaintings or cartoons for frescos. Distempera was also occasionally used by Matisse and most beautifully by the French painter Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940)