Who is Christopher Bell in the world of art?

MA Slade University College London, BA 1st class Chelsea College of Art, PGCE Certificate in Education, Painting Scholarship to Yale University, Certificate in Counselling.
I am both a practising artist and a teacher. My background is in education, teaching art to young students, teachers and adults. I am an Advanced Skills Teacher and led the Development of Thinking and Learning Skills in East Sussex schools. My work as a painter is mostly two dimensional, incorporating a range of surfaces and media. Layering techniques together with historical references play a major role in the creation of my images. I have exhibited in the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, in the USA and Germany. My work is also in private collections in Australia, Switzerland, Italy and the UK.

Why did you decide to move to Barga and set up an art school here ?
I grew up in London with Italian neighbours and as a boy they used to take me to the Lakes in northan Italy . I enjoyed the food and the way of life and I guess it stuck with me. Coming to Barga happened by chance; once we had found it we loved being here so much that we stayed.

Your inspirations ?
Music, Architecture and construction. Light , mood and atmosphere. The art of Gerhard Richter and Len Tabner. The sea, cities and landscape. People of course and a good chat over a glass of wine!

Tell us about your experience with the Unitre Art class and if you found it a positive experience ?
Great fun for me and my Italian has improved too. The class were very responsive and worked enthusiasticlly on all projects. These were based on direct observation rather than photographs. The still life fish and flower oil paintings are superb. They showed great concentration, though unlike other classes I have taught this one was punctuated with singing “‘O sole mio.” Wonderful! Can’t wait to see them again.

Tag: unitre, Emanuele Biagioni, aspettando san rocco, chris bell