Clifford William Blakey
Born in 1957 in Newcastle Upon Tyne Cliff Blakey graduated
in 1980 with a BA (Hons) Fine Art, Newcastle University and
again in1986 with Master of Fine Art, Newcastle University,
studying under his professor Norman Adams RA. During his M.F.A.
course he worked as an exhibitions assistant at the Hatton Gallery.
He was Conference Organiser for New Contemporaries 1986, Newcastle
and organised exhibitions on a weekly basis at The Long Gallery,
Newcastle upon Tyne, having previously gained experience Sunderland
Museum and Art Gallery
as an Exhibitions Assistant.
After a short period of solo shows in 1986 he moved to Manchester
to become an Arts Development Officer for MASA and SIGMA Artists
Groups. He returned to the North East in 1988 to work for Index
Magazine (the then official listings magazine for the north
of England) as Editor and Designer. In 1990 he became a freelance
graphic designer setting up his company Ikon Creative Design
Studio providing graphics to arts organisations and businesses
in the North East region of England.
Resuming his desire to exhibit Cliff Blakey began showing at
the British Watercolour Socitey in 1997 and he won several awards
with the Society - for example the Brian Mosley Memorial Award
in the Spring of 1999 and the Bockingford Watercolur Prize in
2006. In 2000 Cliff was made an Associate of the British Watercolour
Society and 2003 he was made a full Member of the Society. In
2006 he was made a life Fellow of the International Guild of
Artists.
Cliff has lived and worked in Whitley Bay for over 20 years
and exhibits in the North East of England, Yorkshire and Scotland.
