David Fisher (artist)

From 1961–1966 he served an apprenticeship as a signwriter and decorator for F.Speed and Sons in Midsomer Norton.[http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/curriculumvitae.html ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120225904/http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/curriculumvitae.html |date=20 November 2008 }} From 1966–1970 he attended the West of England College of Art,{{cite web |url=http://www.oldbakeryartists.co.uk/dfisher1.htm |title=David Fisher |publisher=Old Bakery Artists |accessdate=21 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303064744/http://www.oldbakeryartists.co.uk/dfisher1.htm |archivedate=3 March 2012}} now the School of Creative Arts, Bristol. He then went self-employed as a freelance artist and designer.

After leaving West of England College of Art he started a business at his home at the Hole in the Wall, Church Square, Midsomer Norton, painting pictorial pub signs for Courage Brewery and Butcombe Brewery. In this role he designed and created signs for pubs in Somerset, Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire and South Wales. He completed almost 400 signs in a fifteen-year period.

In the 1980s he commenced a ten-year period producing large scale murals for Trusthouse Forte's Welcome Break service areas on the country's motorway network. Fourteen were created, some measuring over sixty feet in length and eight feet high, setting a decorative theme for each site depending on its location. Some depicted local historical events, others recorded local battles, while some just informed travellers of attractions in that part of the country. These were placed in the following service station locations:{{cite web|url=http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/achievements.html |accessdate=6 February 2010 |title= Murals and Commercial Commissions |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025095053/http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/achievements.html |archivedate=25 October 2009 }}

• Sedgemoor services (1987)
• Copdock services (1987)
• Pease Pottage services (1988)
• Newport Pagnell services (1988)
• Woodall services (1988)
• Michaelwood services (1991)
• Membury services (1991)
• Hartshead Moor services (1991)
• Abington services (1992)
• Gretna Green services (1993)
• Welcome Break-owned facilities at Heathrow Terminal 4 and Dover Eastern Port (1993 and 1990/1993).

During this period, he also undertook a number of commissions, including working for RoadChef, Royal Saudi Air Force, The Personalised Plates website, Qaboos bin Said al Said, the Sultan of Oman, National Giro and the Property Services Agency.

After working for 25 years in the corporate field, he moved towards more personal choices for his art, specialising in detailed landscapes, seascapes and portraits in both oil and watercolour.{{cite web |url=http://www.first-view.co.uk/fisher.htm |title=Fisher |publisher=First-view.co.uk |accessdate=21 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303064744/http://www.first-view.co.uk/fisher.htm |archivedate=3 March 2012}}

File:Holbornemuseum.jpg]]

In 2008 he won the Holburne Museum of Art's biennial portrait competition for Dead Man Posing, a portrait of Philip Ledbury from Frome, an artist who had been diagnosed with leukaemia. The prize was a commission of £5,000 for a portrait to be added to the Holburne's collection of portraiture. The panel of judges included the author Victoria Glendinning, John Leighton, Director of the National Galleries of Scotland and the artist Humphrey Ocean RA. They presented the award to him at a ceremony on 17 October.{{cite web|author=Celsius.eu.com |url=http://www.chapelrowgallery.co.uk/theholburneportr.html |title=:: The Holburne Portrait Prize |publisher=Chapelrowgallery.co.uk |date=28 October 2008 |accessdate=21 October 2011}}

He belonged to the Old Bakery Artists group that has been meeting monthly in Radstock{{cite web |url=http://www.oldbakeryartists.co.uk/contactus1.htm |title=Contact Us |publisher=Old Bakery Artists |accessdate=21 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128013742/http://www.oldbakeryartists.co.uk/contactus1.htm |archivedate=28 January 2012}} since 2000.{{cite web |url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Artists-wards-display/article-453369-detail/article.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505080542/http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Artists-wards-display/article-453369-detail/article.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2013 |title=Artists take to the wards for display |publisher=This is Somerset |date=5 November 2008 |accessdate=21 October 2011 }} He died of cancer on 21 March 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Midsomer-Norton-artist-David-Fisher-dies-aged-66/story-18544331-detail/story.html#axzz2Vh3Xw0MO |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130706063913/http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Midsomer-Norton-artist-David-Fisher-dies-aged-66/story-18544331-detail/story.html%23axzz2Vh3Xw0MO |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-07-06 |title=Midsomer Norton artist David Fisher dies aged 66 |publisher=This is Somerset |date=2013-03-28 |accessdate=2013-06-09 }}

File:Royal West of England Academy.jpg

• Royal West of England Academy Autumn Exhibition, 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art51536 |title=155th Autumn Exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy |publisher=Culture24 |date=12 December 2007 |accessdate=21 October 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/ |title=David Fisher – Winner of the 2008 Holbourne Portrait Prize |publisher=Davidfisherartist.co.uk |accessdate=21 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040612205523/http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/ |archivedate=12 June 2004}}
• Royal United Hospital, 2009.
• Bel-Ami Gallery, Honiton, Devon, 2008.
• The Gallery, Stourhead, 2010.
• Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 2008.
• Royal Society of Portrait Painters, annual exhibition, the Mall Galleries, Carlton House Terrace, London, 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/index.html |accessdate=6 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026055557/http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/index.html |archivedate=26 October 2009 |title=David Fisher - Winner of the 2008 Holburne Museum Prize - Classic English fine art - Giclée prints and originals }}
• Wells and Mendip Museum, 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Museum-hosts-Old-Bakery-Artists/article-771892-detail/article.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505081729/http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Museum-hosts-Old-Bakery-Artists/article-771892-detail/article.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2013 |title=Museum hosts the Old Bakery Artists |publisher=This is Somerset |date=15 March 2009 |accessdate=21 October 2011 }}
• Rook Lane Chapel, Frome, 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Portrait-Philip-judged-best/article-416415-detail/article.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505093220/http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Portrait-Philip-judged-best/article-416415-detail/article.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2013 |title=Portrait of Philip is judged the best |publisher=This is Somerset |date=21 October 2008 |accessdate=21 October 2011 }}

• Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers.[http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/clients.html ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026102830/http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/clients.html |date=26 October 2009 }}
• Associate of the Institute of British Decorators and Interior Designers (later incorporated into the Chartered Society of Designers).
• Selected for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibition.

• Shortlisted for the Daily Mail "Not the Turner Prize" award, 2003.
• Eight times winner of 'The Most Popular Picture in the Show' at the Royal Bath & West of England Society's annual show.
• Winner of the 2008 Holburne Portrait Prize for Dead Man Posing. He won a £5,000 commission to paint a portrait for the Museum's collection from the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath, Somerset.{{cite web|url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/holburne/exhibit/portrait-prizewinner08.html |title=Home | The Holburne | Art Museum |publisher=Bath |accessdate=21 October 2011}}
• Winner of the Royal West of England Academy Award for his Reflections (oil on board 74 cm x 100 cm) 2007.

His work has frequently been covered by local newspapers and magazines in Bath, Somerset{{cite web |url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Dying-artist-hold-farewell-exhibition/article-885275-detail/article.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912021402/http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Dying-artist-hold-farewell-exhibition/article-885275-detail/article.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 September 2012 |title=| | This is, Ledbury, Philip, art, exhibition, Shepton, Frome |publisher=This is Somerset |date=8 April 2009 |accessdate=21 October 2011 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Terminally-ill-artist-holds-farewell-exhibition/article-865196-detail/article.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505065214/http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/guardian/news/Terminally-ill-artist-holds-farewell-exhibition/article-865196-detail/article.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2013 |title=| | This is |publisher=This is Somerset |date=1 April 2009 |accessdate=21 October 2011 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/news.html |accessdate=6 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120211835/http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/news.html |archivedate=20 November 2008 |title=David Fisher - Somerset Art - News & Media }} and elsewhere,{{cite web|url=http://www.thisisdorset.co.uk/fosseway/news/Watch-Space/article-650120-detail/article.html |title=Watch This Space |publisher=This is Dorset |date=30 January 2009 |accessdate=21 October 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://events.cravenherald.co.uk/events/disp.asp?i=249396 |title=The Craven Herald: News from Skipton and the Dales and surrounding areas |publisher=Events.cravenherald.co.uk |accessdate=21 October 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/educationplus/home/West-painter-scoops-prestigious-portrait-prize/article-413193-detail/article.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505113638/http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/educationplus/home/West-painter-scoops-prestigious-portrait-prize/article-413193-detail/article.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2013 |title=West painter scoops prestigious portrait prize|Western Daily Press|News |publisher=This is Bristol |date=21 October 2008 |accessdate=21 October 2011 }} as well as by the BBC{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7684329.stm |title=UK | England | Somerset | Poignant portrait wins art prize |publisher=BBC News |date=23 October 2008 |accessdate=21 October 2011}} and arts media.{{cite web|author=Ignacio Villarreal |url=http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=26415 |title=The Holburne Portrait Prize Finalists on View at Holburne Museum of Art |publisher=Artdaily.com |date=1 October 2008 |accessdate=21 October 2011}}

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• https://web.archive.org/web/20040612205523/http://www.davidfisherartist.co.uk/

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Category:People from Midsomer Norton

Category:English designers

Category:20th-century English painters

Category:English male painters

Category:21st-century English painters

Category:21st-century English male artists

Category:English muralists

Category:Alumni of the University of the West of England, Bristol

Category:Artists from Somerset

Category:1946 births

Category:2013 deaths

Category:20th-century English male artists