Roy North

Roy North was born in West Riding of Yorkshire U.K. in 1946. The son of a coal miner, he was fortunate in that his talent was recognised at secondary modern school and obtained a scholarship to Barnsley Art School at the age of 14.


Roy has never had any backing and has had to pursue other occupations e.g. antique restoration, film and special effects work to support his love of painting. Roy continues to work exploring the effects of light and movement.His experiments with unorthodox shapes for his paintings, incorporating the development of his own interior format to define enclosed space with trompe loeil results.

In 1961 Roy won a Scholarship to the Barnsley School of Art before attending the Hammersmith/Chelsea College of Art in London, studied under Percy Brown, Ruskin Spear, Lesley Curtis and Joe Magill, attaining a London Certificate in Painting in 1967.
Roy has exhibited in many London exhibitions including The Spirit of London Exhibition in the 1980s receiving a commendation for his work. He also received the Percy Brown Award at the West London Open 1981 and was elected to the Selection Committee. He has also exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition as well as having annual Open Studio weeks at his studio in London as part of the ACAVA Group of artists. A selection of his paintings being purchased by the Hammersmith Hospital for permanent show. Roy has been commissioned to execute external and internal murals for various public bodies throughout London.
Roy moved from London to West Sussex in 1988 taking up part time teaching whilst continuing to paint, exhibiting locally and nationally. He traveled extensively during the 1990s visiting Museums and Art galleries throughout the world, compiling new ideas for future works.
Roy now lives and works from his studio in Ashwater, North West Devon. In 2005 he took part in th...