Biography

Born Aldeburgh, Suffolk, 1945. Bryan was a student at Ipswich School of Art 1962-1963 and then progressed to Camberwell School of Art, London 1963-1966, Diploma in Art and design.

As a student, Bryan threw himself into the spirit of visual experimentation that was sweeping through the art schools at that time and soon branched out towards abstraction, exploring the interactions between colours and pictorial space, sometimes using shaped canvases. Important influences at this time were Paul Cezanne and George Braque. Later, he returned to more representational works, often incorporating cut out shapes and forms such as the seagull in Aldeburgh Beach. Other paintings such as Forest Pool, retained the flat surface of the canvas but explored abstracted landscape forms. Much of his work was inspired by travels around Britain and also abroad includung Russia, Italy, New Zealand and Australia.

After art school, he took up a position at Boswells School, Chelmsford, as Art Teacher and Head of Expressive Arts, 1966-2005.  

He was a member of Chelmsford Art Group from 2000 to 2008 and also Gainsborough’s House Print Workshop, Sudbury from 2005. Soon after joining Colchester Art Society in 2014, he was elected Chairman, a position he held until his death in 2025. He was also a long-standing member of Ipswich Art Society.

Bryan exhibited regularly with CAS and for many years joined in with the practical tasks of installing exhibitions at the Minories and other venues where the Society showed. He also exhibited with the Sudbourne Park Printmakers; the Haste Gallery, Ipswich; the Digby Gallery, Colchester; The John Russell Gallery, Ipswich; Beecroft Gallery, Southend; Gainsborough’s House Museum and Gallery; Snape Maltings Galleries; Halesworth Gallery; Babylon Gallery, Ely and with the Twelve Printmakers group at many venues.

Statement

He acquired his own Albion Press in 2009 and began to explore anew the techniques of lino printing, collagraphs and the use of both plywood and MDF board. He was particularly drawn to landscape and the expression of the forces of nature through light, colour and texture. He loved the art of engraving, the chance effects and the whole mechanical process. This was offset by an exploration of the more expressive characteristics of scratched and cut MDF board and the more recent development of using caustic soda to etch the surface of the lino block.

Edale Moor #2, is a four block print made by working directly onto the surface with oil-based inks, which acted as a resist during the etching process.

Erosion #4, evolved from a series of prints based on the weathered groynes at the mouth of the River Orwell.