My friend Vince Tutton, who has died 72, was a prolific artist and inspiring teacher.
He was born into a Welsh mining community in the Rhondda valley town of Ferndale, son of Ernest, a coal miner, and Edna, a cook in a local hospital. Vince’s early work reflected the harsh lives of the miners and the landscape in which they lived.
He became interested in art at an early age, and his talent caught the eye of Elwyn Thomas, the art master at Ferndale grammar school (“Thomas Art”, as he was known locally ). Thomas entered Vince’s work into the annual St David’s Western Mail art competition, and in 1961 he won the first prize painting award, repeating the feat the following year. On the strength of this, he went to art school in 1962, the same year that he married Irene Pritchard.
Following studies at Cardiff, Newport and Leeds colleges of art, Vince received three successive Italian government scholarships, which began his long and fruitful personal and creative association with Tuscany. Travelling to Florence with a young family and existing only on a small grant required ingenuity. Vince acquired an old post office van which he and an uncle refurbished complete with bunk beds for the children, and they all set off from the Rhondda to Italy. Surrounded by the magnificence of Florence, Vince refined his great skill as a draughtsman.
Living in Yorkshire in the 1960s and 70s, he taught at the Community Arts Centre, Bracken Hill, and later Wakefield Art College. In 1983, Vince and his family relocated to the Lizard in Cornwall, where he lived for the rest of his life (with a brief interlude in Miami in the mid-80s when he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship), and where he was able to devote himself completely to his work.
Throughout his career as a painter, Vince kept journals, the contents of which (written and visual) became a way of expressing his thoughts and feelings. These manifested themselves into a series of abstract works. These series became “chapters” and the chapters became “books”, changing subtly in colour and form as the “story” unfolded. This work is quiet, contemplative and strong. It draws you in.
His honest, conscientious and sensitive approach led to Vince being asked to teach in many locations, including the Centro d’Art Verrocchio in Casole Val d’Elsa in Tuscany. He forged strong links with the village which became an integral part of his work. His exhibition in Pisa in 2003 showed his development from the early beginnings in the Rhondda to the more recent abstract work.
A modest, quiet and generous man, Vince championed and encouraged many other artists, giving unstintingly of his time, knowledge and experience. His most recent collaboration, with Falmouth Art Gallery, was for an exhibition of artists past and present from the Lizard.
Vince is survived by Irene, and by their two daughters, Jayne and Karen.
