Clive Wilkins

Clive Wilkins
Wilkins discussing The Moustachio Quartet at The Hay Festival in 2018
Born	(1954-06-25) June 25, 1954 Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
Residence	Uppingham, Rutland
Nationality	British
Known for	Artist in Residence, Department of Psychology, The University of Cambridge, Member of The Magic Circle
Notable work	The Creatures in the Night, The Moustachio Quartet
Website	www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/clive-wilkins

Clive Wilkins (born 25 June 1954) is a British figurative artist.^[1][2] He is the author of The Moustachio Quartet,^[3][4][5] a series of novels and with Nicky Clayton is co-founder of The Captured Thought,^{[6][7][8][9][10]} an arts and science collaboration. He is the first Artist in Residence in the Department of Psychology at The University of Cambridge,^[11][12] a position held since 2012.

Education

Wilkins, born in Wolverhampton, Staffs, grew up and was educated in Corby, Northants and went onto the Tresham Institute, Kettering, (formerly Kettering Technical College) where he enrolled on the art foundation course at the age of 17. Amongst others, his tutors were David Imms, who taught painting and printmaking, and Norman Laing, who taught architecture and the history of art. He went on to graduate from DeMontfort University with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Graphic Design, before gaining an Art Teacher's Diploma (ATD) and Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGCE).

Teaching

Much of Wilkins' early teaching career was spent lecturing in Art, Graphic Design and the history of art in further education institutions, as well as at Uppingham School and at Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, Leicester. During this time he painted and exhibited extensively. In later years he has taught and lectured at The University of Cambridge, The Institute for Continuing Education, Madingley, The Welcome Trust, Judge Business School, China UK Development Centre (CUDC)^[13] and The Maxer Education Institute. He appeared on The Royal Society of Edinburgh's Quiz a Whizz^[14] series in 2015.

Paintings

Wilkins' paintings are in the Northern European tradition of oil painting, relying heavily on strong craft skills allied to a precise and studied drawing ability. His work has been influenced by artists of the early Flemish School, most notably Hans Memling and Jan Van Eyck.

Wilkins has exhibited in the The John Player Portrait Awards (1985, 1986, 1987) and in the The BP Portrait Awards (1994, 1995).

Wilkins has produced portraits of the British pop artist Sir Peter Blake RA and Sir Howard Hodgkin CH CBE amongst others, and was presented to HRH Princess Royal during a visit to the Royal Holloway University in 1994.

Wilkins' work appears in The Creatures in the Night,^[15] a published picture book sequence of 31 paintings, with accompanying text by the artist. The artwork, along with other works by Wilkins, formed a one-man show (2005) at Petley Fine Art Limited, Cork Street, London. He was described, in the foreword to the exhibition catalogue by Roy Petley as "one of the UK's leading figurative painters".

Gallery

• 
  The Masquerade Creatures
• 
  The Silverman
• 
  The Ambassadors
• 
  The Lacemaker

Exhibitions and conferences

Wilkins is a frequent contributor to conferences,^[16][17] festivals,^[18] academic journals, and magazines.^[19]

Wilkins paintings have been exhibited in a large number of venues including the following:

• Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London 1984^[20]
• National Portrait Gallery, London 1985
• Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London 1986^[20]
• Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London 1994^[21]
• National Portrait Gallery, London 1995

The Captured Thought

Wilkins, along with Nicky Clayton Professor of Comparative Cognition at The University of Cambridge, is co-founder of "The Captured Thought".^[22] Wilkins interests are in memory, perception and the subjective experience of thinking.^[23]

Their collaboration explores the nature of memory and perception with a particular interest in creativity.^[24]

Together they have appeared on BBC's Springwatch Unsprung,^[25] lectured to institutions across the UK including Tate Modern,^[26] Goldsmith, University of London,^[27] British Library,^[28] University College, London, The University of Cambridge (where Clive delivered the Zangwill Lecture in 2017^[29]), TEDx Oxford,^[30], Cambridge Science Festival,^[31] The Royal Society of Edinburgh,^[32] The University of Edinburgh,^[33] The Daedalus Trust.^[34] They have also appeared at The University of Oxford,^[35] The Sutton Trust, The Cheltenham Science Festival,^[36] The Barbican Centre,^[37] ASCUS, Edinburgh,^[38] and The Royal Institution.^[39][40] The Captured Thought has also lectured to universities in UK, Europe,^[41] the US,^[42] China,^[43] Australia, and New Zealand.^{[44][45][46][47][48][49]}

Wilkins is a member of The Magic Circle^[50] and utilizes his skills to illustrate aspects of perception and memory in The Captured Thought lectures.

Extracts from The Moustachio Quartet novels, exploring specific aspects of memory, perception and consciousness, are used to illustrate The Captured Thought lecture series, as are examples of Wilkins' paintings.

The Captured Thought has published academic papers and articles, including the following:

• After Nyne,^[51]
• Occam's Razor^[10]
• The Royal Society Interface,^[52]
• Current Biology,^[53]
• The Psychologist Magazine^[54]
• The Psychologist Magazine 'Big Picture'^[55][56]
• Imagination~The Secret Landscape,^[57]
• The Seven Myths of Memory.^[58]

Awards and honours

Wilkins won joint second prize in the Hunting Art Awards with Tom Phillips in 1988.

References

External links

• The Captured Thought
• Painting of Sir Howard Hodgkin