Biography
Fred Watson (b. Dunston, near Gateshead, County Durham, UK 1937) studied at King’s College, Durham University. He gained a Christie Memorial Prize and Hatton Scholarship. Watson appeared in many group shows in Britain, including Northern Sculptors, at Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead; Moira Kelly Fine Art Gallery, London 1981 - where the art critic William Packer acquired Still Life with Books and Bottles (1982) for the Contemporary Art Society, as its elected buyer, and which was presented to Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum in 1986; Drawing in Air, Sunderland Arts Centre and tour, 1983-4; Stoneworks, Welsh Sculpture Trust, 1988; and The Northern Lights, Newcastle Group show with tour, DLI Museum & Arts Centre, Durham, 1990. Later solo shows included at Moira Kelly, 1980; Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, 1985; and RIBA Sculpture Court, London, 1989. Watson’s work gives a classical dignity to everyday objects; granite being a favourite material. He has received many public and private commissions including: Inside-out, Tranwell Unit, Courtyard Within, Windy Nook Road, Gateshead, 1995, and Way-markers and Seat, Riverside South, Chester-le-Street, 1996. He has been a member of Tynedale Artists’ Network and lived at Birtly, near Hexham, Northumberland.
