A RETIRED art teacher who surprised himself by finally following his dreams to make his own art and hold an exhibition is doing so at the Old Fire Station Gallery.
Andrew Southwick, from Brackley in Northamptonshire, alias Kaspa, is showing his large paintings, which are heavily influenced by cubism, at his first solo exhibition, until Tuesday.
The 60-year-old, who grew up in Birmingham, says: “I was an art, technology and games teacher for 30-odd years at Beachborough Prep School, near Stowe, and never had a chance to do my own artwork, I was just too busy, and I always had a little plan.
“My mum was an artist, she was a teacher as well and when she retired she did artwork and she did these little exhibitions and I always thought one day it would be nice to have my own little exhibition, so it was sort of in the back of my mind, but I never thought it would happen.
“But just before I retired, during covid, I was basically working part time and, with the kids online and me painting in the background, I set up an art studio. I was doing a big canvas and kids were doing their work in a similar sort of style. Then, when I retired I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll do another big canvas’.”
Andrew, who is married to fellow art teacher Lisa and has a daughter who is studying music at Manchester University, is inspired by his travels and his interest in history, particularly the Second World War.
He painted The Matterhorn after going on skiing holidays in Italy and Switzerland with his daughter.
The artist depicts buildings from different angles to give an impression of movement and to give the viewer more information than they would otherwise see. He uses water-based oil paints to create his pieces and goes by the artist name of “Kaspa”.
Andrew says: “My best mate, Kyle Sumner, is South African and 30 years ago, when he was also a teacher at the same school, we decided we’d set up a little business to try and make a bit more money, selling glowsticks.
“In those days, teachers had the summer holidays, nowadays you have to work halfway through them. So, you’d finish work and you’d go, ‘Ooh, I’ve got summer holidays, what shall we do?’ So, we thought, ‘Let’s sell some glowsticks’ and we sat in the pub for several hours, trying to think of a name for this company, and we eventually decided we’d use our initials.
“It’s sort of become a standing joke, it took us an hour and a half to come up with ‘Kaspa’, which are his initials, KAS, and mine, APS.
“Kyle’s middle name is Andrew, and my middle name is Paul.
“The business didn’t last long, it was just a bit of fun, and because he was always interested in the bit of artwork that I did, which was mainly for the kids at school, he asked me to do a drawing of Table Mountain, because he was going back to South Africa.
“I thought I’d do a large painting instead, rather than present him with a little drawing and that’s how it started originally. He has always encouraged me. He’s now got two of my paintings and a drawing in his lounge.”
Andrew exhibited in some collaborative exhibitions in Bicester in 2021 and 2022, but Henley will be his first solo show.
He says: “I actually spent a year on my travels, going around the country, looking at places and trying to find a venue, because my paintings are quite large, the smallest is 120cm x 120cm.
“There are 12 of them now, so trying to find somewhere with the space to display them that didn’t cost thousands of pounds has been quite tricky.
“Someone said they had galleries in Henley so I’ve had a trip to Henley and came across the Old Fire Station Gallery, spoke to someone in there, loved the white walls and just thought it was just a perfect setting really.
“I actually organise walks for the retired staff from the school and we’ve had a few walks around Henley, down near the Thames.”
• Andrew Southwick will be exhibiting his work at the Old Fire Station Gallery in Upper Market Street, Henley, until Tuesday, May 21, from 10am to 4pm daily. For more information, visit www.henleytowncouncil.gov.uk/old
-fire-station-gallery-exhibitions
