Himley Hall Art: a lovely exhibition pays homage to a midlands painter and musician who is no longer with us.

Express & Star

Himley Hall has a fantastic amount of art on display at any one time in there exhibition halls. Be we take a closer look at the work of Lez Bramwell and the exhibition paying tribute to him.

Transcript

00:00An exhibition of the work by Les Bramwell here at Imly Hall. Les was a professional

00:08painter of traditional oils and watercolour, active in the 70s and the 80s. Many of his

00:13paintings depict West Corner where he was based for several years. In the 80s Les focused

00:19on smaller watercolour paintings rather than easels, as he was restricted due to his old

00:25army injuries that were worsening. He was also a very successful art tutor and a lecturer

00:30and also wrote stories, plays, poems and songs. He retired and returned to his home in the

00:36Midlands in 1998, joining his son Stephen. He began writing a musical play about Vincent

00:42and different artists and after 17 years it was then completed by his son Stephen who

00:49produced an original studio cast album. Les also returned to performing on stage as an

00:54actor and singer in various plays and shows. He formed his four-piece group of singers

01:03called Justice which entertained various venues for charities. In the early 50s Les was a

01:08professional as part of a top-billed magic and variety show touring Empire Theatres and

01:14others in England, Wales and Scotland, but that was disrupted often by army recalls of

01:19two weeks at a time. Marrying in 1955 he went on to other types of work, painting just

01:26in his spare time until he was able to become a professional by moving to Cornwall in the

01:3070s. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2010, artwork and performing arts were increasingly

01:37difficult except for a few small sketches and it ceased around 2015 when he also became

01:43housebound unless he was taken out with a wheelchair. Les was born in 1930 and passed

01:49away in 2022 but leaves a legacy of colourful work behind him.

01:54Hello Michael, you've been admiring the artwork?

01:59I have indeed, yes.

02:00Are you a regular visitor to Himley Hall then?

02:03I come fairly often, yes.

02:06And it's really, it's an art gallery now isn't it? There's so much artwork on display here.

02:10It's an excellent display, huge variety of work and all local people as far as I know.

02:17What do you think of Mr Bramwell's work that we're just featuring at the minute in the

02:21paper that we can see here? It's lovely isn't it? It's quite a distinctive kind of tonal

02:28palette he's got, kind of that grey-green, you know what I mean?

02:32Lovely.

02:33Yeah.

02:34So what do you normally do, you have a walk and then stop off for a cup of tea, admire

02:37the art?

02:38Yes, I do.

02:39Yeah, it's all good isn't it, it's all good.

02:41Absolutely.

02:42And where do you live sir, are you local?

02:43I live in Kingsbring.

02:44Yeah, yeah.

02:45Born and bred in Dudley though.

02:46Yeah, in the heart of the black country.

02:48But I live in, yes, Poshpot now.

02:51Oh yeah, you've emigrated, you've upgraded.

02:54Absolutely.

02:55Well we'll let you continue enjoying the artwork here, thank you sir.

02:58Okay, you're welcome.

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