Diane Ibbotson: studio-visit

Robin Field

Born 1946, in Lancashire, England, Diane Ibbotson studied at Reading University from 1964-68 before going to the Royal Academy Schools.  In 1971 she taught at Blackpool College of Art and from 1974-81 she taught at Falmouth School of Art.

Ibbotson has had a number of exhibitions and has been included in Six British Realist Artists at Sunderland in 1974, Real Life at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool in 1977 and A Century of Art in Newlyn 1889-1989 held at Newlyn Art Gallery in 1989.

Ibbotson uses a rule-governed process of painting, based on close observation and meticulous recording.  She works slowly, finishing one work before starting another.  Edward Lucie Smith has written:

'her work is an example of the way ... an apparently impersonal technique and choice of subject ... (are suffused) ... with entirely personal meanings.  Ibbotson's paintings are in the strict sense autobiographical - we are asked to enter fully into the way a particular moment has been experienced, and the minute elaboration of detail is intended chiefly as a proof of authenticity.'

In 2008 she won the Royal Academy of Arts newcomers prize.