{{Short description|Welsh artist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox artist | name = Iwan Bala | image = Iwan Bala and John Cale.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Iwan Bala (left) with John Cale in Ammanford (2009) | birth_name = Richard Iwan Ellis Roberts | birth_date = May 1956 | birth_place = Sarnau, Merionethshire, Wales | death_date = | death_place = | field = Painting / Drawing / 3D Assemblages / Art Literature | training = the University of Wales Institute Cardiff<br /> Howard Gardens College of Art, Cardiff<br />University of Aberystwyth | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = Gold Medal in fine art, National Eisteddfod of Wales<br /> Glyndŵr Award. }}

'''Iwan Bala''' (born '''Richard Iwan Ellis Roberts''', May 1956) is a Welsh artist.

==Early life and education== Iwan Bala was born Richard Iwan Ellis Roberts<ref>{{cite web|title=Index/List of Artists in Wales|url=http://artinwales.250x.com/mainindex.htm|website=Art in Wales|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906081149/http://artinwales.250x.com/mainindex.htm|archivedate=6 September 2011}}</ref> in born May 1956 in Sarnau, Merionethshire, near Bala.<ref name="BBC Northwest">[https://web.archive.org/web/20030416003604/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/halloffame/arts/iwanbala.shtml Iwan Bala profile], BBC Wales North west, last updated September 2009.</ref> He was raised in Gwyddelwern, near Corwen, Denbighshire. Bala is Welsh-speaking.

He attended Ysgol y Berwyn comprehensive school in Bala. He studied geography and politics at the University of Aberystwyth from 1974, then from 1975 until 1977 he studied fine art at Cardiff College of Art. He gained an MA in fine art from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff in 1993.<ref name=Gomer>{{cite web | title=Iwan Bala| series= Cymraeg bywgraffiadau awdur | website=gomer.co.uk | url=http://www.gomer.co.uk/gomer/cy/gomer.ViewAuthor/authorBio/1292 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009085730/http://www.gomer.co.uk/gomer/cy/gomer.ViewAuthor/authorBio/1292 | archive-date=9 October 2009 | url-status=dead | language=cy | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref><ref name=CV>[http://www.iwanbala.com/CVitae.html Curriculum Vitae] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130126191358/http://www.iwanbala.com/CVitae.html |date=26 January 2013 }}, Iwanbala.com</ref>

==Career and practice== In 1990 Bala became artist-in-residence at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.<ref name=trinity/><ref name=Bydoliw>[http://www.s4c.co.uk/bydoliw/e_iwanbala.shtml Iwan Bala], 'Byd o Liw', S4C, 2006.</ref> In 1993 he presented the S4C arts programme {{Language with name/for|cy|Delweddau Zimbabwe|Zimbabwe Images}}.<ref name=Bydoliw />

From 2007 to 2015 Bala was senior lecturer at the School of Creative Arts and Humanities at University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Carmarthen.<ref name=Biog>[http://www.iwanbala.com/english.html Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230143744/http://www.iwanbala.com/english.html |date=30 December 2011 }}, Iwanbala.com</ref><ref name=trinity>{{cite web | title=Iwan Bala joins academic staff|date= 15 Jan 2001 | website=University of Wales Trinity Saint David | url=http://www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk/en/news/newsarchives/trinityuniversitycollege/name,1029,en.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725130316/http://www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk/en/news/newsarchives/trinityuniversitycollege/name,1029,en.html | archive-date=25 July 2013 | url-status=dead | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref>

Bala creates his art-work using memorised and imagined maps and landscapes, commenting on Welsh culture.<ref name=Biog />

He is a founder member of The Artists' Project, an international group led by artists that organised art events in New York City, Poland, Spain, Israel, and Wales.<ref name=wai>{{cite web | title=Euro-Celtic Visual Art Exhibition | website=Wales Arts International | url=http://wai.org.uk/projects/1574?done=true | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050140/http://wai.org.uk/projects/1574?done=true | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> He was a member of the Ysbryd/Spirit group of painters, formed by John Uzzell Edwards.<ref name=wai/><ref name=official2011>{{cite web | title=Home | website=Iwan Bala | url=http://www.iwanbala.com/english.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230143744/http://www.iwanbala.com/english.html | archive-date=30 December 2011 | url-status=dead | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref>

==Recognition and awards== Bala has won many prizes, including the Gold Medal in Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1997 (and a prize winner in 1988, 1989 and 1993). He won the Glyndŵr Award in 1998, "for outstanding contributions to the arts in Wales".<ref name="BBC Northwest" />

He has also been recipient of grants from the Arts Council of Wales, including a travel grant to visit Zimbabwe in 1990, research funding for "Certain Welsh Artists", a collection of essays published by Seren Books in 1999 and a Career Development Grant (printmaking) 2001. He was also awarded a Wales Art International travel grant to Galicia in 2004 and Brittany in 2007.<ref name=CV />

==Exhibitions== In 2001 and again in 2008, Bala's work was exhibited in the Euro-Celtic Visual Art Exhibition mounted by Wales Arts International, along with fellow Ysbryd / Spirit member, John Uzzell Edwards.<ref name=wai/>

In 2012 Bala collaborated with poet, and fellow lecturer at Trinity Saint David's, Menna Elfyn, for an exhibition called ''Field-notes''.<ref>{{cite web | last=March | first=Polly | title=an exhibition by Iwan Bala and Menna Elfyn | website=bbc.co.uk | date=28 Dec 2011| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/posts/fieldnotes_exhibition_iwan_bala_menna_elfyn | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215234927/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/posts/fieldnotes_exhibition_iwan_bala_menna_elfyn | archive-date=15 December 2013 | url-status=dead | access-date=17 November 2025}}</ref> ==Collections== Bala's work is held in many public and private collections, including the National Museum Wales (Derek Williams Trust), the Museum of Modern Art Wales, the Imperial War Museum, the Contemporary Art Society for Wales, Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Y Gaer, A Fundacion Casa Museo "A Solaina" de Pilono, Galicia, The University of Glamorgan and The National Library of Wales.<ref name="BBC Northwest" /><ref name=Biog />

==Publications== * ''Intimate Portraits'', 1995 (Seren)<ref name=Seren>[http://www.serenbooks.com/author/iwan-bala Iwan Bala: Books by this author], Seren Books.</ref> * ''Welsh Art Goes International'', 1996 (''Planet'') * ''Welsh Painters Talking'', 1997 (Seren)<ref name=Seren /> * ''Appropriate Behaviour'', 1997 (Planet) * {{Language with name/for|cy|Darllen Delweddau|links=no|''Reading Images''}}), 2000 (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch)<ref name=Gomer /> * ''Certain Welsh Artists'', 1999 (Seren)<ref name=Seren /> * ''here+now'', 2004 (Seren)<ref name=Seren /> * ''Groundbreaking – The Artist in the Changing Landscape'', 2005 (Seren)<ref name=Seren /> * {{Language with name/for|cy|Hon, Ynys y Galon|links=no|''This, Island of the Heart''}}), 2007 (Gwasg Gomer)<ref name=Gomer />

==References== <references/>

==External links== * {{Art UK bio}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bala, Iwan}} Category:1956 births Category:20th-century Welsh painters Category:20th-century Welsh male artists Category:21st-century Welsh painters Category:21st-century Welsh male artists Category:Living people Category:Gwyddelwern Category:Alumni of Cardiff School of Art and Design Category:Alumni of Aberystwyth University Category:Welsh Eisteddfod Gold Medal winners Category:Welsh male painters Category:People from Denbighshire