Y GRÅ´P CYMREIG THE WELSH GROUP
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Maggie James
Maggie James studied Fine Art at Newcastle Poly and the Royal College of Art, Painting School, 1979 - 1982 where she was awarded the John Minton Scholarship.
Early exhibitions include 1982 JP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London and in 1987 Artists who studied with Peter de Francia, Camden Arts Centre, London. On return to Wales Maggie was elected to the 56 Group Wales, exhibitions included 1985 ‘Life and Landscape from Scotland and Wales’ Newport Art Gallery and touring exhibitions to Czechoslovakia in 1986 and 1991. Jenny Spencer Davies commissioned ‘Inscape’ 1990 Oriel Cardiff, curated by David Briers, with Sue Williams and Deborah Jones, which resulted in ACW funding to create new work, the same year she was joint prize-winner at the National Eisteddfod of Wales 1990. In 1994 as a result of a Setting Up grant from ACW, Maggie created a series of work - shown at The Bridge Gallery USW and at Aberystwyth Art Centre ‘Interior View’ 1997 with Ian Westacott. In early 2000 Maggie was invited to show work at 6 Chapel Row, Bath and ’New Artists’ Martin Tinney Gallery 2003, followed by numerous group shows at the Martin Tinney Gallery.
Between 2007 and 2018 Wales Arts International opened up many opportunities for Maggie to develop her work, especially in relation to her participation in Open Books, a project she was invited to join in 2012. Open Books: artists and the Chinese folding book, Sanshang Museum of Contemporary Art, Hangzhou, China 2013.
Painter Emrys Williams invited Maggie to take part in Change at Crewe 2014 in his studio / gallery in Llandudno along with Rachel Busby, Gordon Dalton, Jeffrey Dennis, Neil McNally, Phil Nicol, and Andreas Rüthi. Another exhibition in North Wales followed ‘By Invitation’, Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy 2016
In 2016 Maggie Co-curated Open Books. À Livre Ouvert, LAC, Ottawa, Canada and has subsequently travelled to China in 2017 and 2018 to meet Chinese colleagues. In 2019 Paper Exchange will take place at BayArt and China Academy of Art in Hangzhou as a result of these journeys.
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Awards
2020 ACW Create Award - Curator/Artist. OpenBooksOnline - OpenBooks and The GoDown KL
2019 Creative Wales Ambassador Open Books /Paper Exchange Wales China
Born and lives: Cardiff, Wales.
Education:
Newcastle Polytechnic
Royal College of Art, London
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Solo Exhibitions
2012 ‘Peripheral Spaces’ St Davids Hall
2002 Maggie James Small Paintings Six Chapel Row, Bath
1994 ‘Roof Somersaults’ Bridge Gallery University of Glamorgan
1989 ‘Interiors’ Andrew Knight Gallery, Cardiff
1987 ‘Interiors’ 39 Steps Gallery, London
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Two & three people exhibitions
2003 ‘New Artists’, Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff
1997 ‘Interior View’ Aberystwyth Art Centre
1990 ‘Inscape’, James Jones and Williams Commissioned by ACW, Oriel, Cardiff
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 LLE Gallery pop up exhibition and zine event Kingsgate projects, London

2023 PAX, MOMA Machynlleth
2022 Y Silff, Canfas, Cardigan
2022 Welsh Group Turner House
2022 Across Two Valleys, Red House, Merthyr Tydfil
2022 Celebration ofContemporary Welsh Painting, Found Gallery, Brecon
2021 Thoughts on Paper Oriel Y Bont, USW
2021 OpenBooksOnline The GoDown, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2021 Welsh Group at Art Central & Attic Gallery Swansea
2020 Fortieth Anniversary of Butetown Artists Studios
2020 A View from the Edge Contemporary landscapes in the Digital Age. MADE
2019 The Welsh Group at 70 Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy
2019 Philip Nicol. Maggie James The Studio Llandudno
2019 National Eisteddfod of Wales Conwy
2019 Paper Exchange BayArt, Cardiff (Co –curator)
2019 Open Books Art Central, Barry
2018 ‘Fields of Vision’ Boundary Art, Cardiff
2017 ‘Open Books. Artists and the Chinese Folding Book’ Rajasthan Lalit Kala
Akademi Jaipur . Ravindran Manch Art Gallery, Jaipur
2016 ‘Open Books. A Livre Ouvert’ LAC, Ottowa, Canada (Co –curator)
2016 ‘By Invitation’ Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy
2016 Art@CBTC Phil Nicol & Maggie James, Cardiff
2016 ‘Paintings from the Studio Wall’ The Shed, Insole Court, Cardiff
2015 ‘Open Books’ Wenzhou Contemporary Art Museum, China
2015 ‘Open Books Plus’ Art Museum, Institute of Chinese studies,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2014 ‘Open Books Plus.’ Artists and the Chinese Folding Book, UNSW, Canberra, Australia
2014 ‘Open Books Plus’ Artists and the Chinese Folding Book, Logan Art Gallery, Queensland
2014 Stewart's Law RCA Secret 2014, RCA London
2014 'Change at Crewe' Llandudno, Wales
2014 Autumn show Fiveways, Wales
2013 ‘Open Books Plus.Artists and the Chinese Folding Book’. Sanshang Museum of Contemporary Art, Hangzhou, China
2013 'Gaeaf' St Davids Hall, Cardiff, Wales
2013 National Eisteddfod of Wales, Denbighshire
2012 The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, London,
2012 ‘Welsh Artist of the Year Exhibition' St Davids Hall
2012 ‘Open Books 16 Artists and the Chinese Folding Book’ National Library of Wales
2012 Gallus launch, Vyner St, London
2011 ‘Welsh Artists of the Year 2011 Exhibition’ St Davids Hall
2011 ‘Ten Years in’ BayArt