Thirty-four years ago artist Bernard Barnes went into a dozen primary schools in Gwynedd and made portrait pictures of the children as an alternative of having school photos.

Parents had the option of buying the drawings, raising some money for the school as well as paying the artist – but not all of them were sold.

The pictures that were left (about 20) are in an exhibition at St John’s Hall Gallery in Barmouth until 28 July.

The names of the children were not recorded, so we are wondering if Cambrian News readers recognise the people in the pictures. Perhaps you recognise yourself?

“We think the people in the drawings will now be aged somewhere between 42 and 46,” a spokesperson for St John’s Hall Gallery said.

“The schools were all in Gwynedd, from Tremadog to Corris and between.”

Bernard re-discovered the drawings last year, as he explained.

“I moved house, so I had to sort out all of my things and found these portraits again. I thought they deserved to be seen.

“I have been an artist all of my life. Over the years making a living that way has not always been easy. I have tried all kinds of things to make money from art and this idea of going into schools was a fairly good one. The premise was to do a portrait drawing rather than a school photo. This was offered to the parents to buy. It made money for school funds as well as for me. I also used to paint portraits of holidaymakers in Barmouth in the summer season.

“We have been in the old church hall that was previously part of St John’s Church in Barmouth for seven years or so now. It is a working studio for myself and Reyna Rushton and an exhibition space. The art on display is always changing. Over the summer months we usually have exhibitions of work by guest artists as well as our own work. This July we thought we would do it slightly differently and have a theme of portraits with several artists’ work in different media – a Barmouth portrait gallery, if you like."

The exhibition will feature not only these drawings, but also photographs and paintings by Gareth Wyn Jones from Dolgellau, and portrait paintings by Bernard Barnes, Reyna Rushton and other artists.

The exhibition is open Tuesdays to Sundays, 11am-4.30pm from 3-28 July.

There is an open evening on Monday, 8 July, 7.30pm-9.30pm and everyone is welcome to attend. It will include live acoustic folk music and refreshments.

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