Terry Durham

Durham lived and worked in Álora, Andalusia from 2007 until his death on 6 December 2013. He had major individual and combined exhibitions in both Álora and Malaga, and participated in regional art competitions. When not painting professionally he taught art classes for children and adults. His work was displayed in various establishments in Álora as murals and caricatures, and he was known in the area as "el artista" (the artist) or "el maestro" (the teacher).

In 2003, Durham moved to Porto Seguro in the Bahia municipality of north-east Brazil, the vibrant colours, wildlife and tribal cultures of which influenced the paintings and sketches he would complete both during his time there and across the rest of his life.

In 1993, Durham moved with his family to the Algarve, southern Portugal, where he lived for 11 years. During his time there, in addition to painting professionally, he had many successful exhibitions, was employed regularly as a mural painter and performed as vocalist for a rock and blues band. He was particularly inspired by the people, climate, colours, landscape and architecture of southern Portugal.

One of his paintings was analysed by biologist and science historian Jacob Bronowski in an episode of the 1973 television series The Ascent of Man and the accompanying book:

In the early 1970s, Durham moved back to Yorkshire, where he continued to work while holding exhibitions in London. He formed friendships with Stuart Walton, a local artist specialising in northern street scenes, and with Austin Mitchell, who was at that time the presenter of the Yorkshire TV news programme Calendar.

In the mid-1970s, Terry Durham produced the first of a series of children's art books, based on a character of his own creation named Angus Pangus. It was a black on white line drawing work produced and printed in limited edition by Robin Alston at the Janus Press in Ilkely.

Durham went on to record his only solo album, Crystal Telephone, in 1969. It had musical arrangements by John Coleman and featured the saxophonist Evan Parker. It was re-released in 2005, and the track "Dreams Of Tomorrow In Every Language" was played on the Stuart Maconie Radio 6 Music Show Freakier Zone in 2012. Crystal Telephone has been described as "a wonderfully different album", "Yorkshire's answer to Serge Gainsbourg" and "a beautiful piece of poetry and music - a very unique balsam for the soul".

While living in Beckenham, Durham got to know Nicholas Treadwell, and was one of the regular artists with work on "Nicholas Treadwell's Mobile Art Gallery", based in Croydon. He was one of the first artists to show at the Nicholas Treadwell Gallery on Chiltern Street in London when it opened in 1968. Durham's early London exhibitions were widely covered in the local press, bringing him into the media spotlight and to the attention of figures such as Bill Wyman, Muriel Spark, Lulu and Andrew Bown.

In 1960, Durham moved to St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly where he and his wife worked in the Atlantic Hotel for two years. There, he found inspiration in the rugged island landscape, and the sunny and temperate climate of the Islands produced "good conditions for painting". It was while working on the island and through his group of friends there that Durham heard of the growing art scene in London. After a short return to Yorkshire, he moved with his family to Beckenham, Kent in 1964.

Terry Durham ( 24 September 1936 - 6 December 2013 ) was an internationally known abstract and figurative artist and poet. Durham was born on 24 September 1936 in East Ardsley, West Yorkshire, where he spent his formative years, and died on 6 December 2013 in the town of Álora, Andalusia, Spain. Mostly self-taught, he studied and was greatly inspired by the works of Paul Klee and other European artists such as Picasso, Gauguin and Matisse. He attended the Leeds College of Art before pursuing painting as his profession.