Rodney Goodwin Salter, RSA
Born in the village of Ide near Exeter Devon, (England) 2nd August 1945 he grew up with an extremely inquisitive mind in a contented family background. From a comparatively early age he had a place in which he could work on his multiple projects. Designs, inventing gadgets, whatever the motivation was of the day. There was nothing he liked more than to be working alone in what was ostensibly, his Garden Shed. Although in winter he would bring (if at all possible) whatever he was working on into the sitting room where his mother, a very tolerant soul, would let him chisel, saw, stick and glue. It is not surprising then, with his dislike of mathematics*; that he excelled in every other subject, including working different materials, metal, and wood on one hand and painting, creating art on the other. Drawing was his force as a child; he could always think three dimensionally, in technical drawing or in portraying with light and shade on paper or canvas, whatever the inspiration or subject might be.
In 1961 he started on the long professional learning curve as a “Lithographic artist” with the printers, James Townsend & Sons. In effect it was a graphic studio and at that time all originals were hand drawn, including, all lettering and illustrations as well as the technique of lithography. Rodney would hand-draw original designs, lettering and illustrations including such iconic images as the “Babycham” leaping chamois. During this period he spent time at the “Exeter College of Art” under the tutelage of Alan Fishwick, for fine art and Ruth May Woods for lettering and calligraphy. Finally, at the latter part of this very rounded training he attended for some months the London College of Printing, at the Elephant & Castle. This lasted for almost eight years.
Frustrated by lack of freedom to create Rodney moved out of the drawing office and into the workshop. Having thoroughly researched techniques used by wheelwrights, carriage builders and blacksmiths, he set up, “Woodbeer Perriton” to build bespoke horse-drawn carriages. He also trained Hackney Horses winning many championships. The artist’s eye for purity of line was paramount. His artistic creativity would come into play, so much so, that he would refer to the, “équipages élégants” (elegant turnout) as sculpture in movement… Many of these are still in use, including two which carry dignitaries at the Tokyo racecourse. Some are now changing hands at good prices in specialist auctions.
This experience gave him the necessary grounding, although diverse, to at last return to his hearts desire, pure art… Rodney sees his lack of formal art college education as an advantage for he, as a free thinker, is not constrained by any boundaries of training. Self expression and originality is manifest in his work.
*a final word on mathematics; in later life he went on to design and construct projects needing complicated technical calculations. Putting into action the adage, if you want to, you can… Summing up, it was more a case of maths, as a subject, didn’t interest him…
"This race and this country and this life produced me, he said. I shall express myself as I am. ».... James Joyce..
WORKS of ART in private collections: Germany, United Kingdom, Holland, Austria, Belgium, France, Denmark, U.S.A., Canada, Chile, China (Shanghai).
