Profile

Rod Willis was born in 1969. He grew up in the carpet town of Kidderminster, which though bears the scars of factory closure and 1960’s town planning, it is in fact a gateway to some of the most stunning countryside in Britain. It was these areas of rural Worcestershire and Shropshire and across into Wales that triggered his passion for landscape.

Rod showed early promise as an artist but did not pursue this path with his education. He left Manchester University in 1992 with a degree in Social Science and Scientific History and paid off his student debt with a series of paintings he completed between his studies. He immediately set out on a career as an artist, spending these early years teaching himself whilst trying to earn a living from his work. Having lived in Nottingham and Devon (the south west was a constant draw) he eventually moved back to Worcestershire in 1995.

During this time, Rod exhibited in various galleries throughout Worcestershire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall before opening up his own studio gallery in the rural village of Mamble in 1999. This proved very successful; he sold all his own work and completed many private and corporate commissions, leading him to move on into shop and gallery premises in the World Heritage site of Ironbridge in 2005. Here his progress was checked somewhat by a series of debilitating back problems which forced him to close the gallery and virtually stop working in 2008.

He has now recovered and, with a young family behind him, he has a renewed impetus for his work . He now works from his home studio in Broseley Wood.