Jeff Rowland

Before his sad and untimely passing in 2018, Jeff loved to absorb the café culture of Newcastle, watching the anonymous crowds walk past and wondering about their stories. This curiosity shone through in his work, and harked back to his time on a market stall, where he'd meet interesting characters and uncover more about their past.

His varied career also included stints as an accident investigator and at an oil rig, where he was known as the ‘toilet artist’ due to his penchant for sketching caricatures of workmates on the toilet walls! 

Jeff often enlisted the help of two of his close friends to create realistic scenes. After posing the pair in the signature 50s clothing in his studio or a local park, Jeff used to take several photographs of them before using these for reference when sketching. He said at the time: "I use my instinct when selecting colours. The couple represent togetherness and the beginning of a story."