ervase Elwes was born in Lincolnshire, his early
education was in the creative surroundings of
Ampleforth College. His dedicated art education
started in Edinburgh and a year later continued at
The Slade School of Art, London. He has exhibited
at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition and
has had several One-Man Shows; Gervase found
travelling in Europe a great inspiration especially
his time spent in Florence and Paris.

He started the new millennium as the official Comic
Relief Artist which afforded him the opportunity to
portray famous comedians as pastiche, a genre he
invented. The original Exhibition held in the Crane
Kalman Gallery, Knightsbridge raised a considerable amount of money for Comic Relief. Some of the paintings were then hung in the boardroom of the Comic Relief Headquarters.

Gervase also introduced the idea of the Big Draw,
he founded a group called the Charcoal People.
There he met his wife Clare who as well as
providing sandwiches helped to produce the 360
degree drawings at Brigg’s Spirit of Gerontius.

Passing on his passion for art to others has always
been an important part of Gervase’s life, working at
Reading Summer School and taking courses in his
native Linconlshire continues to inspire him.

And what of the future? Gervase continues to paint
and works alongside Clare to improve and develop
the gardens at Elsham Hall. He brings his love of
art and the garden together, with grass sculptures
of Jack and Jill soon to be joined by some fat willow
and basket weave friends - as well as keeping
each other company they reflect the larger than life
stature of Gervase himself.

Gervase’s long term ambition is to create an
international and open, historical, contemporary,
comic exhibition, showcasing all artists’ desire
to display their comic side... “so long” reflects
Gervase “that I can be a fly on the wall at the open
competition section open to everybody especially the
general public!”