Charlotte Leadbeater obituary
My mother, the artist Charlotte Leadbeater, who has died aged 77, was a founding member of the King Street gallery, an artists’ co-operative in Carmarthen, Wales, and also exhibited nationally and internationally. Charlotte painted dramatic landscapes and portraits, usually in oil on canvas, but she also enjoyed working in oil pastel, watercolours and mixed media, made etchings, and more recently had started to experiment with digital drawings.
Her portrait subjects would comment on how she was able to capture the very essence of the person she painted – although this did not always make them happy. She would look for interesting subjects with depth or movement and preferred to work from life rather than from still photos.
Born in Dronfield, Derbyshire, Charlotte was the daughter of Wing Commander John Yonge, an RAF pilot, and his wife, Enid (nee Blanch), who worked in surveillance for MI5. After being discharged from the air force, John taught at a boys’ school in Cyprus, where Charlotte went to the local convent school. After the family’s return to the UK in 1957 she took a foundation course at Canterbury Art School, where she also discovered a passion for set design at the Marlow theatre. She then went to Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London, graduating in 1967.
The following year, she married Charles Brewster, and soon they had two children, me and my brother, Demian. In 1973 we moved to Wales, where Charlotte loved the wild landscape. The marriage ended in divorce, and then, while taking Welsh lessons, Charlotte met Tim Leadbeater, a computer programmer and fellow artist. They married in 1977 and my brother Rhiwallon was born in 1979.
She took up a part-time position teaching art at Christ college, a boarding school in Brecon in 1977, later becoming head of department there. Charlotte was renowned for her school trips to London, Amsterdam and Italy, where she always managed to secure access to the best exhibitions. She also lectured at the Swansea Institute of Higher Education (now part of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David) and ran adult education classes through Swansea University.
Charlotte loved theatre and ballet, and jumped at the opportunity to travel in 1998 with her sister, Jane, to St Petersburg, where she spent the summer as artist in residence with the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre. The resulting work was exhibited at the Vaganova Academy the following year. Upon her return Charlotte was instrumental in the running of a Russian ballet troupe, Ballet Russe, at the Grand theatre in Swansea for 10 years.
She made an immense contribution to the artistic and cultural life of Llandeilo, her home town since 1983. In 1980 the town had been twinned with Le Conquet in France, and she became secretary of the twinning association. She was among those who set up the Llandeilo Arts Group, which attracted musical, dance and arts events to the town. Charlotte was a powerhouse of activity and whenever she joined a committee, events would be organised and crowds would arrive. In 2009 she served as mayor of Llandeilo. More recently she ran Tywi Valley open studios and workshops for the local community.
Charlotte is survived by Tim, Demian, Rhiwallon and me, and her siblings, Mark and Jane.
