Residing in Borth Ceredigion is one of Britain’s foremost mural artists, Dean Tweedy. He was born in West Ham London surrounded by the hustle and bustle of city life. The street art and graffiti, much of it on a large scale, was to have an indelible influence, not only on his childhood paintings and drawings, but on his future art aspirations. Undoubtedly, he was a child prodigy and was determined to become an artist from a very early age. He never wavered from that goal, despite his mechanic father urging him to follow in his footsteps and learn a trade.
When he was about eight years of age the family moved to the rural village of Higham in Kent. For young Dean this new environment was a culture shock compared to the cityscapes he was used to. Yet in no time he opened his heart to it and embraced the natural world, and this resulted in an expanded trove of future ideas. He invested this new rural phenomenon with transcendental significance; essentially imbuing the new landscape with a magical quality that is evident in many of his childrens murals.
Despite parental misgivings he enrolled at Canterbury Art College. The work that he produced there was a mix of large-scale canvasses and public displays which signposted his future career as a muralist. After graduating he was soon employed as an illustrator for an advertising agency in Hammersmith. He worked for numerous clients, among whom were Toyota, Lexus, B.M.W. and M.T.V. That he was entrusted to work for such illustrious companies shows the high regard his artistic capabilities were held in.
