John Meirion Morris (14 March 1936 – 18 September 2020) was a Welsh sculptor. Morris was born in

Llanuwchllyn Llanuwchllyn () is a village and Community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, Wales, near the southern end of Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid). It is one of the most sparsely populated communities in Wales. The electoral ward includes the small settlement ...

, near

Bala, Gwynedd Bala () is a town and community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, Wales. Formerly an Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district, Bala lies in the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Merionethshire, at the north end of Bal ...

, where his parents kept a shop. He studied at

Liverpool College of Art Liverpool College of Art has an unbroken history dating back to 1825, making it the oldest English school of art outside London. From 1883 it was located at 68 Hope Street, Liverpool, England, in a building designed by Thomas Cook, which is no ...

and later taught the subject at

Llanidloes Llanidloes () is a town and community on the A470 and B4518 roads in Powys, within the historic county boundaries of Montgomeryshire (), Wales. The population in 2011 was 2,929, of whom 15% could speak Welsh. It is the third largest settleme ...

. In 1966, he began a period as a lecturer at Kumasi University in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, returning to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

two years later to lecture at

Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

. In 1985, he obtained his M.Phil. for research into Celtic La Tène art, and he subsequently returned to his home town to work as a sculptor. His works included the design and model for the proposed

Tryweryn Afon Tryweryn is a river in the north of Wales which starts at Llyn Tryweryn in the Snowdonia National Park and after joins the river Dee at Bala. One of the main tributaries of the Dee, it was dammed in 1965 to form Llyn Celyn. The Tryweryn ...

monument and a bronze bust of

Ray Gravell Raymond William Robert Gravell (12 September 1951 – 31 October 2007) was a Welsh rugby union Centre (rugby union), centre who played club rugby for Llanelli RFC. At international level, Gravell earned 23 cap (sport), caps for Wales national r ...

at the BBC studios in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. A retrospective exhibition of his work was hosted by the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

in 2009. One of his sculptures, ''Pieta'', commemorates his son Dylan, who died in 2002 of a brain tumour. Morris died, aged 84, in 2020, survived by his wife Gwawr and two children.

References

1936 births 2020 deaths 20th-century British sculptors 20th-century Welsh male artists 21st-century British sculptors 21st-century Welsh male artists Academics of Aberystwyth University Alumni of Liverpool College of Art British expatriates in Ghana People from Llanuwchllyn Welsh male sculptors 20th-century Welsh sculptors {{Wales-artist-stub