When, in September 2017, Malcolm Tillis was invited to show his work at the VAN (Visual Art Network of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin) he announced that, at the age of 90, this would definitely be his last exhibition.

To mark the occasion, the committee of VAN invited him to address them.  In this talk Tillis - who had been a professional orchestral musician until he was 30 - explains the similarities he experiences between musical and visual arts. He shows examples of his work from the beginning of his career,  demonstrates the transition through to a gradually more minimalist approach and closes by revealing some of his latest works completed in the days immediately before the talk.

For a 26 minute investment of your time, you will be entranced by seeing more than 50 examples of his work whilst at the same time gaining a fascinating insight into the world of this eloquent, innovative and inspiring artist.

Watch as Malcolm Tillis deftly and  cuts the shapes from which the collages are assembled. As he explains it, the work is almost done by the scissors themselves with him as the fascinated by-stander.

Duration 2:45

Assembling the shapes and sticking them into their final position is a careful and intricate process and significantly more time-consuming than the original creativity.

Duration 13:20

The artist gives us a glimpse of the  variety and scale of his works as he shows us some of the many examples that hang on the walls of his house in Shrewsbury.

Duration: 2:27

Duration 26:22