David Pole was born in Usk in 1955 and grew up in the Wye Valley.  He knew from the age of three that he was an artist and when he left school David attended Newport College of Art and Design.  Having always been most interested in line and drawing, at college he chose to study illustration with the subsidiary subjects of etching, and letter form.

In 1981 David moved to the Cotswolds, where he continues to live and work.  He has exhibited widely in Britain, taking part in many one man and mixed shows including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Royal West of England Academy.  He has also shown for many years in the USA where his work is avidly collected.  He has exhibited at galleries in Chicago, Key West Florida and for ten years Bendann’s Art Gallery in Baltimore, one of the oldest established galleries in America.

Although having made a career as a painter of exquisitely detailed and colourful paintings of animals and still-lives, David has always produced work exploring lettering.  Enjoying the creative process involved in trying to ‘fit’ the drawn letter forms used or the mood evoked.  These works often develop from ideas inspired by extracts of poetry.