Wales Feed

"Art tells us much more about the reality of war……."

2016-07-07T15:26:55+00:00

With the BBC Wales film crew, I looked across a field at Mametz Wood on the battlefield of the Somme - a dark and sombre prospect in the February rain. Trees, tall and bare, grown from the seed of a forest obliterated by British artillery in July 1916, rise, now, from a tangle of bramble and hazel, rust-coloured in winter, like century-old barbed wire.

I walked up the gentle slope to the forest, over the claggy chalk soil, unable to imagine how young men, burdened with equipment and weapons could have made the same, short crossing of open ground under a deadly hail of German machine gun fire. There was nowhere to hide.

In the forest, hidden by the tangled thorns, is a floor pitted with the concave evidence of shell-holes. I wonder how any German soldier could have survived such a barrage. But they did and, when the British shells ceased landing, the German machine-gunners emerged from their bunkers and commenced their slaughter of the advancing Welsh and English infantry.

It was here that the artist and poet David Jones was wounded in the savage hand-to-hand fighting. Mametz Wood was the Welsh Division’s fiercest and most costly engagement of the Great War. Lloyd George commissioned the Maesteg-born artist, Christopher Williams, to paint a version of it – a huge, dramatic canvas of savagery and killing that was to hang in the drawing room of No.10 Downing Street, perhaps as a reminder to visiting generals, diplomats and politicians of the human consequences of failing to keep the peace in an age of industrial, total war. I doubt that any photograph could have fulfilled that function so vividly.

Kim Howells with 'The Welsh at Mametz' painting by Christopher Williams

The paintings and drawings fulfil a different role, now. They give us an insight into the reality of life in the trenches a century ago – not just of the blood and guts, fighting and shelling but also of the long periods of sitting around, waiting and watching. David Jones and Carey Morris (an artist from Llandeilo) sketched their fellow soldiers in the dugouts boiling kettles, cleaning guns, preparing food or just sitting, smoking and chatting.

There is a small, dark painting by Morris of a ruined chateau on the front line, near Ypres in Belgium. It portrays the war continuing into the night. British soldiers are hidden in the darkness, their presence indicated only by the glow of their cigarettes, as the night sky over no-man’s land is lit by flares. Morris could only have painted it because he was there, as a soldier, seeing men seeking some solace from tobacco in the darkness. I know of no photograph that captures such a moment and such telling detail in the terrible years of battle around Ypres.

Boesinghe Chateau by Carey Morris (Photo Credit: The Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh, Brecon)

The tiny fragments of the wars that I saw first-hand in Iraq and Afghanistan and in countries torn by sectarian violence and civil war were enough to convince me that artists, writers and composers – as well as brave photographers, film-makers and journalists – can add greatly to our understanding of these events by communicating their own, special perception and interpretation of the conflicts into which they find themselves pitched. That is why it is so important to explore the work of these remarkable Welsh men and women during the Great War.

Visions of World War One, part of World War One from BBC Wales.

Watch Visions of World War One on Monday, July 11, 10.40pm BBC One Wales

Exhibition harks back to gallery's trailblazing feminist past

2013-11-12T12:16:20+00:00

When the Mostyn in Llandudno opened in 1901, it heralded a landmark in the history of female art.

Spearheaded by Lady Augusta Mostyn, it was the first venue in the world specifically designed to exhibit the work of female artists, who were at that time excluded from the wider art scene.

Lady Mostyn saw first-hand the lack of opportunities for female artists locally and so decided to finance the construction of a new art gallery on the site of the 1896 National Eistedfodd in Llandudno.

Lady Augusta Mostyn by Herbert Sidney. Courtesy of Mostyn Estates

Now an exhibition which reflects back to those early days and captures the spirit of the original Gwynedd Ladies' Art Society has opened at the Mostyn - the first in a series of exhibitions which link the modern day building to its past uses.

Visual arts programme curator Adam Carr told me that the idea behind the exhibition is to blend together historical material and contemporary artworks.

He said: "These two components of the exhibition allow the audience to experience Mostyn's past in different, yet related ways.

"One component situates the audience as close as possible to Gwynedd Ladies' Art Society through the presentation of historical material from their time at Mostyn, and our research intern Sarah Williams has been a key to bringing that together.

"The other component, artworks by contemporary artists, allows the audience to see how that past plays out in present and relates to today."

The contemporary artwork on show includes pieces by Ai Weiwei, Martha Rosler, Andrea Fraser, Guerrilla Girls, and Danh Vo, and deals with issues such as gender, race and exclusion – issues that were vital to the formation of the original Gwynedd Ladies' Art Society.

Women's Art Society, installation view. Image courtesy of Mostyn

Also on show will be an array of artefacts, documentation and artwork from the original society, following a local appeal to the public to come forward with items of interest.

Among them is a portrait of Lady Augusta Mostyn by Herbert Sidney on loan from Mostyn Hall and a photograph from 1890 when the Queen of Romania came to visit her.

There are also some architectural drawings of Mostyn by G A Humphreys, Lady Augusta Mostyn's architect and agent, loaned to the gallery by Flintshire Record Office with the permission of the current Lord Mostyn.

Also on view is a copy of each catalogue of all the Gwynedd Ladies Art Society exhibitions, eight in total, and the society's rules and regulations, loaned by the National Library of Wales.

Adam said: "The call-out for material and items allowed us to promote the series of exhibitions to the local audience and engage them in the process of their making, starting with the first exhibition, with interest in appealing to those who have never stepped foot in Mostyn previously."

Women's Art Society, installation view. Image courtesy of Claire Fontaine and Mostyn

After the initial appeal, the gallery was contacted by the great-great grandson of one of the society’s most successful members, Lily Florence Whaite, who has generously loaned them a number of her artworks and shared his own research into the society.

Each exhibition in the series will observe a specific period in the building’s history, in a bid to encourage the public to engage with Mostyn's past, and enable local people to explore their own history and each takes the building’s former uses as starting point.

Two exhibitions, WAR I and WAR II, look at the building's requisition as a drill hall during World War One, and its occupation by the Inland Revenue as their temporary headquarters during World War Two; MAIL investigates the building's expansion into the former Royal Mail sorting Office and Wagstaff will explore the use of the building as a shop and store for pianos.

All exhibitions in the series will exhibit artworks and artefacts from the relevant time and connect themes and ideas from that epoch with more contemporary art.

Sol Calero, When you work you get things done, 2013. Image courtesy of the artist

The next exhibition in the series is titled We've Got Mail and will be a series in itself, taking place over four individual shows, with the first opening next April.

Adam added: "I thought about these exhibitions as a response to Mostyn's history and where they will be taking place: a section of the building that was formerly a Royal Mail sorting office. They will look at the history of the postal mail service and present the history of mail art."

The Women's Art Society exhibition runs until 5 January 2014.

Let's See What Happens

2013-10-30T15:40:02+00:00

Six venues across Swansea city centre are currently playing host to a unique series of linked installations as part of an offsite exhibition by the Glynn Vivian Gallery.

Dubbed Let's See What Happens..., it has seen four artists from Wales and three from China, all of whom have spent time together in Swansea, Xiamen and Shanghai, create work based on an exchange of ideas.

The exhibition as a whole is connected to conversations the group has shared about their work and the pieces created feature details about their lives, hometowns and artistic practice, as well as responses to common themes like ritual, spirituality, sustainability and political protest.

Paul Emmanuel, Heavenly Creatures, 2013. Photo: Eva Bartussek

Karen MacKinnon, curator of the exhibition said: "The title - Let's See What Happens... began as a working title, reflecting the deliberate openness and calculated risk at the heart of this project to allow something to grow slowly over time.

"It is deliberately open-ended, a question about how to work internationally, cross-culturally and collaboratively in a way which grows organically and enables a more meaningful interaction between not only the artists, but also local and international partnerships, organisations, audiences and communities who may be involved and touched by this project in some way."

The artists involved are Tim Davies, Yingmei Duan, Paul Emmanuel, Owen Griffiths, Maleonn, Fern Thomas and Zeng Huanguang.

Although each space works as a stand-alone exhibition, audiences will see a connection between each as well as being able to enjoy a wide range of media, including painting, performance and video installation.

Tim Davies' contribution consists of two new video pieces Chase (Xiamen) and Market 8, which explore his fascination with the ever-changing landscape of Xiamen, the frantic pace of which disturbed him during his time in China. They link to his interest in how architectural spaces are negotiated in everyday life and investigate the clash between buildings at ground level and the modern skyscrapers of the cityscape.

Tim Davies, Chase (Xiamen), 2013. Photo: Eva Bartussek

The work by Owen Griffiths is on show at Swansea Market, among stalls selling local produce and articles made in China, and is inspired by time spent amid the hustle and bustle of Xiamen market.

Entitled Market Place, it explores the similarities and differences between British and Chinese cultures. He has also been carrying out some creative work with the Swan Gardens home for the elderly Chinese community in Swansea.

Owen Griffiths, Market Place, 2013. Photo: Eva Bartussek

A sense of place is also of paramount importance for Paul Emmanuel, who lives among the farming community in the Swansea Valley. Paul's work is inspired by his time spent at Zeng Huanguang's studio in Xiamen and features a series of paintings using Chinese inks, alongside pieces made using rubbish and recycled materials found in Xiamen and transformed into "flies" by a local expert Gethin Williams for fly fishing.

Performance is key to the installation by Yingmei Duan, who recently exhibited at the Hayward Gallery as part of Art of Change: New Directions from China. It features a piece inspired by Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince, which sees her create an intimate forest glade where she hands out wishes to all who enter through sound, writing and movement.

Fern Thomas' exhibition at the Ragged School borrows from her experiences during a stay at a Buddhist convent in Xiamen and focuses on a series of rituals that are captured on different screens and timed to coincide with the nuns' prayers back in Xiamen.

Fern Thomas, the sound of a temple six thousand miles away, 2013. Photo: Eva Bartussek

Shanghai-based artist Maleonn continues an ongoing project, Studio Mobile, which has seen him travel to 25 Chinese provinces, photographing 200,000 people in a mobile photo studio. His work alters the role of photographer, aiming to create a conversation with his subjects and take the studio out on the road. The exhibition in Swansea will feature photographs of people in costumes borrowed from local museums and will include props brought here from China.

Finally, Zeng Huanguang will re-enact the Occupy protest in London - which he visited during his time here - as an art installation, encouraging participation from audiences while posing important questions about activism and art.

Zeng Huanguang, After Occupy, 2011. Photo: Eva Bartussek

The exhibition has been running throughout October and continues until November 3.

Visit glynnviviangallery.org a full programme of talks, events and activities.

Performers given 48 hours to create live pieces in response to artwork

2013-10-25T09:16:15+00:00

A new project is being run in Aberystwyth that sees performers from a range of disciplines charged with creating a new piece of work in response to exhibitions at the Gas Gallery.

The artists and actors have just 48 hours to come up with their creation, which can be in any medium they choose.

The first event in the series took place in September and responded to artwork by Sandra Masterson and Aislinn Knight.

This weekend performers will have another opportunity to participate by responding to the gallery's current exhibition Transitions, which features the work of five postgraduate students from Aberystwyth University's School of Art: Rebecca Backshall, Stephen Chilton, Pete Monaghan, Ben Partridge and Kim James-Williams.

They will also be asked to come up with new work that relates to Collaborations: Paper, Press, Print – an exhibition of prints by 30 artists, staff and students who have contributed to the print studio at the School of Art from 2000-2012.

The Gas Gallery in Aberystwyth. Photo Keith Morris

Sandra Bendelow from Aberystwyth-based company Scriptography Productions came up with the idea for the Response Time events after she was approached by the team of volunteers who run the new gallery – an arts collective called Celf Ceredigion Art.

She said: "Celf Ceredigion Art wanted to open up the Gas Gallery to exciting events and happenings.

"I knew it had to be something that could cross art forms and appeal to arts and performance audiences while celebrating the amazing landmark building that is the Gas Gallery showroom and also Aberystwyth, which is such an inspiring environment and home to so much artistic excellence.

"We're really excited about the project and how it can change and build. We did the first one in September and it was such an amazingly eclectic mix of performances, from new short plays to installation art, and also we're finding interactivity with the audience is a really strong part of it because it's about sharing work.

"It's great to think we're engaging new audiences too, both to performance and to the Gas Gallery and its exhibitions. In fact because of the huge windows we literally attracted passers-by who just saw something happening and wanted to come and see what we were doing."

The Gas Gallery opened in June after the building had lain empty for some years and is being run by Celf Ceredigion Art for an initial period of one year. It is staffed by volunteers and funded by local artists including Ali Lochhead, Richard Brown, Paul Croft and Mary Lloyd Jones.

The Gas Gallery in Aberystwyth. Photo Keith Morris

The performances of Response Time will take place on Sunday 27 October with three performances at 5.30pm, 7pm and 8.30pm. Tickets are priced at £5 (£3 concessions).

Further information and ticket booking is available at scriptographyproductions@gmail.com. The event can also be followed on-line at facebook.com/celfceredigionart.

The next Response Time project will take place in November in response to exhibitions by Catrin Webster and Karen Robbie. There are also plans to extend the project into other venues.

Stunning glassworks by students to go on display

2013-09-20T09:15:45+00:00

Swansea's international reputation for producing talented glass artists dates back more than 75 years.

The Swansea School of Glass was set up in 1935 as an evening class at the then Swansea Art College by Howard Martin, later developing into the Architectural Stained Glass Department.

These days it is still the only architecturally based glass school in the world and is widely held to be a centre of excellence in the subject.

And to showcase just a snapshot of the talent that comes out of the school each year, intricate works by the most recent class of graduates in the school's MA Glass programme are to go on display in the city.

Glass work by Lydia Marouf. Image courtesy of the artist

The exhibition is entitled Re-Imagining Tradition, and is the result of extensive research students have carried out into the technique, informed by their own varying backgrounds.

The work includes stunning pieces by Rachel Adams, Deirdre Finnerty, Lydia Marouf and Ruth Morriss.

Work by Rachel Adams. Image courtesy of the artist

Deirdre Finnerty said: "The work on show is the culmination of two years of practice-based research at the Swansea School of Glass, mentored by professional architects, glass artists and fine artists based in Swansea.

"Each student has developed an individualised practice informed by bodily experience in the landscape, re-interpreting traditional stained glass techniques, re-designing a product through glass or envisioning for architecture, all utilising the materiality of glass."

Work by Ruth Morriss. Image courtesy of the artist

Professor Vanessa Culter added: "The exhibition is the culmination of a two-year journey of discovery taken by four very different artists. Each one has made an investment in self-knowledge and personal growth to further their artistry and craft.

"Visitors to the exhibition can experience some of the journey for themselves through the voice of each artist in glass."

Work by Deirdre Finnerty. Image courtesy of the artist

Re-Imagining Tradition will be on show from Saturday 21 September until Sunday 27 October at the National Waterfront Museum. It is open 10am until 5pm daily and entry is free of charge.

It will be opened by MA Glass Programme Director Professor Vanessa Cutler and Swansea Met Research Fellow Rodney Bender.

Monsterist artist Pete Fowler curates 'impressive' graduate show

2013-09-05T10:19:27+00:00

For the second year running the Wales Millennium Centre is playing host to an exhibition of the cream of artistic talent currently emerging from Wales' many arts institutions.

Graduate 2013 will showcase the talent of 33 recent graduates from nine colleges.

The celebrated illustrator Pete Fowler was asked to curate this year's display of work after the centre hosted his Oceans of Fantasy exhibition earlier in 2013.

Pete himself attended Howard Gardens in Cardiff to undertake an art foundation before going on to Falmouth School of Art to study on the BA Fine Arts course.

Many of his artworks contain vibrant visions of the parallel world of Monsterism he has created, which has a huge fan-base.

Detail from Untitled Fragments by Rory Millien. Image courtesy of the artist

Pete said: "Curating the show has been a really exciting and interesting project. I have been travelling around all the arts colleges in Wales, chatting to students and soaking up the climate, which has really taken me back to when I was an art student.

"It was real privilege to see the work. What I've really tried to achieve is to pick a slice of what was on offer to show the huge variety created by the students from a range of colleges and across different media.

"It was an intuitive process and I wanted to show as much as I could, but it was very difficult having to whittle down my long list to a shortlist as the centre could not possibly house everything I had chosen!"

Among the works on show are arresting pieces by the Wrexham student Katie Cyfenw, which Pete included because of their shocking, disturbing element.

The images feature grimacing masks created by making a collage out of photographs and run alongside a moving image project, which unfortunately couldn't be featured as there was so much work to fit into the space.

Detail from Mask 2 by Katie Cyfenw. Image courtesy of the artist

Pete said: "Katie's work had something of the horror of Francis Bacon about it and really grabbed me as it is quite unsettling.

"I also liked the mixed media lithographic landscapes of Amie Haslen which had that timeless quality of many 20th century landscape artists like Paul Nash.

"Then you have the small-scale illustrations on metal by Jade Fisher which really appealed to me as an illustrator and I loved the materials she used and the fact they were so realistic."

Detail from The Signing of the Peace by Jade Fisher. Image courtesy of the artist

Pete said he was very impressed by the standard of the work he saw and feels the show is a great opportunity to showcase young artists who may find it a struggle to pursue their careers in the current tough economic climate.

"I'm really proud of what they've achieved and I think it shows a real depth.

"It's important to nurture this sort of talent and hopefully putting it on show in the centre will really open up opportunities for the artists and give people a taste of the talent that’s out there in Wales right now.

"I remember graduating in the early 90s, during a recession, so I know the path they are treading and how difficult it can be.

"I believe the support of the creative arts in Wales to be a very important and sometimes overlooked factor in raising awareness of the strength, depth and richness of the arts and creative industries that Wales has to offer - not just at home but further beyond.

"The tradition of home grown, and overseas talents nurtured in Wales is very important to the arts as a whole.

"I hope, with the pieces of work I've curated, visitors to Graduate 2013 can get a real sense of the strength and variety of the creative minds that have been nurtured by the establishments in Wales."

Detail from Rheidol Valley by Amie Haslen. Image courtesy of the artist

The exhibition features work by graduates from Aberystwyth University; Bridgend College; University of Wales, Trinity St Davids; Coleg Sir Gar; University of Glamorgan; Cardiff Metropolitan University; Swansea Metropolitan University; and University of Wales, Newport.

The official opening of the exhibition will take place on 6 September in the Glanfa Foyer, from 6-8pm, with a DJ set from Channel Swimmer and a chance for the public to meet some of the artists.

Graduate 2013 can be seen free of charge around Wales Millennium Centre from 7 September to 17 November 2013. For further information please visit wmc.org.uk.

Exhibition explores tension within man's relationship to nature

2013-08-23T09:58:57+00:00

If you are looking for something edifying to do this weekend, it's your last chance to catch the intriguing solo exhibition 'o' by the Ceredigion-born artist Carwyn Evans.

'o' utilises pockets of space throughout the Wales Millennium Centre and features a series of sculptures, prints and photographs which reflect on Carwyn's relationship with his rural heritage.

The son of a tenant farmer, Carwyn moved to Cardiff 15 years ago to pursue an artistic career.

The work he has created for 'o' explores landscape; man's relationship to nature, displacement and what occurs where nature meets culture.

Ceramic compilation (Tir Sir Gâr). Image courtesy of Carwyn Evans

He told me: "When I was in my second year studying fine art at UWIC, there was a lot changing in agriculture and I felt like I was witnessing the demise of the industry from an arm's length.

"Because my father is a tenant farmer and hasn't inherited his land, I sensed this tension in the fact that what he does is temporary and like many others with a rural upbringing, I am part of the first generation to move away and leave it all behind.

"It felt like I was losing a hold on my working relationship with the land and it was an odd perspective, so I started experimenting with photographs taken inside or looking out from a polytunnel my dad uses to provide temporary shelter to his livestock during the lambing season."

Many of these photographs, which span the last 15 years, feature in the exhibition, but Carwyn has also used sculpture to capture a sense of the shapes and feelings created when other objects have been rested against the polytunnel.

Ca' Shell (framed photographs.) Photo courtesy of Carwyn Evans

A series of sculptures made from sapele wood are on show in the building's foyer.

Carwyn said: "They are quite abstract and give a sense of what I've imagined when I've seen something like a feeder resting against a prop in the polytunnel.

"I wanted to explore the tension between the hardwood sculptures and self-referencing artefacts like a pair of my trainers or tags which are put on cows at auction or springs from machines."

Node (A consciousness in quest of its own truth). Photo courtesy of Carwyn Evans

Penetrating one of the sculptures is a bottle of aftershave which Carwyn says signifies that sense of masking oneself from one's true identity or attempting to obscure our true scent.

After 9pm visitors to the centre can also watch a video display featuring little vignettes taken while looking out from the polytunnel and see a spotlight shone out through the 'o' in the word horizon on the building's external inscription.

Highlight on the first 'o' in horizons on the façade of Wales Millennium Centre. Image courtesy of Carwyn Evans

Finally, Carwyn has created a series of small sculptures which he designed on the computer and then cast in clay with an under-glaze so that as the exhibition continues, they absorb moisture and dust from their surroundings and change appearance.

'o' runs until Monday 26 August at the Wales Millennium Centre.

For more information on Carwyn Evans visit his website carwynevans.com.

Oriel Tegfryn celebrates 50th anniversary with summer show

2013-08-15T11:45:00+00:00

This year marks the 50th birthday of Oriel Tegfryn in Menai Bridge, Anglesey, making it north Wales' oldest commercial gallery and the second oldest in Wales - not bad for an arts space that was created by accident.

Back in 1963, gallery founder Gwyn Brown held a sherry morning to raise money for charity and called upon local artists in the area to loan pictures for the event.

It proved such a success and raised so much cash that the Browns decided to open the ground floor of their home to the public and run it as an art gallery, showcasing the very best of local talent, an ethos it continues to this day.

Oriel Tegfryn in Menai Bridge. Image courtesy of Oriel Tegfryn

From those early days, north Wales' most prestigious artists were encouraged to exhibit with the stipulation being that those lucky enough to have their work on show painted for pleasure rather than money. They also had to have proved their creative worth by competing in artistic competitions.

The ensuing years saw exhibitions featuring several members of the Royal Academy and recurrent appearances from Sir Kyffin Williams - a close friend of Mrs Brown - William Selwyn and Gwilym Pritchard.

In 2010 the Brown family sold the gallery to Martin Tinney, who had been running his own gallery in Cardiff since 1992. Since then the two galleries have worked in harmony, exhibiting the cream of contemporary and 20th century Welsh talent both here and beyond.

Cottages at Llanddona by Sir Kyffin Williams. Image © the artist/courtesy of Oriel Tegfryn

To celebrate Oriel Tegfryn's 50th birthday, the gallery has been running a special summer show.

If you haven't had the chance to catch it yet, it closes on 31 August and features work from many artists who have enjoyed relationships with the gallery over the past half-century.

Visitors can enjoy pieces like Cottages at Llanddona by Sir Kyffin Williams as well as the mixed media work Penllyn and The Grand Canal Venice by William Selwyn, House on the Shore by Donald McIntyre, Llyn Ogwen by Gwilym Prichard and various pieces by Claudia Williams, Karel Lek, Wilf Roberts, Keith Andrew, John Petts and Brenda Chamberlain.

Penllyn by William Selwyn. Image © the artist, courtesy of Oriel Tegfryn

For those keen to spot pieces by Wales’ most celebrated 20th century artists, the collection includes examples by Gwen John, Augustus John, David Jones, Ceri Richards, Josef Herman and Peter Prendergast.

In addition specially selected work by Wales' leading contemporary artists including Harry Holland, Kevin Sinnott, Shani Rhys James, Rosemary Burton, Clive Hicks-Jenkins, Iwan Gwyn Parry, Sarah Ball, Sarah Thwaites, Catrin Williams, Meirion Ginsberg and Karina Rosanne Barrett currently adorns the walls.

To view the exhibition visit the gallery's website artwales.com.

Arts trail doubles its offer for visitors

2013-08-06T10:54:47+00:00

A collaborative arts trail launched in 2012 to showcase the best of Ceredigion's creative talent is back for the second year running, this time with twice as many artists involved.

The Ceredigion Art Trail kicks off on 17 August, runs until 1 September, and will feature 200 artists across 79 different venues in the county.

Work across a variety of media is being exhibited everywhere from commercial galleries to chapels, shops, cafes and pubs, with visitors also asked to take a trip through the stunning countryside to see artists at work in their studios.

Interlocking tea set, ceramic by Ian Rylatt. All images courtesy of the artists

This year the county has been split into three geographical areas, each with their own hub, where those visiting the trail can access more detailed information about what's on in each area and plan their visit accordingly.

The Ystwyth Rheidol Group is operating out of the new Gas Gallery in Aberystwyth, while the Cambrian Mountains Group is based at Y Talbot on The Square in Tregaron and the Aeron Teifi Group is based at Pendre Arts at 35 Pendre in Cardigan and May's Number 8 Gallery in Margaret Street, New Quay.

Chair of the trail committee, Paula Rylatt, who is herself a glass artist, said that apart from the revenue generated by advertisements in the trail booklet and some generous sponsorship, the artists and their friends were the "backbone" of the income to cover costs.

Paula said: "The Ceredigion Art Trail provides the unique opportunity for visitors to experience the pleasure of art in a relaxed informal environment.

"Artists are generous people, who want to share their enthusiasm with others; consequently there is no pressure whatsoever to buy, although I am sure artists will be delighted if they do sell some of their work.

"The main aim of the trail is to allow visitors to step into a different world, looking, asking and learning, and hopefully feeling uplifted by the experience.

"Ceredigion is blessed in many ways, one of them being the number of gifted and varied artists whose separate personal work collectively weaves a vibrant creative spirit. The trail allows those threads to join and strengthen and offers to all of us the gift of stepping onto the fabric and being carried by it for a while."

There was a Time, kiln formed glass by Paula Rylatt. All images courtesy of the artists

Highlights include an exhibition at the start of the festival by the printmaker Judy Macklin at her studio Hen Beudy in Llangwyryfon, Aberystwyth, as well as work from Jude Riley at her studio at Ynys Blaenplwyth in Aberystwyth which will be showing throughout the festival.

Trail-finders who take a trip to Cardigan can also enjoy the Colony 13 project, with more than 40 local, national and international artists exhibiting via installation, film, photography, sculpture and painting at four non-gallery venues in the centre of Cardigan.

There will also be a whole host of workshops, with introductions to stone sculpture and various craft activities for children, as well as a youth art exhibition.

Ceredigion is rich with artistic talent and many of its local arts groups have collaborated to offer exhibitions of their work throughout the trail, including the Aeron Teifi and Nanternis groups as well as work on show by 30 craftsmen and women at the Waunifor Centre in Llandysul.

Organisers are delighted with the public enthusiasm for the event and plan to make it an annual fixture in the summer arts calendar, with many of the artists volunteering and funding the trail behind the scenes either through generous donations or raffle events featuring their work.

The Bandstand Aberystwyth, lino print by Jude Brett

A launch party to celebrate the start of the trail is being held at the home of the poet Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch in New Quay from 6-7pm on 16 August, the eve of the event.

Visitors will be able to view the latest work and many sketch books by her aunt, the artist Lilwen Lewis.

Samantha will be reading from her latest collection of poetry, Banjo, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Wales Book of the Year prize, while her sister Francesca will be promoting her first novel The Rice Paper Diaries.

Samantha added: "Ceredigion is rich in talent - perhaps it's the landscape or the people or both. Whatever the reasons I really wanted to celebrate the start of the art trail and provide space for Lilwen's fantastic work.

"Combining it with what my sister and I do is a great way to make other forms of creativity accessible to a wider audience."

The exhibition of Lilwen's work at Hafod Arthen will also be open on 17 August from 11am-5pm.

For more information visit the trail website ceredigionarttrail.org.uk.

Local artists win long campaign for new gallery in Aberystwyth

2013-07-26T14:01:07+00:00

After a hard-fought campaign spanning several decades, a group of artists have finally won their quest to open a new gallery in the centre of Aberystwyth.

The Gas Gallery or Oriel Nwy was launched at the end of June and will be entirely self-funded by artists from the area, with volunteers staffing it on a daily basis.

It is situated in the Old Gas Showrooms on Park Avenue – a building which had lain empty for some years.

Gas Gallery - Oriel Nwy. Photo: Tim Strang

The new venture marks a triumph for the group known as Celf Ceredigion Art, who have spent many years negotiating with Ceredigion County Council to turn some of the town’s many empty buildings into exhibition spaces.

The project is a one year pilot and sees the group working in partnership with the council as they work to promote the best art the area has to offer.

Volunteer Janet Lougee told me: "The inspiration behind the campaign was to turn these empty spaces into vibrant art galleries and to bring art right into the centre of Aberystwyth so that residents and tourists alike can enjoy the great talent on offer here.

"We are very lucky to already have the Aberystwyth Arts Centre but that is slightly out of town. There are about 50 volunteers working behind the scenes at the Gas Gallery who are all very passionate about art and what this new venue stands for and keen to share their expertise and enthusiasm with others.

"We are very optimistic that there is a long future ahead for the gallery and are hopeful we can secure further funding to keep it running."

The first-ever exhibition, Topography, is now open and features work from painters Mary Lloyd Jones and Grant Smaldon and sculptures by Alison Lochhead.

Inside the gallery. Photo: Tim Strang

Mary Lloyd Jones' works include different ways of viewing the landscape via images of Ceredigion and further afield. Alison Lochhead's contribution includes sculptures of the Metal Mines of the Cambrian Mountains made from mix of cast iron, clay, mine rocks and wood while Grant Smaldons includes oils on canvas and acrylics.

The gallery will also act as a focal point during next month’s Ceredigion Art Trail, the second year the event has been held.

The exhibition of work by Mary Lloyd Jones, Alison Lochhead and Grant Smaldon continues at the Gas Gallery - Oriel Nwy, on Park Avenue, Aberystwyth, until 31 July.

The gallery plans further events including performances, installations, storytelling, poetry and dance as well as an open exhibition for artists in Ceredigion and an 'Art on the Walls' exhibition in the Gas Showroom Yard.

For more information visit celfceredigionart.org.

Oriel Mostyn summer season

2013-06-21T12:37:23+00:00

Oriel Mostyn in Llandudno has just announced the line-up of artists for its summer season and it features a range of exciting new work from Welsh and international artists.

In the new Gallery 6 space upstairs, as part of the Uprisings series, will be a debut exhibition of work by Becca Voelcker, who hails from Pant Glas, Gwynedd.

Becca uses film as a medium by which to comment on place and identity. This exhibit, Memos, was created in 2012 and uses as its focus a rusting cruise liner abandoned near Flint.

Memos includes different shots of the decaying boat, bathed in sunlight against a bright blue sky, zooming in on windows where plastic sheets flap dreamily or flights of birds alighting on its rusted deck. It is also featured as a vast bulk against the skyline seen from a passing train. Watch a snapshot of the film.

Becca Voelcker, Memos, 2012, film still. Image courtesy of the artist.

The gallery explains Becca's work as "luxuriating in layers of association, memory and narrative, (it) points to both the significance of the moving image and its ability to recall our associations with other times and locations.

"It also demonstrates Voelcker's erudite approach to the history of cinema and, in particular, the use of film as a medium for art-making."

Memos will be shown from 20 July to 20 October 2013.

Meanwhile, in the main gallery will be a collective show, Dear Portrait, which features 20 different international artists and their take on what the contemporary portrait means.

Unlike most other portrait shows, this will offer the subjects of the paintings the chance to respond to how they have been captured in writing, providing a glimpse of the often little-known stories behind the exhibits.

Participating artists are: Nina Beier, Pierre Bismuth, Maurizio Cattelan, Tim Gardner, Loris Gréaud, Ryan Gander, Gareth Griffith, Isabell Heimerdinger, Carsten Holler, Annette Kelm, David Lamelas, Jessica Longmore, Jerry McMillan, Elizabeth Peyton, Laura Reeves, Wilhelm Sasnal, Wolfgang Tillmans, Mungo Thomson, Ian Wallace, Franco Vaccari.

The show includes painting, sculpture, drawing and video and has been curated by Mostyn's visual arts programme curator, Adam Carr, with the aim of enhancing understanding of the meaning of portraiture. Some exhibits take more traditional forms while others play with the limits of the genre.

At the same time the gallery is also showing solo exhibitions by the German artist Annette Kelm and the Italian artist Franco Vaccari.

Detail from Annette Kelm's, Anna #1, 2011. Image courtesy of the artist

This is the first time Kelm has exhibited in a public gallery in the UK and the Mostyn describes her photographs as merging "seemingly disparate content", shifting between various genres of photography and offering an analysis of the medium as a whole.

The Vaccari exhibition features Leave on the Walls a Photographic Trace of Your Fleeting Visit, which was created for the 1972 Venice Biennale. It is essentially a photobooth which instructed visitors to the exhibition to take photos of themselves and stick them to the wall.

He revisited the interactive concept in 2010 for the Gwangju Biennale and many of the thousands of photo strips produced in each are featured in this exhibition.

The exhibition at Mostyn also features the results Photomatic D'Italia (1972-4), where Vaccari took his concept out onto the streets of Italy, with audiences happily taking part in candid photostrips in 1,000 booths.

Franco Vaccari, 10,000 lives (detail), Gwangju Biennale, 2010. Image: P420, Bologna IT

Vaccari's work is set as a counterpoint to the Dear Portrait show at Mostyn, and explores aspects of his work on portraits and the change in human appearance.

All exhibitions run concurrently. For more information on the artists and each exhibition visit mostyn.org.

Philanthropists' gift on show at National Museum Cardiff

2013-05-02T07:57:40+00:00

Twelve important contemporary artworks that were gifted to National Museum Cardiff by art collectors Eric and Jean Cass will go on show this weekend.

Art collectors Eric and Jean Cass have spent the last 35 years amassing a personal collection of over 300 contemporary pieces - valued at £4 million - including ceramics, sculptures, prints, drawings and paintings. They housed the collection in their large modernist Surrey home, called Bleep.

The philanthropic couple made an early decision to donate their collection to galleries and museums in the UK, and the Contemporary Art Society was appointed to distribute the works.

Out of its 65 member museums across the UK, the arts charity selected seven institutions, all of which were outside London. The nominated galleries and museums were then invited to pitch for pieces in the Cass collection that would strengthen and enliven their existing collections.

The 12 works given to National Museum Cardiff include four lithographs by Catalan artist Joan Miró, a large gestural abstract painting Private Waltz, 1989, by British artist John Hoyland and an oil on canvas by Karel Appel called The City, which you can see on the far right in the picture below.

Back sitting room at Eric and Jean Cass' house Bleep. Photo: Douglas Atfield

Other works donated to the museum include ceramics and porcelain items from artists including Patrick Caulfield, Brigitte Deuge, Peter Hedegaard and and Bjørn Wiinblad.

The six additional museums across the UK to benefit from the Cass gift are the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow; Hepworth Wakefield; Leeds Art Gallery; the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh; The Royal Pavilion and Museums in Brighton; and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

The Eric and Jean Cass Collection exhibition runs at National Museum Cardiff from Saturday 4 May until Sunday 21 July. For more information and to see what else is on across Wales, visit museumwales.ac.uk.

Audiences encouraged to get typing, building and eating sweets at Mostyn

2013-05-01T13:29:09+00:00

The Mostyn in Llandudno has just launched three new exhibitions: work by the celebrated British photographer Keith Arnatt, an interactive group exhibition and a new gallery initiative set up to nurture emerging artists.

Each exhibition has been curated by Adam Carr, Mostyn's visual arts programme curator. The group exhibition YOU includes work by five internationally acclaimed artists.

Adam told me that the whole thrust of YOU is as an exhibition which reacts to the audience so that each visitor experience will be unique.

The idea is that it places the viewer right at the centre of the exhibition, turning the traditional dynamic on its head, and signals the direction Adam hopes to take the Mostyn in throughout its programme until 2017.

Július Koller, Ping-Pong Club (U.F.O.), 1970-2007. Photo courtesy of Mostyn

It will feature an exhibit by the late Cuban-born sculptor Felix Gonzalez-Torres, someone Adam confesses is his favourite artist of all time. Untitled (Revenge) is a 325lb sculpture made of sweets which references the loss of Gonzalez-Torres' lover to Aids-related disease.

Each audience member is invited to take a sweet and eat it, thus rearranging the nature of the sprawling sculpture each time it interacts with a spectator.

Another piece, ..., comes from the acclaimed Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander. It involves a number of typewriters set up differently so that when visitors to the gallery tap away at the keys, what is produced on paper bears no resemblance to the letters they have pressed - instead showing a series of shapes, dashes and dots. The result is their own individualised drawing which they will be able to share on one of the gallery walls.

Rivane Neuenschwander, ..., 2005. Photo courtesy of Mostyn

The exhibition also includes Debuilding, a piece by the Dublin-based multi-disciplinary artist Aurélien Froment, which includes 3,000 wooden blocks of varying sizes which audiences can construct within the gallery space in any way they see fit.

Works by the Danish artist Jeppe Hein and the late Július Koller also feature.

Adam said: "Each exhibit creates a platform of possibility and will be changed in different ways by the activity of the person interacting with it.

"The piece by Gonzales-Torres is amazing because it gives life to his lover and of course himself after death. We will replenish the sweets if the supply is running low."

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Revenge), 1991. Photo courtesy of Mostyn

The School of Psychology at Bangor University has contributed to a display which accompanies the exhibition and features cultural artefacts, documents and other items showing the connection between physical objects and our cognition.

The idea is to place the artworks by the participating artists in a broader cultural and contextual field.

Professor Guillame Thierry from the department said: "The exhibition at Mostyn breaks new ground.

"People often conceive the experience of art as passive but this is incorrect, for our brain interprets the world, all the time. Our mind constructs reality and the experience of beauty. The exhibition YOU makes this link tangible."

Running concurrently to YOU will be a display of photography by Keith Arnatt, one of the leading conceptual artists of the 1960s and 1970s, whose work has been shown at Mostyn before.

It ties in nicely with YOU because the work exhibited is concerned with an examination of the object of art, the role of the artist and the artist as subject and is constantly questioning the viewer’s position in relation to what they are seeing.

Adam said: "It corresponds to the theme of YOU but it also pushes the idea in a different direction.

"Keith Arnatt was very fond of Wales, he was a teacher in Newport and spent his later life here and focused very much on the mundane aspects of everyday life."

Works on show at the Mostyn include an intimate snapshot of Arnatt's domestic life, Notes to Jo, which is photographs of a series of sticky notes that the couple wrote to one another during their life together, as well as photographs of a series of boxes he has collected on his travels.

Meanwhile on the upper level of the Mostyn will be the new Gallery 6 scheme, dedicated to holding début exhibitions for artists who have not yet shown their work in solo exhibitions.

Among those lined up to exhibit as part of the Uprisings series is Becca Voelcker, originally from Gwynedd, and Laura Reeves who lives and works in Swansea, but the season kicks off with work by Alek O from Buenos Aires.

Alek O, Ayrton Senna, 2010, embroidery on canvas. Photo by Alex Howe

It will feature a collection of tiles as a backdrop to a piece called Tangram which involves umbrellas she has found and shaped to look like different animals.

The Alek O exhibition runs until 14 July, while YOU and the Keith Arnatt exhibitions run until 7 July. For more details visit the Mostyn website.

New work by 20 Welsh artists on show at Hay gallery

2013-04-05T09:01:28+00:00

Spring may still seem tantalisingly out of our grasp due to the brisk outdoor conditions, but in a picturesque corner of Wales it has well and truly sprung.

The Spring Show at the Lion Street Gallery in Hay-on-Wye showcases the best work on offer from contemporary artists working in Wales and the borders.

Detail from Stephen John Owen's After the rain, oil and plaster on canvas

Gallery director Brent Blair told me: "This year it features more than 20 up and coming artists with a whole range of both painting and sculpture on display in a wide variety of mediums.

"There's everything from pure abstract through to representational landscape."

Artists exhibiting include Ceri Auckland Davies, who paints luminescent landscapes and seascapes using egg tempera; Stephen John Owen, who paints vibrant oils on canvas; and Dylan Lloyd, whose acrylics on canvas remind us that summer was once here and could be again. Maybe.

Detail from Dylan Lloyd's Garden 81, oil on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist

Passers-by will be drawn into the gallery by two sculptures of wolves in the window by Kevin Herlihy.

These are made entirely of recycled materials, including one in electrical wire and another in recycled aluminium and steel wire, which are lit up at night.

Echo by Kevin Herlihy, a life-size wolf made from recycled electrical cable and wire

The exhibition also includes a sculpture called Acclivity by Ed Elliot, which is made from London plane wood and shows a head and torso stretching to extend a ladder into the air.

Several intuitive landscape pieces by the painter Beth Fletcher are included as well as works by Matt Clarke, who takes inspiration from geological, biological, anatomical and geographical imagery, juxtaposing the microscopic and macroscopic.

The show runs until 20 May, ending just before the start of the Hay Literary Festival when the gallery will be putting on another large exhibition of mixed contributions.

Boomerang Buttress by Matt Clarke: oil, damar resin and acrylic on canvas, 90x120cm

Other artists exhibiting during the spring show are: Keith Bowen, Mike Jones, Sally Stafford, Susan Gathercole, Aneurin Jones, Sara Philpott, Helga Prosser, Rachel Ricketts, Chris Williams, Simon Dorrell, Kate Milsom, Wynne Jenkins, Nick Holly, Aled Prichard Jones, Clive Burnell and Ann Lewis.

The gallery is open six days a week from 10.30am–5pm, but is closed Sundays.

Visit lionstreetgallery.co.uk for more details.

Public artworks brighten up cityscape once more

2013-03-26T10:30:34+00:00

This week the streets of Swansea will once more become a canvas for artists who have created new public works for the city.

If the last Art Across the City festival escaped you then make sure you don't miss the chance to see these new creations in situ.

The project, which has been commissioned and curated by Locws International, aims to bring art to the people by brightening up otherwise derelict or unremarkable corners of Swansea.

This time the festival features 12 artworks - five which have been newly commissioned and seven which are permanent, having been created for previous events.

The new works include the largest ever mural by the famous music artist Pete Fowler, which has been installed opposite Swansea train station on a disused night club front and is a homage to the city's most famous son, Dylan Thomas.

Pete Fowler's The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Octopus. Image: Locws International/Pete Fowler

The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Octopus draws from the life and works of Thomas and pays tribute to his playfulness, while leaving room for the public to draw their own conclusions.

Also new for this festival are two big sculpture pieces by the internationally acclaimed Swiss artist Olaf Breuning, which will be on show in Castle Square. They are giant versions of his initials mounted by the two words yes and no and poke fun at consumerism and the modern world.

Situated on the high street is Sinta Tantra's contribution – geometric shapes topped with palm fronds. The artist, who was born in New York but is of Balinese descent, used the travel sketches of the writer Truman Capote as inspiration.

She said: "I'm fascinated in the way in which architecture and public art leads our bodies in certain directions across the city.

"Primarily, I wanted people passing by to engage with colour and imagery and then to ask broader questions to themselves such as, how they want to live, build communities and interact with each other."

The Swansea illustrator David Long has created a new heraldic crest for the city which is attached to a freestanding scaffold outside the Dylan Thomas Centre. It is emblazoned with the opening line from Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, "To Begin at the Beginning".

David Long, To Begin at the Beginning. Image courtesy of the artist/Locws International

He told Locws' blog that the work "represents a new chapter or even the turning over of a new leaf for the community."

A piece has also been commissioned from another Swansea artist, Phil Cheater.

Land-Marked is a brightly coloured geometric sculpture which references the city's many office buildings and its skyline, while responding to the city's regeneration. The pieces can be seen on the green outside the Guildhall.

Seven permanent commissions further support the programme and include works by artists Sean Puleston, Rik Bennett, Bristow Lloyd, Bedwyr Williams, Bermingham and Robinson, Mark Folds and Niamh McCann.

Philip Cheater, Land-Marked. Image courtesy of the artist/Locws International

I spoke to Locws International's project manager, Gordon Dalton, ahead of the festival's opening.

He said: "2012 was a big leap for us in terms of recognition by the public but this is double that.

"The high street is already attracting attention as you come out of the station and see Pete Fowler's work and it acts as a wonderful gateway to the city.

"Pete is so well-known and popular that this was a big coup for us, as was getting Olaf Breuning, who is one of the world's most succesful artists and has exhibited in galleries and museums internationally.

"We have also featured two young artists from Swansea and I think it's important to include them and treat them the same as the more well-known artists, giving the same amount of attention and budget.

"As with last time, all the artworks are within walking distance, so it's very accessible and people won't be able to miss them."

The latest festival runs from 28 March to 12 May and there is a launch event at Mosaic Bar on the High Street from 6-8pm on the opening night.

The Art Across the City website features a map showing where all the works are located and a printable version of its 2013 brochure. If you get lost there are three information pods in the city centre offering directions and information on the art.