Wales Feed

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.

Artist Claudia Williams on turning 80, a new exhibition and a book about her life

2013-10-01T13:09:59+00:00

There is an intimacy about Claudia Williams' paintings that draws the viewer right into the very thick of the scene she is depicting.

Whether it's a family relaxing on the beach or a couple engrossed in a chess game as their children read a bedtime story in the background, her pictures immediately establish empathy with their subject matter, capturing gestures expertly in the way only a true observer of life can.

Claudia turned 80 in August and a show of 70 of her paintings, with several new works included, has just opened at the Martin Tinney Gallery in Cardiff.

Detail of Three and the Dog. Image copyright: Claudia Williams/Martin Tinney Gallery

It coincides with the publication of a new illustrated book about her life and work, An Intimate Acquaintance, written by Harry Hauser and Robert Meyrick.

The exhibition of the same name acts as a sort of retrospective but also reveals a confidence not as apparent in her early paintings, which has grown far stronger and more evident over the years.

An only child, Claudia's aptitude for drawing was encouraged from a young age and led to her winning a scholarship to attend Chelsea School of Art at the age of 16.

In 1954 she moved to north Wales and married the artist Gwilym Prichard. In the early 1980s, when their three sons and adopted daughter had left home, they travelled through Europe. They settled in France in 1985, where they lived for 15 years and where Claudia won huge acclaim for her work.

In 1995 she was awarded the Silver Medal by the Academy of Arts, Sciences and Letters in Paris, in recognition of her contribution to the arts in France.

The couple returned to Wales in 2000 to be closer to their seven grandchildren and settled in Tenby, as Claudia has always felt the need to be near the sea and it wasn’t too far from the mountainous landscapes so loved by Gwilym.

Detail of The Family, Chess. Image copyright: Claudia Williams/Martin Tinney Gallery

Claudia told me how she believes her power of observation comes from having always felt like something of an outsider.

"After the war my parents wanted to move further away from London. They bought a cottage in Criccieth and moved to this area that was Welsh speaking, but we couldn’t speak Welsh.

"Eventually I met and married a Welsh-speaking man but I never mastered the language.

"I think I have always been an observer and am obsessed with different gestures and attitudes. People have said that helps them build a rapport with the people in my paintings.

"It's nice when people say they feel they can make up stories about the characters in my paintings because they feel at home with them."

Claudia was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy in 1979 and she is an Honorary Fellow of Bangor University.

Claudia Williams' By the Pool. Image copyright: Claudia Williams/Martin Tinney Gallery

A hugely popular retrospective was held at the National Library of Wales in 2000, and an exhibition of her powerful Tryweryn paintings was shown there in 2010.

The National Museum Wales recently acquired her painting Mother and Child for the National Collection.

Despite her years of experience and success, Claudia still attends life drawing classes whenever she can as she believes in practising her technique as much as possible.

"Art started as a habit when I was young and I always painted whenever I could. Now, whenever I stop, things start to feel strange.

"Even now I love to have the rhythm of working, of going into the studio in the morning even if I don’t have any new ideas the smell of the oil paint and the sight of the paper always inspires me."

Claudia's paintings and drawings are striking in that they often feature an assortment of children, grandchildren and families in various chaotic and candid situations and gatherings.

A noticeable proportion of them focus on trips to the seaside, a place where Claudia feels free to observe humanity and those precious moments of interaction she captures so aptly.

Detail of La Coiffeuse et moi. Image copyright: Claudia Williams/Martin Tinney Gallery

Out of the collection of paintings on show in Cardiff, Claudia said she is most fond of By the Pool and La Coiffeuse et moi. The latter shows her reflection in the mirror as she is pointing to a photograph of a woman in a magazine held in her lap and reminds her fondly of her time spent living in France.

She said: "It's very complicated and one of my larger pieces.

"People always ask me how long it takes to complete a painting and I have to say a lifetime, because it takes a lifetime of experiences. I think this painting really captures that."

Gwilym celebrated his 82nd birthday earlier this year, and Robert Meyrick and Harry Hauser have also written a new book, Gwilym Prichard: A Lifetime's Grazing, about his work.

Claudia says neither have any plans to stop painting while they are still able and enjoying it.

Her next project is developing some drawings she made when enjoying a celebratory birthday lunch punting on the River Cherwell in Oxford.

"I spotted some really interesting composition while I was there and I am really keen to get into the studio and work on it."

Claudia Williams: An Intimate Acquaintance runs at the Martin Tinney Gallery until 19 October 2013.

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.

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.

Sean Edwards: Drawn in Cursive

2013-06-25T08:08:41+00:00

It's not often you talk to an artist about their upcoming exhibition and find out they are not yet sure what it will contain.

To some this might seem an impossibly nerve-wracking work ethic, but for Abergavenny-based sculptor Sean Edwards the genesis of his pieces can only begin once he is in situ.

His latest installation, Drawn in Cursive, opens at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff on Saturday 27 July and runs until Sunday 22 September, before moving temporarily to the Netwerk Gallery in Aalst, Belgium in December and then to Mostyn in Llandudno in October 2014.

It will consist of an outpouring of considered pieces from Sean's own archive of objects, images, drawings, photographs and clippings that he has been accumulating for a decade and adds to each day.

Sean Edwards, Untitled, 2013. Framed archival giclee print. Image courtesy of the artist, Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin and Limoncello, London

Materials he has found that no longer serve their original purpose like scraps of chipboard or discarded packaging are imbued with new potential through the creative process, containers for materials become different types of vessels.

He told me: "I accumulate objects and sculptures and imagery in everyday life and then I will take them to each gallery space with me and craft them in relation to the history and space of the site.

"I am interested in the outpouring of things that sit at the periphery of a practice; the incidental moments and small objects in life that we sometimes neglect.

"They are usually manufactured or man-made objects that in some way are part of our ongoing obsession with producing things that end up as detritus."

Sean Edwards, Remaining Only, 2011. Courtesy of the artist, Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin and Limoncello, London. Photo: Nick Ash

Because the completion of his work is only ever achieved in the exhibition environment, it gives a flexibility and fluidity to each installation, with the pieces open to audience participation.

This places a new spin on the perception of the gallery and our expectations of what state of creation we should perceive our artworks in.

It could provoke the reaction that the exhibition will be too randomly organised for audiences to grasp but Sean says he uses "artistic intuition" when gathering and selecting objects and to create the expanding dialogue around it.

Sean said: "For the two galleries that follow Chapter, I am taking a slightly different approach and will be making a larger structure that supports the objects on display in a more conceptual way - a shelf that goes round the entire gallery space or a bookshelf that goes down the centre of the gallery space.

"Each exhibition will shift and change in dialogue with the architecture, history and location of each space: so the exhibition at Chapter will mirror the building's past life as a former school; Netwerk, Aalst, Belgium's past as a former textile factory and Mostyn's as a purpose-built picture gallery which traditionally showed women's art."

Sean Edwards, Resting Through, 2012. Installation at Kunstverein Freiburg. Courtesy of the artist, Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin and Limoncello, London. Photo: Marc Doradzillo

The exhibition at Chapter will encompass most of the building with an accompanying installation on the Lightbox, an Art in the Bar exhibition and various film screenings and hopes to enable those that are familiar with the venue to reposition themselves within it.

Sean Edwards was born in Cardiff and lives in Abergavenny having gained his BA Fine Art at University of Wales Institute (2003) and his MA Fine Art at Slade, London (2005).

The exhibition at Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno takes place from 17 October 2014 to 4 January 2015.

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.

Gallery to become living art space inhabited by weird and wonderful creatures

2013-05-20T09:14:20+00:00

From this week, visitors to the Arcadecardiff gallery in Cardiff's Queens Arcade will be greeted by an interactive digital wonderland where anything is possible.

Bizarre creatures including cockatoo squids, sea squirts and squidlets will grow and transform against a futuristic experimental backdrop created through a range of ever-changing art projects.

The Animacules - pond life that swims towards the light. Photo: Genetic Moo

Microworld: Arcadia is the brainchild of the digital art collective Genetic Moo, and will feature light projections, robots, electronic sounds and live music.

Each of these multiple artworks will interact with one another but will also evolve in response to user activity. The cockatoo squid responds to calls and will even duet with a saxophonist, while little 'cone jellies' will change colour according to the clothes the audience are wearing.

Audience members will also be able to lend their faces to little squidlets, which are made of an assortment of hands and can be fed and sustained by different coloured light.

The Cockatoo Squid. Photo: Genetic Moo

The founders of Genetic Moo, who prefer to remain anonymous, said: "We were inspired by a ��̳ programme called Microworld, which looked at some of the world's most iconic ecosystems.

"We decided to use different types of technology to create our own self-sufficient ecology, where different types of creatures grow and change and build in number as the show progresses.

"We've invited a whole host of different artists to participate in this experimental project and bring their own unique talents along for people to engage with in this exciting space.

"With things like the squidlets, people will be able to create their own little artworks and if they come back to the show a few days later, will be able to reactivate their squidlets by shining light on them.

"They can also alter the colour of living coral with what they are wearing and even use their mobile phones to change creatures' colours or participate in motion tracking.

"Over the course of the exhibition, one of the collaborators, Sean Clark, will use a piece called Memory Mirror, which will gather data from interactions made during the show, which can then be played back to audiences."

The Fly. Photo: Genetic Moo

Artists taking part alongside Genetic Moo include Tine Bech, who is responsible for three light sculptures which change in colour as you move around them.

Roboticist and dancer Paul Granjon, who is head of sculpture at Cardiff School of Art, is bringing along some interactive machines, while Sean Olsen's breed of robots will splatter the surrounding area in paint as they move and Jane Webb will thrill people with her recycled components, lights, lasers and mirrors.

Wendy Keay-Bright from Cardiff School of Art and Design will also use different apps to explore how touch, and gesture interaction can engage young people with communication difficulties.

Microworld: Arcadia will inhabit Arcadecardiff at the Queens Arcade in Cardiff from 21 May to 2 June. Admission is free and the gallery is open from 12-6pm each day except Mondays. For more details visit geneticmoo.com.

Shani Rhys James on her 60th birthday and two new exhibitions

2013-05-17T13:26:14+00:00

Her bold and chaotic paintings have made her one of the most remarkable and successful artists of her generation, and as the eminent Welsh painter Shani Rhys James turns 60, she admits there is no sign of her slowing down.

Shani celebrated the landmark birthday on 2 May with a party at the official opening of her new show in London, the Rivalry of Flowers, which comes to Aberystwyth Arts Centre in November.

Shani Rhys James at the Kings Place Gallery in London

Meanwhile at the Martin Tinney Gallery in Cardiff, an exhibition of 30 of her new paintings has just opened and will run until June.

Speaking from her home of 30 years at Llangadfan, near Welshpool, Shani told me that she feels her vast body of expressionist oil works has not yet scratched the surface of all the things that spark her interest.

So in 2016, after she has fulfilled all her work commitments until then, she and her sculptor husband Stephen West will be touring her native Australia in a combi van, so she can reconnect with the landscapes of her birthplace.

She recalls: "I moved to the UK when I was nine and while I love the Welsh landscape and it has been my home and meditative backdrop for 30 years, the hiraeth of Wales is not my hiraeth.

"There's so much I still want to do with my art, and as I haven't yet explored a personal landscape I really do feel a desire to go back to my roots and find a connection."

Green Chrysanthemum. Image © Shani Rhys James/courtesy of Martin Tinney Gallery

Shani spent her early years living in a modest former gold miner’s house in the Australian bush with her actress mother and stepfather.

But in 1962, she and her mother, who wanted to break into the London theatre scene, moved to the UK with just two suitcases in what was to be the worst winter for many years – the infamous Big Freeze.

Having never seen snow or felt so bitterly cold before, and watching as she and her mother were turned away without explanation from the accommodation that they had previously arranged, the tough welcome they had to the country and the six months they endured living in a bedsit left a lasting impression on Shani.

It is this overwhelming sense of hostility and rejection as she and her mother sought to make a home for themselves that Shani recalls with several of the paintings – entitled Bedsit I, Bedsit II and Bedsit III - featured in the Martin Tinney exhibition, where lurid floral wallpaper is a recurring feature.

She recalls: "I remember vividly this dreadful black and red flock wallpaper in the bedsit which was such an alien thing after living in my plain white walled house in the Oz bush.

"It was meant to be luxurious but it was so grimy and overpowering.

"Maybe I am so fascinated with it as I get older as I am reconnecting with London and that whole transition we had to make.

"We were only meant to come for a year but we sold our return tickets and travelled around Europe. When we finally found a nicer place to live, I cut myself off from the experience."

The pieces she has included in Rivalry of Flowers also feature bold floral backdrops which act as a metaphor for how women are often perceived by society.

Shani says: "The work in this exhibition explores how there is something dark and wild and crazy about flowers, yet in wallpaper designs they are controlled in a pattern and prettified.

"In our culture women are also prettified – she is part of the floral background, part of the furniture in a way. She has become just another decorative interior thing.

"There are also lots of paintings of flowers in vases, something I have all over my house because I love wild flowers. I think they symbolise a sense of women's sensuality, the way they wilt and drip.

"I also see them as a useful metaphor as they can be arranged into designs, just as the flowers in the wallpaper are designed and controlled and much like women style themselves with high heels and, in the past, corsets.

"It's symbolic of the way we impose an aesthetic on things, including ourselves - we are at times part of the wallpaper but we also view ourselves as part of the interior with a loaded necessity to look right at all times."

Ornate furnishings such as chandeliers and claw feet baths also feature heavily as Shani explores her own obsession with collecting objects, which she relates to the sense of rootlessness she felt on arriving in the UK.

Shani Rhys James stands next to her work Shower Cap

She said: "I have always collected things, my mother is the same, and I put it down to coming here with so little. The paintings capture the idea of a woman obsessed with the interior of the house - kitchens that have to be immaculate and wallpaper that is over-florid.

"The world of interiors is also reflected by prestigious chandeliers which dangle rather menacingly above the woman when she is in the bath. There is also a sense that the flowers in vases clash with the flowers in the wallpapers.

"The Rivalry of Flowers also reflects a sort of rivalry between artists and the rivalry you experience in everything as a woman, rivalry between the flowers and the wallpaper, rivalry between an actress mother and her artist daughter."

Shani's next project, which will also be shown at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre at a later date, will feature an interior three dimensional space, with wallpaper all over the ceiling and the walls. She has asked seven poets, including National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, Menna Elfyn and Jasmine Donahaye, to write poems in response to the piece. As they recite their verse, their mouths will be filmed speaking, to also feature as part of the exhibit.

Shani Rhys James has won many prestigious awards for painting, including the 2003 Jerwood Painting Prize, the Gold medal at the 1992 National Eisteddfod and was awarded an MBE for services to Welsh art in 2006.

Her new paintings on a large scale will be shown at Kings Place Gallery, London until 14 June 2013, before touring to University Gallery, Northumbria University from 12 July – 23 August and Aberystwyth Arts Centre from 6 November 2013 to 11 January 2014.

The exhibition at the Martin Tinney Gallery in Cardiff runs until 8 June 2013.

The exhibitions are accompanied by a new hard-back book, also called The Rivalry of Flowers. For more information visit artwales.com/gallery-mtg-en.php.

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.

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.

Tate loans impressive artwork to Pembrokeshire gallery

2013-03-18T12:01:52+00:00

The artist Graham Sutherland is seen by many as one of the visionaries of 20th century art.

His early surreal landscape pieces capturing the wild coastlines of Pembrokeshire were once seen as important contributions to the Neo-Romantic period and are the paintings for which he is perhaps best known.

A new exhibition at the Oriel y Parc Gallery and Visitor Centre in St David's, Pembrokeshire, reveals how deeply Sutherland was influenced by the area's breathtaking scenery.

A key attraction in the exhibition will be an oil painting of his loaned by the Tate. Black Landscape was painted between 1939 and 1940, and is viewed as one of the best examples of Sutherland's early work in Pembrokeshire.

I spoke to the exhibition's curator Bryony Dawkes, who told me how Sutherland's organic oil paintings were part of a very personal vision he had of the landscape.

During the 1930s he noted that "I felt as much a part of the earth as my features were part of me".

She said: "The exhibition will show how his work relates to the wider art world in the 1930s and how he became part of the national Neo-Romantic movement.

"The piece we have been loaned by the Tate in London is fantastic and one of the most important pieces in his early portfolio."

The exhibition shows how Sutherland's landscapes art developed before and during World War Two, and features other Neo-Romantic landscapes from the collection of Amgueddfa Cymru, including artists such as Paul Nash, John Piper and Ceri Richards.

Some of the locations captured by Sutherland, like Clegyr Boia, Porthclais and Sandy Haven, strike a somewhat strange chord and offer something more symbolic than just a reproduction of a landscape.

Bryony added: "The movement harks back to the 19th century work of artists such as Samuel Palmer and William Blake, who had themselves lived through turbulent times.

"Sutherland and his contemporaries combined this pastoralism with modern European styles such as Abstraction and Surrealism, to try to capture the spirit of the British landscape at a time of change.

"The idea is to paint what you feel and express what it means to feel like you are actually part of the landscape."

Sutherland's work captures this nostalgia for the natural landscape before the ravages of industrialism and a catastrophic war took hold but also explores an emotional connection through the symbolic use of colour.

Sutherland was painting like this before the war broke out but it soon became fashionable among other artists working in Britain, several of whom became official war artists, capturing events as they unfolded.

Between 1940-1945 Sutherland also contributed to the War Artists' Scheme, keeping a pictorial record by drawing bomb sites, blast furnaces, tin mining and quarrying.

Spirit of Place: Sutherland and the Romantic Landscape will run in one gallery while in the rear gallery is a large installation by Anthony Shapland, which has been in the museum's collection for several years.

Shapland's 2007 film A Setting is a transitional piece which features twilight as it evolves, as day loses its grip to night.

Through the use of traditional romantic symbols such as the rugged landscape and full moon it turns that artistic genre on its head.

The exhibition runs until 8 July 2013.

Merthyr's medieval past re-imagined by community

2013-01-10T12:55:39+00:00

Merthyr Tydfil is so synonymous with its industrial past that it is often hard to imagine an older history – one of ancient kingdoms and bloody battles for supremacy.

But that elusive medieval Merthyr of yore is now being brought to life through an extensive community arts project which will culminate in an exhibition later this month and even an opera in April written by and starring local people.

Over the past six months, Head for Arts, based at the Llanhilleth Miners Institute in Abertillery, has been reaching out to all sorts of community groups for their creative responses to the area's lesser known history.

The result is Fragments, an exhibition of artwork, photography, music and poetry inspired by Merthyr's medieval chapter.

Local legend has it that a lost village was once the seat of kings in the middle of Llangorse Lake.

Young writers listening to a talk by Dr Mark Redknap at Llangorse Lake. Photo: Head for Arts

This tale, which according to archaeological surveys has some origins in truth, has been a big source of inspiration for the work created for Fragments.

Bethan Watkins, the project's joint coordinator, told me that the royal court of the Kings of Brycheiniog was apparently built in the 10th century on a man-made island or crannog in the lake.

"Lots of heritage based projects in Merthyr recently have been based around the industrial era so we wanted to look at something further back in time," she said.

"We have been working with the National Museum of Wales which talks about Merthyr being a major trade route with people passing through on their way to this kingdom."

Head for Arts has taken several hundred people from the local area on field trips to St Fagans and to talks by curators from the National Museum.

They have also viewed artefacts, including a linen and silk garment of exceptional quality, woven more than a thousand years ago.

Through various workshops, contributors have had the chance to write poetry, make medieval jewellery and learn about using their digital photographs to tell a story.

Those contributing to the project range from youth club members and families to drama groups, walkers and choir members.

Young people from Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association recording sounds. Photo: Daniel Alford

The first part of the project culminates in a community showcase with free live performances, digital music and film screenings at Theatr Soar in Merthyr between 10am–4pm on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 January.

Visitors to the event will be able to see animations based on medieval myths that have been created by Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association's youth club, a dramatic performance by the Drama@Soar youth theatre and a display of photographs captured by walking groups from across the area.

Local choir, Merthyr Aloud, is also performing, and archaeologists from the National Museum of Wales and Cardiff University will be on hand to provide further insight.

Phase two of the project will finish with the community opera on April 12 and 13.

Bethan said: "A group has been working on the opera since October and it's being led by the professional director Peter Morgan Barnes.

"There are people from Merthyr's open mic group, some young writers and they have been coming up with the storyline with guidance from Peter."

Fragments is part of a larger project, History and Mystery, which has received a £20,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

People are still welcome to get involved in the opera in any way they can and can contact the organisation on 01495 357816 or email info@head4arts.org.uk.