Exhibitions

Eleanor Brooks: A Life in Portraits

28 June – 10 August 2025
As a sequel to the 2018 exhibition of her landscapes and to celebrate the anniversary of her birth in 1925, this exhibition focuses on the portraits Eleanor Brooks made during her career and, through them, tells the story of her extraordinary life as an artist and a mother. The selection includes early portraits painted when Eleanor was at art school in the late 1940s, intimate portraits of her own family and the au pair girls who lived with them, and paintings of the many schoolgirls she taught in London before moving back to live in Wales permanently in 1990. The exhibition would be incomplete without portraits of the exasperating yet lovable Mrs Spinks, the cleaning lady who knocked on Eleanor’s door in 1967 and provided her with seven productive years of subject matter for portraits, in almost every medium imaginable, both two- and three-dimensional. In these, and in all of her work, what shines so radiantly is Eleanor’s love of people and her wonder of the world in general.

Ensemble – Menna Angharad and Jeremy Stiff

16 August – 28 September 2025
Jeremy and Menna have titled their exhibition Ensemble as a celebration of their 25th anniversary together - of living together, of working side by side as artists, and of often exhibiting together. In a broader sense, they feel that pondering Ensemble is positive and constructive, we are in this world together, artist and subject, artwork and viewer, gallery and community, nation and world, environment and us…an antithesis to divisive ideologies.

Jeremy works with stone, wood and bronze. He distils his subjects down to simple, expressive shapes, concentrating on their essentials rather than literal form, and on the inherent physical qualities of the materials: the smoothness of marble, the translucence of alabaster, the grain of wood. The physicality of the materials themselves and the working of them are as important to him as the subject matter. Jeremy will also be exhibiting his portraits of Susan Williams-Ellis that he began during his residency at Plas Brondanw in 2023.

Menna’s paintings explore everyday scenes and objects, often focusing on nature—a tangle of wild plants, seed heads, fruits, flowers, or familiar household items. Her work is not about literal representation but explores her empathy with the humble details of our lives. She celebrates her subjects while revelling in the colours and textures of oil paint on linen.

Matthew Wood
‘Capturing the vision’ Plas Brondanw a mini series.

16 August – 28 September 2025
It’s been an absolute pleasure to be invited to respond to Plas Brondanw. On first visiting I was completely transfixed by its location and the atmosphere that it conveys. What is most striking is the play of light within the house and the way that it illuminates the many vistas through windows and doorways which give way to the gardens and beyond that the mountains of Eryri. Always framed by the reflection of light on floors of oak and slate and with the play of light on walls and ceilings, I found Plas Brondanw a truly irresistible location that reflects the thoughtfulness and attention to detail of Clough and Susan Williams Ellis and their vision.

Siân Hutchinson
Chasing the light

16 August – 28 September 2025
An artist specialising in the exploration of paper, Siân spent September and October 2024 in Oriel Brondanw inspired by shape, form and light. Using curiosity as her guide, Siân worked spontaneously, allowing intuition to steer her process. Waiting and chasing the light with her camera Siân used paper to explore techniques and ideas.

This exhibition shows works ‘in progress’; an exploration using paper in both 2 and 3 dimensions, photographs and moving images.

Siân invites us to pause, slow down and be curious.

For several years Siân has been exploring the theme of ‘Pause, Space and the Gaps inbetween’ to develop and facilitate wellbeing projects aimed at reducing Stress.

Website

When Goats had Feathers
with Ali Pickard

4 October – 9 November 2025
Ali Pickard intricately blends history with countless hours of craftsmanship to create fine art sculptures that reflect a world that both is and isn’t ours. Her work uncovers lost stories and hidden histories, exploring themes of women's experiences, language evolution, and the complex interplay of loss and gain. Within her unsettling yet contemplative pieces, Collectors, Word-Gatherers, and Half- Creatures caught between realities come to life.

Having originated from a women’s art welding collective, and after many years of not making, she returned to her creative practice in 2022 and is now an award-winning self-taught textile artist. Through her art, she engages in the slow processes of layered construction and hand embroidery, offering a counterpoint to our fast-paced lives and her own busy mind—especially in an era where rapid AI increasingly encroaches on artistic integrity. Her work not only honours traditional crafting skills but intertwines them with meaningful concepts, often using historical perspectives to reflect on contemporary society.

She creates under the name The Yaffingale, which is an old word for the Green Woodpecker.

Ali Pickard won Plas Brondanw Emerging Artist award in 2024

Vanessa Burroughes
Work inspired by Susan Williams-Ellis and the garden at Plas Brondanw

4 October – 9 November 2025
Vanessa Burroughes has always been drawn to collections, both her own and other people’s. Her work in response to Plas Brondanw and the designs of Susan Williams-Ellis has taken her on a journey through watercolours, papers created from colour studies, and small lino blocks and lino printing on a grand scale.

John Hedley and Sian Hughes
Evolving through Nature

4 October – 16 November 2025
John Hedley and Sian Hughes are collaborating on a new and evolving project, responding individually to wood from the Brondanw estate.

They will be creating outdoor installations through creative interventions with the wood, using a range of materials including metal, wire and porcelain. By so doing they will be responding to and celebrating the grounds and landscape of Plas Brondanw.

The work will be on display in the forecourt, where a tree becomes part of the installation.

This is part of an Arts Council of Wales supported project.