This was the Open exhibition planned for 2020, which opened for one day and then had to close due to the COVID 19 lockdown. Despite the restrictions and having to postpone the opening for two years, the exhibition was diverse, lively and is a wonderful way to relaunch our activities after a period of hibernation.
Sarah Nechamkin was born in 1917. She and Susan Williams-Ellis met as students at Chelsea School of Art during the 1930s, and remained friends throughout their lives. Sarah lived in Ibiza, where Susan and her husband Euan also spent much time. The Susan-Williams Ellis foundation is privileged to have inherited much of her work when she passed away in 2017. This was the first major exhibition of her work to have been held since her death.
An exhibition of two halves, graduate and postgraduate by five artists from the Life Long learning course at Bangor University. The artists work varied greatly creating an eclectic show of painting, sculpture, installation and digital.
Menna Angharad studied Botany before training at Byam Shaw School of Art in London, and gaining an MA in Fine Art from Cardiff University. Painting landscapes and still life works in oil on linen canvas, she works directly from life, creating subtly beautiful images that celebrate the precious and intriguing nature of everyday objects.
Fragments in Time: Flow emerged from an Arts Council of Wales Research and Development grant in 2019 which Sian Hughes used to explore the hinterland of Traeth Mawr, Porthmadog, when it was a tidal estuary, before the Cob was built, and the River Dwyryd’s role in bringing slate to the sea. In this installation the themes of flow, islands and crossing points, are expressed through porcelain and latex. Marks from the landscape, embedded in their delicate translucent properties, are brought alive through lighting to invite a re-viewing of the familiar.
The three artists take a very different approach, although their subjects are similar. Sian makes expressive paintings in oil of local landscapes, animals and portaits of people close to her. Julie works in felt as well as on paper, also specialising in landscape, with a variety of textile and watercolour works on show. Diane makes colourful paintings of people inspired by the post-impressionists.