21/06/2024
The fourth biennial Celebration of Contemporary Welsh Painting, a Wales-wide series of exhibitions, launches this month and will continue at 16 venues across the country until February 2025.
The focus, as in the previous three editions of the event, is to give exhibition space to some of Wales’s most significant painters and those who are up and coming, as well as featuring high-quality work from students in colleges and/or schools.
June and July see the first six exhibitions of this year’s event, with the first opening on Saturday, June 22 at Queens Street Gallery in Neath. The exhibition - Mynydd i'r Môr - Mountain to Sea – will feature land and seascapes by Sandra Wintle, whose inspiration comes from experiencing the drama and excitement of the storms along the stretch of the South Wales Coast where she lives; Colin Davies, a full time artist based in South Wales much of whose work, inspired by the beautiful coastline and mountains of Wales, depicts the power and vitality of the ocean; and David Williams, who has drawn and painted for many years, inspired by the landscape surrounding him in South West Wales.
The following Saturday, a solo exhibition of work - Field of Souls - by Keith Bayliss in collaboration with David Thomas, words, and Joe Bayliss, sound, opens at y Gaer Museum, Library and Art Gallery in Brecon. “In this exhibition, Keith Bayliss has found an opportunity to create a place of peace, where we are not adrift, where we are not lost.”
From Saturday, July 2, the Found Gallery in Brecon will be showing work by Nina Krauzewicz, Josie d’Arby, whose landscapes are the result of a solo journey around Wales to interpret in her own way the country where she was born and raised, and a collaboration entitled Diptych by Sarah Hopkins and Muhammad Atif Khan.
Also in Brecon and opening on the same day at the Ardent Gallery is an exhibition featuring work by Joy Saunders, Chantel Ridley, Beatrice Williams, Matt Williams and John Wynne Hopkins.
A solo exhibition of work by Maggy Roberts at Hay Castle Café will showcase her dynamic and colourful abstractions of local landscapes from July 4 until September 29, with a selection of work in different media in other galleries.
Completing the first six openings is the annual summer show at the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art Gallery in Conwy, a visual feast bringing together a diverse collection of top-tier Welsh art all in one place. The show runs from July 13 to September 7.
Contact details for the first six venues, highlighted above:
Queen Street Gallery, 01639 631081
Y Gaer Gallery, 01874 623346 Found Gallery, [email protected]
Ardent Gallery, 01874 623333
Hay Castle, 01497 820079
Royal Cambrian Academy of Art Gallery, 01492 593413
COWCP will then continue throughout the autumn and on into 2025 with exhibitions at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery (July 23 to September 29); Tower Gallery in Crickhowell (July 25 to September 22); Community Gallery at Theatr Brycheiniog in Brecon (September 6 to October 21); Craft in the Bay in Cardiff (September 7 to October 27); the Table, Hay on Wye (September 7 to September 28); Glasbury Arts (October 18 to October 22); Oriel y Park, St David’s (November 8 to December 15); Cynon Valley Museum, Aberdare (November 28 to December 22); Tenby Museum (December 14 to January 24); Futures Gallery, Pierhead, Cardiff (January 10 to February 27, 2025).
There will also be a further exhibition at Royal Cambrian Academy of Art Gallery in Conwy, date to be confirmed.
Since the first CoWCP, which featured just 13 artists, the biennial event has grown to include more venues and over 100 participating artists. Displaying painted ceramics and sculpture alongside more traditional painting, the celebration showcases an exciting range of artists working across Wales.
For further details, and the full schedule of exhibitions, visit www.COWCP.com
Images:
Maggy Roberts
Colin Davies
