Slate history inspires display of kids’ art
ARTWORK by local schoolchildren inspired by visiting slate quarrying areas of North Wales can be seen at the National Slate Museum Llanberis until April 30.
Tiny little slate roofs and sculpted slate bowls are just some of the items completed by children from 6 local schools located on the Snowdonia Slate Trail – an exciting 85 mile long walk through the slate areas of Snowdonia and which is due to launch in October 2017.
As part of the project the school children have been learning about their locality by working on art projects inspired by field visits to slate quarrying sites along the route.
The trail is the idea of Aled Owen, originally from Tregarth, and has been developed in order to encourage local people to interact more with the slate quarrying areas of North Wales and to learn more about the industry and their own locality.
Funding has been secured from The Heritage Lottery Fund, Magnox and a range of local groups and companies to kick start the project.
He explained further: “The trail guides people to explore examples of our industrial past and complements the work being undertaken by Gwynedd Council, Snowdonia National Park Authority and others to secure World Heritage status for the Snowdonia slate communities. We are grateful to all the funders who have made this project possible and allowed so many local children to learn a bit more about their wonderful industrial past of the area.”
Anita Daimond, Education coordinator on the project, and local artist Julie (Jwls) Williams have taken over 300 pupils on field visits along the route to discover more about the trail and to create 2D and 3D artwork, to help interpret it.
On February 14 and 15 pupils involved in the project visited the museum to help set up the exhibition and to see and celebrate each others artwork displayed around the site in Llanberis.
She said: “It’s been so wonderful to work with Jwls to take pupils out to learn about their local environment and use art to help them to explore their cultural history. We are delighted that members of the public will be able to see the pupils artwork inspired by their visits on display in the Slate Museum”.
Dafydd Roberts from the National Slate Museum said: “We are delighted to be supporting the Snowdonia Slate Trail project as it will further promote and enhance the industrial heritage of our area, hopefully bringing in more visitors to the area bringing valuable income. The trail passes by the museum so people can pop in and learn more about the history of the places they will visit on the journey”. ● Follow the progress on the slate trail development on twitter @snowdoniaslate1 and at www.snowdoniaslatetrail.org