Albany’s winter show welcomes newcomers
The Albany Gallery celebrates winter with a rolling exhibition of much-loved and newlywelcomed artists...
THIS year’s Winter Show at Cardiff’s Albany Gallery features a changing selection of paintings, ceramics and sculpture from artists including Andrew Douglas-forbes, Nick Holly, Peter Kettle, Martin Llewellyn and Vivienne Luxton, with debut appearances from Andrew Faulkner and Tom Hughes.
Andrew Faulkner’s work explores a lifelong fascination with the landscape of Wales and its historic buildings and structures, particularly those which are derelict or in decline.
He is delighted to be making his debut at the Albany Gallery, a place he has known and visited many times over the last 20 years since studying art and architecture in Cardiff in the early-2000s.
He says: “Four of my pieces will be on display – including two of my largest pieces to date – all are detailed studies of the fascinating interiors of derelict buildings in Wales. This is a great opportunity to share with a wider audience some of the remarkable historic buildings and sites we are gradually losing in Wales.”
Also making his debut at the gallery is Bristol-based contemporary artist Tom Hughes, who has produced some stunning images of the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains, an area dear to his heart.
Tom, who has won multiple awards including prizes from the Discerning Eye and the coveted Critics Prize from the New English Art Club, says: “I have been exploring the hills of south Wales for more than 20 years on my mountain bike and on foot, its dramatic weather and light being a constant source of amazement to me.
“I gather reference from plein air painting on location, pencil sketching and photography, before working up larger pieces in the studio. I adore being outside in the elements and these paintings are a way for me to bring a piece of the mountains home.”
The Winter Show runs until January 7. More details can be found at www.albanygallery.com
“I travelled with my eldest daughter, her boyfriend, a dog and a cat. We hid in the subway in Kharkov. The Russians were already in my house by 6am on February 24. After the subway, we lived in a basement for two weeks, but when the aircraft flew in with bombs, I could not stand it any more and decided to leave Kharkov under shelling, in winter. We drove past destroyed houses – it was cold and very scary.
“I drove 200km from Kharkov and every day I was waiting for news, because my other dog, Byron, remained in the occupied area. He had been taken in by a neighbour, but he needed to join me and I didn’t know how to do it.”
Eventually she found international zoo volunteers from Moscow who helped to take Byron to Russia. Her neighbour walked three kilometres and through the Russian military checkpoints and her partner travelled 3,500km across the frontline, got shelled, but got Byron to Belgorod then to Estonia. She was eventually reunited with him in Warsaw.
“When I found out that Byron had been rescued, I cried for the first time since the beginning of the war,” she says. By then it was the 47th day of the war – she was staying in the city of Kropyvnytskyi and learnt that the houses of two of her neighbours had completely burned down.
“There were only seven whole houses on the street,” she says. “Even being in the centre of Ukraine, it was difficult to cope with the fear of endless air raids. The front was not advancing and it became clear that the war would continue for a long time. I went to work in a volunteer centre for refugees.”
In the second month of the war, news came of the liberation of Tsirkunov, her home village.
“I was happy for exactly three days, because after three days there were such bombardments that out of seven surviving houses only three remained,” she says. “One of them is mine. After that, Tsirkuny was for three months one of the most shelled territories. The chances of returning faded. There were no job prospects. I decided to leave the country.”
She chose to head for the UK, partly because she has a friend who lives between Cowbridge and Cardiff – but there were other factors as well.
“I chose from opposites – Germany is a country in which there is no place for hedonism, Italy and France have taken a fuzzy position regarding Ukraine. One thing has always attracted me to Britain is something that in my language it is called dignity, self-esteem, virtue, merit.”
She wrote a long and honest post on Facebook asking for somewhere to stay. In it, she briefly shared her life story, how her husband had died 13 years ago – something she had felt she would never get over – but she had healed herself by taking over his jewellery business and making it a success.
She explained that she is also a certified psychotherapist and a mother of two adult daughters, that she loves cooking, planting flowers and art and that she enjoys house parties where the talk covers art, politics and psychology.
She added: “My knowledge of English is like that of a smart dog – I understand almost everything, but I don’t speak. True, it was noticed that after a glass of wine I can suddenly discuss the common features between the art of the Renaissance and the Impressionists.”
The post hit home – she was offered a place to stay.
“It was such a long post,” she recalls. “My journalist friend said that it was too long. But I ended up in a wonderful family, where I was accepted with my two dogs.”