Show explores creative call of the coastal path
The second exhibition this month to pair writers and artists in response to the Wales Coastal Path, the new Coastal Path Show at Oriel Canfas in Cardiff is a visual and literary feast
BY PURE coincidence, just as one Cardiff exhibition themed around the Wales Coastal Path comes to an end (Celf Coast Cymru 10 in the Norwegian Church, Cardiff ), another one, which also pairs artists with writers, has opened at Oriel Canfas in Canton.
This show was conceived last year by painter Anthony Evans, got delayed, and has now come to fruition as a rich and varied array of different artistic styles and mediums.
“Because I’m a painter, and I didn’t want all paintings – I wanted different things, so I invited people who made different things,” he says. “For example, we’ve got two little art books made by Cathryn Gwynn that are absolutely beautiful, slate work and six sculptures made from Alabaster – it’s a really interesting show.”
In total 18 people took part: painters Anthony Evans, Aron Evans and Elfyn
Lewis; poets Myrddin ap Dafydd, Cyril jones, and Alun Tobias; writers Jon Gower and Trefor Davies; sculptors Nia Bennett, Alun Hemming, and Su Roberts; filmmaker Madoc Roberts; photographers: Marian Delyth, Robert Law and Sue Davies; and mixed media artists Luca Paci, Chris Glynn and Cathryn Gwynn.
Each visual artist was paired with a writer, and each pair focussed on a different section of the coastal path, navigating their own way to crosspollinate each other’s work.
“From Sir Fon to the Gwent Levels every participant has chosen their special place on this 870 mile path,” says Anthony. “Husband and wife Su Roberts and Madoc Roberts chose the headland in Penarth, where alabaster falls down onto the beach. Su has made alabaster sculptures and Madoc has made a film.
“Nia Bennett and Cath Gwynn have returned to the Cardigan coast for their inspiration. Robert Law’s photographs of Holyhead and Jon Gower’s written pieces bring into focus life in this far-flung corner of Wales.”
Anthony himself worked with poet Myrddin ap Dafydd on two locations, walking the paths on Mynydd Cilan on the Llyn Peninsular and the Gwent Levels between Cardiff and Newport, where they startled a couple “in a clinch” in a car – an incident that made it into Myrddin’s poetry.
Sue Davies and her brother Trefor have gone back to childhood memories of Tenby and Aron Evans and Alun Tobias chose to visit Llansteffan on the Carmarthenshire coast.
Elfyn Lewis has also returned home to the coast around Criccieth and Porthmadog. Pwll Deri in north Pembrokeshire has spawned four pieces, and the Cardiganshire coast and the heritage coast of Lavernock are also featured.
For Anthony, whose work has long focussed on Wales’ coastline, the choice of theme for the exhibition came naturally.
“The Cardiganshire coast, the north Pembrokeshire coast, the Llyn Peninsular – I know them very well,” he says. “I’ve walked and painted around the path for years, and I thought this one path, as a theme, would mean a person could go to lots of different places.”
He says the artists and writers have wholeheartedly enjoyed the project.
“We’ve made wonderful new friends and gained new insights. There’s a line by the poet Waldo Williams that asks who it is that calls when your imagination awakes? That has always influenced me as an artist; I always ask that question -– who is it that calls me to create? And that applies not only to me as a visual artist, but to musicians and poets and so on. You don’t always know what that voice is. But in this instance, it was the path that called them.
“I hope this show inspires others to create. I’ve always felt that the arts should be for everybody. It’s not an elitist thing, and I hope that’s what people get out of it.”
■ Sioe yr Arfordir / Coastal Path Show. Oriel Canfas, Glamorgan St, Canton, Cardiff.march 18- April 15