Plas BrondanwSusan Williams-Ellis
Foundation (SWEF)
Foundation (SWEF)
post@susanwilliamsellis.org
01766 770590
post@susanwilliamsellis.org
01766 770590
We run a changing program of exhibitions throughout the year. We try to showcase a wide variety of work from conceptual to craft and design work, and we work with artists from all over the world. We exhibit works on all kinds of themes, but we are particularly interested in work that responds specifically to the location and its history and to the ideas of Clough and Amabel Williams-Ellis and their children about art, design, architecture, society, politics, planning, science, literature or any other matter they explored in their long and varied careers.
The 'Agored' and 'Agored Ifanc' exhibitions welcome applications from anyone, whether an experienced artist or a first-timer. We will set a theme for these shows which will vary from one year to the next, but based on pieces from the archive, which will be displayed opposite the contemporary works. Within the Open programme, we offer an emerging artist award and a people's award.
For more information about the awards, and how to submit work for the open exhibitions, follow the link to the 'applications' page, below.
We have decided to set a theme each year, going forwards. Items from the Susan Williams-Ellis archive will be curated according to the theme for the year, and this will also be the theme for the open and young open exhibitions. We invite artists who wish to have solo or group shows to consider responding to the theme, if they feel inspired to do so, although this is not a requirement. Events will also be curated to respond to the theme, where appropriate. The themes are deliberately broad and may be interpreted in any way that the artist feels is appropriate. The themes for the next five years are outlined below:
2024: Transformation
2025: Space
2026: Animal / Vegetable / Mineral
2027: Disturbance
2028: The Sea
26/10/2024 – 12/01-2025
I live 1000 ft above the Dee Valley on the edge of the Berwyn Moors so the space and the expanse of the sky is constantly changing and a stimulus for studying the drama of the horizon meeting the Troposphere. The raised hills and valleys of the Berwyn heathland are punctuated by the dark blocks of the forestry and speckled with dots of sheep. As the clouds arc and disappear over the horizon you receive a real sense of the globe of our Earth in space.
When I look out of my studio window I see the far side of the Dee Valley and below the bend in the River Dee with morning mists drifting upwards across the fields and woodland. While in the evening the sun sets in the west plunging the hills in luminous darkness. In winter the hills are high enough to be clad in snow giving an eerie light in the early morning.
But the sea has always been a draw for me to study the light on the water as it meets the sky and the clouds casting shadows over the beach at low tide with pools of water sparkling with diamonds of light.
18/01/2025 – 16/02/2025
We have had a better response than ever to our call for work from people under the age of 18, with ambitious 3D works and elegant, imaginative pictures. Special thanks to the schools that have taken part, including all their pupils in colourful and energetic projects.
26/10/2024 – 12/01-2025
As I grew up in a close-knit rural community, I was instilled from my childhood in a tradition that valued telling a story, be it a factual story or an imaginary story and as an artist I see the images I create as a continuation of this- but through a visual medium rather than the spoken word.
Animals and creatures have an important role in my prints - the half-human and half-animal attributes of the figures give me the opportunity to deal with contemporary issues in a way that is provocative and funny. Although some of the compositions can at times cause discomfort to the viewer, a figure and horns protruding from his or her skull are familiar in a strange way, and recall a visual vocabulary that is ancient in nature.
Living in a rural area the natural world, the language and the traditions of my square mile feed the work and I am keen to use this knowledge to create worlds that arise from the relationship between the truth and the subconscious .
26/10/2024 – 16/02/2025
Ruth is a visual storyteller from Aberystwyth. She has been exhibiting widely throughout England and Wales for 25 years and her work is held in various public collections such as Moma Wales and National library of Wales.
She looks for inspiration for her narrative in museums, at festivals, exhibitions, live music events and in books.’ A colourful place in which to dream’ is a collection of collage and drawings developed in response to Portmeirion and Plas Brondanw and was born of her strong feeling of belonging and creative connection when visiting Clough Williams - Ellis estate.
You can see a full catalogue and price list, and instructions how to buy the work if you are unable to visit Plas Brondanw here