Helfa Gelf 2013

Every September in North Wales many studios, galleries, basements, attics and garden sheds open their doors to the public! Showcasing and displaying the studio practice of a varied diverse range of applied art, craft and visual artists.

For me last September was a strange, embracing, joyful, scary, freeing, playful and taxing month, with my resignation from the active and demanding role of arts co-ordinator at Bocs I found my self unemployed (of permanent work as I was still running my small business DyfalDonc). For the first time which felt like a age I was able to be Rebecca F. Hardy the visual artists and not Rebecca Hardy-Griffith the organiser. I was able to solely concentrate and explore my own practice, play with materials, draw, mould, shape, place, glue, tare, stick, add, thread, and expand on ideas.

Here are some images from the studio space I created in Bocs for the month of Helfa Gelf in which I shared with Catrin Menai, Mererid Haf, Morgan Griffith (Sonomano), Cathryn Griffith, David Thomas and Sarah McEachran. For more info on Helfa Gelf click here, to view the Bocs page on the website click here.

I really do hope that Helfa Gelf receives funding this year, it would be a outrage and a huge shame for the North Wales art scene to loose such an event.

New Year New Start

First week of the new year and my to do list is getting longer everyday but sadly my art practice is being pushed to the bottom of the list! As stated in my previous blog which was posted back in July 2013 (New Year's resolution to at least post once a month!!) I was fortunate to be have quite a few group exhibitions last year but due to my old work commitments at Bocs I had no spare time to work on my own artwork.

In September 2013 I was no longer the arts co-ordinator for Bocs  and was participating in Helfa Gelf and sharing a studio space in Bocs gallery for the month. I will be posting about this soon as it was a fantastic month for me as I was able to create, experiment, sketch and play. In October I ran a Big Draw workshop with fellow Bocs member Mererid Haf the project concluded with a exhibition of the artwork created from the workshop mixed with artwork created by Bocs members under the same Big Draw theme; Draw Tomorrow. I will be posting about this project soon too as well as my masterclasses I ran in Mostyn over the Summer.

This year I have a few things planned including my solo show in Bocs at the end of May and I will be participating in the 'Y Wal' project in Galeri at the end of the summer. I also hope to finally experiment with printing, silk screen and mono-printing as well as my continuation into collage, zines and assemblages.

But the biggest and exciting project I have planned this year is with my husband and fellow artist Morgan (Sonomano) we will be converting the garage into a extra studio and as a art space for contemporary and conceptual artists based in North Wales.