Bodlondeb - Creating new artwork for Haus of Helfa / LLAWN03

This afternoon I watched three of my short films that I created way back when of my Nain while studying in Howard Gardens, Cardiff some 10 and a bit years ago.

I haven't looked at them or exhibited them outside the realm of the campus, when I finally graduated I left the work on the shelf. It wasn't till 2012 some 6 years later I began to explore the photography I took during those years. The main reasons why as I had been invited to join an alternative photography group at the time and to exhibit with them. The group no longer exists but it was the catalyst to re-enter the work in it's photography format and once again artwork that had never been exhibited. It also enabled me to create new pieces of work which opened other doors.

It's been 5 years since my Nain passed away, I was 6 months pregnant. Looking into these short films I didn't think it would emotionally affect me but subconsciously my grief still lurks. Where as the photography I have become quite immune to, observing them as objects. Even the old carpets, lino and kitchen tiles I see as precious artifacts, to savoir and catalog. Where as hearing her talk and watching her body language and her eyes glint with humour has curiously provoked my emotions.

The reasons behind revisiting these works are due to my up and coming exhibition as part of Haus of Helfa for Helfa Gelf and LLAWN03 this September. Creating new artwork to be exhibited in a derelict building in Llandudno.

To see the progress so far have a look at my instagram page @_rfhardy

It still upsets me that she never got to meet Efa.

Mineralogy Exhibition - Oriel 2, Oriel Wrecsam

Here is the text that accompanies my artwork in Oriel 2 at Oriel Wrecsam written by Steffan Jones-Hughes (Art Manager) and James Hedley John Harper (Gallery Assistant).

Rebecca F. Hardy is based in North Wales. She works in a range of materials, from mixed media, collage, sculpture, installations to photography. Recent projects have included explorations of internal organs, mental states and domestic objects.

As a young girl she would visit her grandmother in Dorset where there was a shop that sold rocks and minerals. This sparked a fascination in her which continues to this day. More recently she was given a 1945 edition of a Mineralogy Dictionary that had been found in a charity shop. This became the catalyst for this current body of work, which continues to develop the artist’s fascination with “collections”.

John Ruskin, a notable 19th Century art critic, had a love of rocks, geology and mineralogy. He believed rocks and minerals represented changes over a long period of time and also had religious and spiritual connotations – all of which can be read into Rebecca F. Hardy’s work - as well as bringing science and art together. Ruskin’s ideas pointed to the significance of order within disorder and his writings on the subject are believed to have inspired some of the early abstract paintings of the 20th Century.

Hardy has taken the pages of her Mineralogy Dictionary as a starting point and worked over them with drawing and print to produce a series of works which have a feel of museum cabinets or school text books with notes written on them. The original artwork is re-appropriated to create a personal response to the subject matter that goes beyond the subjective and into the realms of the sub-conscious and personal.

Crystal forms, such as those found within abstract architecture, are used as a metaphor for renewal and as visions of a better future. These emblems of hope resonate around Hardy’s work, amplifying its tenderness and emotional undertones, despite the hard crystal forms.

Galeri Agored 2014

Galeri Open 2014 accepted my sculpture/assemblage/installation 'Chest of drawers #2' my sculptural work touches on the psychology, sociology and biology of feminism and mental health issues. This particular sculpture is an evolving piece of artwork which is adapted, edited and reformed with each display, through adjustment of drawers and position to the contents inside.  

Helfa Gelf Collaboration with Cathryn Lowri Griffith

Y Wal - Galeri, Caernarfon

Mineralology Dictionary

This month I will be setting up a working space in Galeri Caernarfon Cyf. (formerly known as Cwmni Tref Caernarfon Cyf) it is a not for profit community enterprise operating as a Development Trust. Galeri Caernarfon Cyf's vision is that: "anything is possible...through creative thought and sustainable action". I began preparing for the 'Y Wal' (The Wall) project a couple of months ago, the project is to cover a 2m x 2m wall section in the open public space of the art center. I started collecting old books on minerals, gemstones and rocks, imagery I had wanted to use in my work for a while not knowing fully what I had planned for them. I pondered over the project on many occasions on my journey's in and back home from work and like many things it has started to fall into place now that I am actually creating and not just thinking about it. 

Delving into more research I found beauty in the science behind minerals, the chemistry and the geometric natural wonders of them. The wealth and status they occur and the endless admiration and joy they give as gems and jewels. Their wonder to heal and present a higher being to ones aura (if you belief in that sort of thing). 

I've also been searching for quotes and sayings that have links to minerals and gemstones, I am yet to find the ultimate line but here are a few I have come across. 

“I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake on Earth as a drop of oil on my foot.”Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

“Life without endeavor is like entering a jewel-mine and coming out with empty hands”Japanese Proverb quotes

"Not on one strand are all life's jewel's strung" quote from William Morris (English textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist. Associated with the English Arts and Crafts Movement 1834-1896)

“The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.” Salvador Dalí quotes (Spanish painter, 1904-1989)

"I am not a precious gemstone not even a semi-precious gemstone" Anon

neuroanatomy Exhibition - Bocs - Oriel // Gallery 3

Collaboration with Cathyn Lowri Griffith

Collaboration with Wendy Couling

Collaboration with Catrin Menai

Collaboration with Sian  Green

Collaboration with Jo Marsh

Collaboration with Laura Cameron

Collaboration with Gemma Lowe