With support from the Welsh Government, Amgueddfa Cymru and the Arts Council of Wales are developing and piloting ideas to support visual arts in Wales and share the national art collections with communities and galleries across the country. Celf ar y Cyd is one of the first phases of the project developed in response to the current health crisis.
The scheme also provides an opportunity to experiment with the development of different visual identities and logos, and the artist S Mark Gubb was selected to lead on this. Mark, who lives and works in Cardiff, proposed commissioning several artists to design a number of designs, rather than creating one single brand.
Following a call out for artists, designs by ten of the applicants were selected, namely:
Becca + Clare - beccaandclareareartists.com
Cerys Knighton - https://www.cerysknightonart.com
Emma Daman Thomas - https://emmadamanthomas.com/
Jacob Taylor - @snakenub
Manon Awst - www.manonawst.com
Menai Rowlands - www.menaidesigns.com
Paul Eastwood - www.paul-eastwood.net
Philip Cheater - www.fineartphil.com
Rithika Pandey - www.chashmishkahiki.com
Thomas Goddard - www.thomas-goddard.com
Dafydd Elis-Thomas MS, Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism said:
"I’m delighted that this work has taken place, and has been able to support the sector, during this very difficult time. It is wonderful so see that we are still creating and collaborating on exciting projects such as Celf ar y Cyd. This is an opportunity for our fantastic contemporary artists to be part of the process from the outset, and the beginning of a creative process which will lead us to achieve our ground-breaking and ambitious vision of celebrating contemporary art in Wales.”
Dr Kath Davies, Director of Collections and Research at Amgueddfa Cymru said:
"The work submitted by the ten contemporary artists reflects the creativity that exists within the sector. It has been fantastic to be able to work with artists from across the country, who represent the diverse communities of Wales. Menai Rowlands's work has already attracted some excellent feedback on the project's new Instagram platform @celfarycyd where the individual logos will be shared over the next weeks.”
The designs will be used for the four inaugural Celf ar y Cyd projects:
1. Art 100 Celf https://www.instagram.com/celfarycyd/
An Instagram project offering the public an opportunity to curate an exhibiton of artworks at the national museums of Wales and in galleries across Wales through ‘liking’ artworks on the account and commenting on them.
2. Cynfas/Canvas
A contemporary arts magazine which will be published for the first time in October 2020 to coincide with Black History Month.
3. Comissioning new art
There will be a series of opportunities for artists to create new works in response to communitus across Wales.
4. Art in Hospitals
COVID field hospitals have been turned into galleries by decorating them with reproductions of the artworks in Amgueddfa Cymru’s collection, and new resources have been developed for Health Service workers to help patients with their recovery.
In July 2018, the Welsh Parliament published a study discussing the options for the creation of a national gallery for contemporary art. A 'dissemination model' was agreed, which would share our national art with galleries across Wales.