Latest news with #YLleCelf
Leader Live
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Verity Pulford set to win award at Eisteddfod in Wrexham
Verity Pulford from Eryrys near Ruthin will receive the medal in a special ceremony on the first day of the Eisteddfod, which is being held this year in Wrexham. She submitted two pieces of work for the selectors to consider for the Eisteddfod's extensive art exhibition, Y Lle Celf. Describing her work, she said, 'I made the two pieces this year for Collect at Somerset House. Verity's winning artwork (Image: Eisteddfod)'The three bird skulls are made of layers of glass in different colours, with gold on the beaks. In 2023, I spent a month in Lybster in the north of Scotland on a residency at North Lands Glass, and that's where my interest in shoreline discoveries began. 'I collected many natural objects from the beaches there, including a guillemot skull. By making a mould and then using lost wax casting, I can recreate the shape and textures of the original. 'I started using casting in my work after receiving a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) scholarship and studying the different techniques. 'The second piece, Dark Treasures, combines elements of pâte de verre glass and cast glass pieces, brought together to create imaginary organisms displayed as a collection. 'The colours used are reminiscent of Wunderkammer collections, using black and gold glass. I've also incorporated elements from old-fashioned microscope slides, claws, and crab shells.' Verity added that her work is inspired by the structures and growth patterns in plants and other life forms, 'Non-flowering plants like lichens, algae, ferns, and mosses, and also the magical world of fungi. I play with ideas of magical realism – creating my own forms inspired by or combining different plants and organisms. 'Mutualism, my most recent project funded by the Arts Council of Wales, gave me the opportunity to research marine invertebrates, and many of these are now a source of inspiration. 'I'm also interested in and influenced by the cataloguing of nature – natural history artefacts, early cyanotypes, x-rays, microscopic images, and botanical drawings.' Verity has exhibited at Y Lle Celf twice before – in 2023 with In a World of Its Own, a group of glass mushrooms under a dome, and last year with a collection of work from the Mutualism project. She added, 'It's a great honour to be awarded the Gold Medal for Craft and Design. I've been supported throughout my career by so many wonderful people and organisations, and the Arts Council of Wales has helped me to develop and grow as a maker. 'I'm so grateful for all this support and to those who have encouraged me, supported me, and believed in me. In Wales, I'm part of an exceptional group of makers and artists, and it's an honour to live in this beautiful country surrounded by such a talented and loving community.' Verity said she enjoyed making things at school but never seriously thought it would become a career, 'In my early twenties, I travelled to Barbados and lived with an artist called Aziza. She encouraged me and my friend Sarah to draw and paint, and that was the beginning of the journey that led both of us to become artists. 'I went to art school and discovered glass, specialising in Architectural Glass for my degree. MOST READ: "Beautifully presented" family home on the market in Wrexham Yellow weather warning for Flintshire with Storm Floris set to hit the UK Plans submitted to build new Home Bargains store in Flintshire 'I draw and collect natural elements a lot, and I also draw and paint. These 2D explorations are never really designs – more ways to play with colours and shapes, combining structures and forms, using tone and pattern. 'From there, I work through ideas – mainly in glass – which means I have a lot of discarded pieces because it takes me a while to achieve what I want. 'It takes courage, vision, hard work, and relentless determination to work with glass. So many failures and so many disappointments!' Verity's work will be on display throughout the Eisteddfod in Y Lle Celf. The National Eisteddfod will be held on greenfield land in Is-y-coed near Wrecsam from 2-9 August. For more details, visit
North Wales Live
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
First National Eisteddfod 2025 winners announced as festival gets underway in Wrexham
The first National Eisteddfod winners have been announced as the festival gets underway. One of Europe's biggest cultural festivals, it is being staged in Wrexham, Wales' newest city, this year. In recent weeks Eisteddfod staff and contractors have transformed farmland at Is-y-Coed on the eastern outskirts of Wrexham, into a small town with a 1,500 seat pavilion, a range of performance spaces and stalls as well as a temporary Gorsedd circle. And the first winners have been announced after the cream of Welsh art talent submitted a range of artistic works to impress the selectors. The first winners are: The Dewi Bowen New Artist Scholarship will be awarded to Barnaby Prendergast, from Bethesda near Bangor, who submitted three pieces of artwork. Awarded in memory of Dewi Bowen by his niece, Elizabeth, the scholarship is given to an individual who has been studying or working as an artist for less than five years. The Gold Medal for Fine Art is being presented to Gareth Griffith in a special ceremony on the Eisteddfod Maes The artist, who lives in Mynydd Llandygai near Bangor, said he was delighted to win the award, "I've exhibited my work at Y Lle Celf at the National Eisteddfod several times since the 1970s, but this is the first time I've won this award. I'm very happy to receive it – it's quite an honour for an artist to be recognised in this way," said Gareth who presented five items for consideration. Architects behind a project to transform a church into a community arts centre have been awarded the Gold Medal for Architecture. St Mary's Church in the centre of Bangor has been converted into a flexible arts and performance space for Frân Wen, a professional theatre company that provides activities specifically for young people. It has been designed by the London-based architecture firm Manalo & White and led by architect Takuya Oura. Intricate and colourful glass models of bird skulls have won the Gold Medal for Craft and Design for an artist from Denbighshire at the National Eisteddfod. Verity Pulford from Eryrys near Ruthin received the medal in a special ceremony. She submitted two pieces of work for the selectors to consider for the Eisteddfod's extensive art exhibition, Y Lle Celf. Selectors said they were collectively impressed by the overall quality and depth of the submissions across all categories. For more information about the festival, visit:
