The Art of Regeneration is a new exhibition at Oriel y Bont, inspired by the changing environmental and economic fortunes of Treforest and the South Wales valleys.
The exhibition focuses on how the local area has been transformed from a
rural idyll to an industrial powerhouse, before entering a period of
post-industrial economic decline during the 1980s that communities,
institutions and politicians have sought to counter. This, together with the way attitudes and pressures on the
environment have changed from the demands of unbridled exploitation to the need
for sustainable development and conservation prompt the question: what is the
art of regeneration?
‘In Ponty I think there should be less cars and more animals.’ McKenzie
‘I want it to be more trees for oxygen so we can breathe.’ Isabella
‘I think, people should plant more trees in Ponty Park. ‘ Jake
‘Knock down buildings to make more space because it is all squished.’ Lacie
‘Use no petrol and diesel and if teleporting is real, use that.’ Jacob
Storyboards by the Crafty Cuppas alongside drawings by Ernest Zobole
A postcard by Jake from Parc Lewis School
Walking the remains of colliery spoil heaps
To look toward what the future might hold for the region and what the changes taking place mean to people, artists Nichola Goff, Sharon Magill and Natalia Dias have engaged with a variety of local community groups and organisations: Artis Community, The Crafty Cuppas, Pontypridd Museum, Rhondda Cynon Taff Creative Writing group and children from Parc Lewis Primary School. While creating their own objects and images using plants found growing on former slag heaps and printed with pigment derived from mining waste, the community have also chosen artworks from the University of South Wales Permanent Collection that reflect the scars of the industrial past.
“I chose the ‘Pink Shop’
because I remember going in there as a child. It looks just the same now and my
two daughters work in there.” Trudy Coombs
“Dark – shows what a miner’s life was really like. I like dark things.” Cheryl Davies
“I chose this piece because it inspires
debate. And we just proved it.” Chris
Hart
Crafty Cuppa storyboard workshop with Sharon Magill
Storyboard pages by Cheryl Davies
Ceramics workshop with Natalia Dias
Rosa
Branca (2015)
by Natalia Dias
Natalia Dias was born in Portugal. She was
winner of the Gold Medal in Craft at the National Eisteddfod in 2010. “My
fascination with naturally occurring geometric phenomena of repetitive growth
patterns in plants and crystals is reflected in the symmetry of line and form
that is often found enveloping my figures.”
Cyanotype by Sharon Magill
Sharon Magill teaches digital story-telling at Cardiff University. She studied fine art at Cardiff School of Art and the University of South Wales.
Succession Detail (2019) by Nichola
Goff
Nichola Goff is an artist and printmaker based in the Forest of Dean and interested in the human condition connected to place, freedoms and community. She is a recent alumni of University of South Wales completing an MA Arts Health and Wellbeing in 2018.
The exhibition is supported by the HEFCW Civic Mission fund at USW. We are grateful to HEFCW, Artis Community and Pontypridd Museum for their help and support in bring the exhibition together.
