Originally formed as a group in 2006 by Prof Alistair Crawford for some of his mid-Wales-based Lifelong Learning students who wished to continue their personal artistic development, facilitated by open, constructive discussion of their work. We have this aim at the heart of all that we do today.
We are individual artists with very different backgrounds and interests, styles of working and use of media, but we make a point of challenging one another periodically to experiment with unfamiliar or long-forgotten techniques and subjects to continually widen our artistic ‘tool-kit’. Our creativity is increased by seeing alternative ways of approaching a common theme, and we find it stimulating to learn from each other’s disparate efforts!
We sometimes exhibit to a theme; last year, developing a body of work on the theme of ‘Wild / Gwyllt’ that was shown at the Radnor Museum in Llandrindod Wells and earlier this year, somewhat expanded, at the Oriel Rhiannon in Tregaron. Work for these exhibitions, as described in our exhibition statement by Kim James-Williams, included exploration or representation of …
‘Wild: Living in a state of nature, or of mind, not tamed
Wild: unquiet, characterised by unrest or discord
Wild: to describe something crazy’
Kim writes, ‘We all feel the call of the wild; we need it, we fear it, and we live alongside it. We hope you enjoy our explorations of ‘wild’ and are inspired to go out and dance, run on the beach, grow some plants, watch wildlife, or lie on a hilltop breathing in the smell of the peaty, grassy, spring air.’ As the dancer Isadora Duncan, wrote, “You were once wild here. Don’t let them tame you”!
We are currently embarking on a totally new adventure; a joint project with the aim of making a single artwork made up of a dozen or so individual panels, but which are unified by being ‘rooted’ along part of Offa’s Dyke (the ancient boundary between Wales and England). We will need to work together interactively in an effort to produce a coherent whole. This is part of the work being prepared for our exhibition in October and November this year at the Courtyard in Hereford on the theme of ‘Boundaries’. Wish us luck… and we hope you will come and see what we have made!
Please look at our website for examples of work by all our members and contact details too. While we don’t routinely offer Open Studios as part of the Ceredigion Art & Craft Trail, individuals may be approached with a view to that possibility.
Web: https://www.thepicturemakers.co.uk/home
Instagram: @picturemakers_ceredigion