NEW STUDIOS : Communal Art Space
We have just set up studios in Grangetown behind Taff Embankment on the Taff Trail. The idea is to provide affordable workspaces for around 10 artists at around 10mt square each. The studios are semi-partitioned, with a shared space, for sitting, moving, tea-making, exhibitions, workshops and art related events. There are also two free supported spaces for 3-6 months for artists who may not otherwise be able to access a space, funded by WCVA Cymru ‘Landfill Disposal Tax Communities Grant’. We’re particularly keen to be there for local artist and people in Grangetown and neighbouring areas wanting to engage in creative activity, so please get in touch if you want to chat, visit or find out more artshellcontact@gmail.com.
CHURCHILL WAY ARTIST COMMISSIONS AND GREEN SPACE CREATION
Over the Summer of 2021 Art Shell and Made in Roath worked with Cardiff Council on a number of commissions by local artists and groups as part of a Children’s Festival in the Summer. The work responded to the theme of ‘Play’ and to the history of Churchill Way, off Queen Street in Cardiff City Centre. Scaffold designed and installed by Cardiff Scaffolding contracts, Hammocks by Roland Stokes, Printing by Shaun James and Aurora Trinity Group, Flags designed by Welsh Gifted and Black, Cat Lewis, Jessica Akerman, Trinity Centre Cardiff, Shaun James, Terry Chin and Freya Dooley, Salad circle by Bottaga Project and Cardiff Salad Garden, Floor maze painting by Amber Mottram, Story graphic by Derek Bainton.
The project focused on making the city centre a place of respite, a space for passersby, in particular young people to interact with art and nature and also considered the street’s future in advance of the opening of part of the docks feeder canal (which currently flows beneath the road).
CONNECT AND FLOURISH
Future Archives: Heritage Seeds
Art Shell were asked by artists Kyle Legall, Gavin Porter, Imran Khan and Samatar Elmi if we could act as host for their Connect and Flourish Arts Council Wales funding application last year.
The artists’ idea was to form a Butetown-based creative collective and establish ‘guilds’ in music and dance, visual arts, film and spoken word and to create space and time to make new work with people in Butetown using the The Heritage & Cultural Exchange archive material as a jumping off point.
‘Future Archives: Heritage Seeds’ was a year-long project that supported the formation of a Butetown arts collective ‘Scribla’ & development of a close partnership with HEC: The Heritage & Cultural Exchange. The collective aimed to activate and add to the archive, re-imagining ways of presenting the archive that told the story of Butetown/Tiger Bay & immigration to Wales Each of the four lead artists developed work in their fields of expertise, Music composition, Animation, Poetry, Film, Documentary and Theatre. Throughout the year Kyle, Imran, Sami and Gavin created opportunities to collaborate with each other, as well as work with other artists and community members.
Samatar Elmi The project will enable Sam to explore in an artistic sense local stories and the importance of a historiography rooted in a grassroots approach. The development of a network of mutually-supportive creatives is empowering and liberates the artists through improved access to shared resources, particularly the digital communications technology required for sustainable and innovative responses to the restrictions of performance and audience engagement in a post-Covid environment. Sam hopes to connect with like-minded creatives on interdisciplinary productions. Sam is also keen to support emerging poets and writers in the wider artistic community, which in-turns feeds into the collective’s creative ecosystem.
Imran Khan Over the course of the project Imran plans to create musical works and performances inspired by the Heritage and Cultural Exchange archive of Butetown. This is a collaborative project with local and international musicians to develop a digital based album celebrating the multicultural diversity of Butetown, both retrospectively and as it is today. Through the formation of a Music Guild, there will be a strong focus on Mentoring, Artist development, Networking and cultural Exchange for artists from, or with links to the community in Butetown, culminating in an album and show towards the end of the year.
Kyle Legall Kyle will be working on creating short stories for Radio Cardiff, inspired by Butetown’s rich heritage of the Docklands, using local people to voice the new script and working with local talent from the area over the coming months. As part of this process Kyle will explore Butetown’s extensive cultural archives to create documentary and an animation film, as well as giving people the opportunity to record interesting local stories. To reach more people in the area Kyle also plans to make a presence on the street of Butetown with new artworks.
Gavin Porter Gavin aims to create a series of documentaries, video art pieces and a live documentary as part of Future Archives, as well as contribute to the HEC archive by interviewing members of the Butetown Community. Gavin also aims to create opportunities to collaborate with other artists and community members
The project partners include Heritage and Cultural Exchange, Radio Cardiff, Glamorgan Archives, Wales Millennium Centre, National Theatre Wales.
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