Elysium

Written & Directed by Christine Buxton. An old, inherited box reveals penciled messages on tiny scraps of paper, postcards illustrating early tanks and aircraft, newspaper cuttings, buttons and medals and ribbons and an envelope edged in black. These letters and documents, written and collected over six generations, provide rich, original material for this biographical performance for four actors. They tell stories of insurgency, protest and politics; stories of those going t...o war, those who stayed at home, those who came home, and those who didn’t.
This event is a part of the Now the Hero series of fringe events under the banner of Now for More happening across Swansea.
NYA/NTH uses Brangwyn's British Empire Panels as a springboard for exploring narratives of war, peacetime unity and harmony. The panels offer both an uncompromising vision of the colourful and optimistic possibilities of post war Empire and reveal the tragedy of war hidden behind the fecund and super abundant scenery.
To coincide with the main performance dates there will be a mini festival under the banner Now For More that will resemble an Art Weekender spread over from Friday 21st to Saturday 29th September. NFM will involve all of the city's cultural institutions big and small, who each in their own unique way will respond to NYA \ NTH' main theme - the impact of war and conflict on human relationships and to the panels themselves. NFM will feature one-off special events, exhibitions, artists' talks, family activities and trails, public artworks, workshops and performances by outstanding contemporary artists in multiple locations across Swansea.
Access to all participating NOW For More venues and projects is FREE.
www.nowthero.wales www.volcanotheatre.co.uk
Images : lwphotographyswansea
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H A B I T A T S #2 Philip Cheater | Kathryn Anne-Trussler | Amy Goldring | Sophie Kumar-Taylor | Tom Morris | Ann Jordan
Preview Sat 29 Sept 11am exhibition continues until Oct 27th... open Tues - Sat 11-5pm
elysium gallery/elysium offsite presents six artists who have created a series of large artworks responding to the Brangwyn Hall Panels in Swansea. Immersing themselves in the lush vegetation and varied habitats depicted in the panels, these new works will be accompanied by a series of etchings, lithographs & prints by Frank Brangwyn (1867 – 1956) loaned by the Goldmark Gallery made possible by the Taliesin Arts centre.
H A B I T A T S #2 follows on from H A B I T A T S #1 which features smaller works by the same artists on display at National Botanic Gardens from Sat 22nd Sept.
This event is a part of the Now the Hero series of fringe events under the banner of Now for More happening across Swansea.
NYA/NTH uses Brangwyn's British Empire Panels as a springboard for exploring narratives of war, peacetime unity and harmony. The panels offer both an uncompromising vision of the colourful and optimistic possibilities of post war Empire and reveal the tragedy of war hidden behind the fecund and super abundant scenery.
To coincide with the main performance dates there will be a mini festival under the banner Now For More that will resemble an Art Weekender spread over from Friday 21st to Saturday 29th September. NFM will involve all of the city's cultural institutions big and small, who each in their own unique way will respond to NYA \ NTH' main theme - the impact of war and conflict on human relationships and to the panels themselves. NFM will feature one-off special events, exhibitions, artists' talks, family activities and trails, public artworks, workshops and performances by outstanding contemporary artists in multiple locations across Swansea.
Access to all participating NOW For More venues and projects is FREE.
www.nowthero.wales www.elysiumgallery.com www.goldmarkart.com/gallery/artist/frank- brangwyn www.swansea.gov.uk/swanseagrandtheatre
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Marega Palser/Frank Brangwyn NoW the War, NoW yer Raw
Inspired by original Frank Brangwyn drawings that will be on display at elysium gallery and the expansive number of items and subjects that are included in the Brangwyn murals, Performance artist Marega Palser will unpick & re-imagine selected images which the viewer can select using a menu format.
... Marega is also known as Mrs Clark of Mr and Mrs Clark. The Clark's have been making different types of performance work since 2002, and their production Smash It Up was short listed for the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2015.
She is a founder member of Newport International Airspace, a collective set up to showcase and provide a platform for the arts in Newport.
This event is a part of the Now the Hero series of fringe events under the banner of Now for More happening across Swansea.
NYA/NTH uses Brangwyn's British Empire Panels as a springboard for exploring narratives of war, peacetime unity and harmony. The panels offer both an uncompromising vision of the colourful and optimistic possibilities of post war Empire and reveal the tragedy of war hidden behind the fecund and super abundant scenery.
To coincide with the main performance dates there will be a mini festival under the banner Now For More that will resemble an Art Weekender spread over from Friday 21st to Saturday 29th September. NFM will involve all of the city's cultural institutions big and small, who each in their own unique way will respond to NYA \ NTH' main theme - the impact of war and conflict on human relationships and to the panels themselves. NFM will feature one-off special events, exhibitions, artists' talks, family activities and trails, public artworks, workshops and performances by outstanding contemporary artists in multiple locations across Swansea.
Access to all participating NOW For More venues and projects is FREE.
www.nowthero.wales
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Paint to the Teeth Bone Kena Brown | Sophie Harding | Dylan Williams
Preview: Friday 17th August, 7pm
... Three Swansea College of Art students were chosen to be this year, the Beep Painting Biennial artists’ in residence. Selected by Professor Catrin Webster and elysium/Beep Director Jonathan Powell, these emerging artists were offered valuable studio time, mentorship followed by an exhibition at elysium gallery.
Kena Brown’s work analyses the forms of emotions, creating a visual concept through automatism. Her paintings document thought process and memories through instinctive mark making and line. Colour arises spontaneously from thoughts, and a title is triggered from memories. The paintings explore the unseen and the primal instincts of what it is to be a painter.
Sophie Harding’s jarring portraits are focused around the human condition – psychology and conflicts of the mind. The artist challenges the conventional ideas of portraiture by obscuring the identity of the subject rather than depicting it. Facial recognition is difficult as the artist explores notions of identity, fragility and absence. ​ Dylan Williams documents everyday life through daily walks and the constant observing of his surroundings that trigger his energetic and lively paintings. Inspired by the landscapes of the old masters, William’s dense hurried lines also echo painters such as Leon Kossoff and John Virtue.
Artists’ residencies took place at the elysium Orchard St studios throughout June & July before continuing at elysium gallery culminating in their exhibition 'Paint to the Teeth Bone' as a part of this year’s Beep Painting Biennial.
Continues until Sat 1st September, Open Weds – Sat 12-5pm www.elysiumgallery.com
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If you are in Wrexham this evening...

Sophie Kumar-Taylor: Mix-Tape Preview: Friday 29th June 7-10pm WITH SOUNDTRACK PROVIDED BY CAPTAIN CHRONIC exhibition continues until Sat 14th July open Weds-Sat 12-5pm
... Armed with a bag filled with an assortment of tape and scissors; Sophie Kumar-Taylor's work explores geometry, distortion and optical illusions whilst experimenting with abstraction and colour relationships.
Her love of colours dominates her site specific installation where a mixture of bright hues with more neutral colours are used to create optical illusions and transform the gallery space. In essence the artist 'paints' with tape.
Sophie graduated from Carmarthen School of Art in 2017 and is the third elysium gallery artist in resident of 2018 where emerging artists are given studio and gallery space to develop their practice in preparation for a solo exhibition at the end of the residency.
www.elysiumgallery.com
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'wE'RE fROM fURTHER sOUTH tHAN yOU' is an exhibition and networking event which will showcase the work of studio artists from Swansea based elysium gallery Artist Studios, CALL (Culture Action Llandudno), CARN (Caernarfon Regional Artists network) and an open studios event from the artists at Undegun Studios in Wrexham.
Exhibiting Swansea artists: Kate Bell | Philip Cheater | Hannah Downing | Mark Folds | Konstantinos Grigoriadis | Lauren Heckler | Ann Jordan | Scott Mackenz...ie | Eifion Sven-Myer | Jonathan Powell | Euros Rowlands | Daniel Staveley| Kathryn Anne-Trussler
Preview: Friday June 22, 7pm Artist talks: Saturday, June 23 until Saturday, July 21 Exhibition continues until July 21st Where: Undegan, Regent St, Wrexham, LL11 1SG.
Artist Studio Network Wales The first of a series of exhibitions and networking events is bringing together Artist Studio networks from across Wales to create a platform for sharing skills, instigating creative conversations and nurturing new projects.
This unique and (hopefully) lively event, which takes place at Undegun from Friday, June 22, will be a mixture of talks, activities and discussions ranging from skills sharing, critiques of work, talks by major arts organisations directors and an ideas symposium that will build connections between north and south Wales artists to encourage future collaborations.
The aim of the Artist Studio Network Wales is to contribute to the sharing of expertise, research and ideas across artists and galleries who are kept apart geographically in Wales.
The next Artist Studio Network Wales event will take place in Swansea in 2019
www.elysiumgallery.com www.thisproject.co.uk/undegun/ www.cultureactionllandudno.co.uk www.stamp.cymru
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Join us for Phase III of Dafydd Williams: Settling to a Still Pool.
Phase III will herald the final 3 hours of Dafyd's residency and exhibition with elysium gallery. Join us and the artist for some food and drinks as a part of the BBC Bigger Weekend.
Check out Dafydd's short film of his exhibition here: https://www.youtube.com/watch…

Swansea based Painter Fran Williams will be opening up her studio to the public for the first time this year.
Revealing a brand new body of abstract landscape paintings there will also be works in progress,experiments,prints and a chance to chat to the artist about her work.

Artist Dafydd Williams talks about his latest exhibition 'Settling to a Still Pool' at elysium gallery.
Dafydd is the second artist in residence at elysium gallery for 2018 & is a recent Swansea College of Art Graduate.
Williams has taken this residency as an opportunity to explore his family archive; more specifically family home video VHS tapes.
... ‘Family rituals are key to the feeling of belonging and purpose in a family. Impermanence is also a fundamental part of life, although the impermanence of family rituals can be traumatic if abrupt’.
Within this residency, Dafydd has explored the deterioration and death of family rituals by impermanence and through trauma. Trauma, in this case, takes its form as alcoholism.
The exhibition continues until Sat 26th May open Weds - Sat 12-5pm
www.elysiumgallery.com
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Settling to a Still Pool Preview Friday 11 May 7pm exhibition continues until Sat 26 May
Artist talk Saturday 19 May 3pm
... The second artist in residence at elysium gallery for 2018 is Swansea College of Art Graduate Dafydd Williams.
Williams has taken this residency as an opportunity to explore his family archive; more specifically family home video VHS tapes.
‘Family rituals are key to the feeling of belonging and purpose in a family. Impermanence is also a fundamental part of life, although the impermanence of family rituals can be traumatic if abrupt’.
Within this residency, Dafydd has explored the deterioration and death of family rituals by impermanence and through trauma. Trauma, in this case, takes its form as alcoholism.
‘I have had to tread carefully on this subject. I hold my family rituals and memories as of extreme importance and as a well of nostalgia. History is fixed (dead), memory is malleable (alive). Considering ideas of Collective Memory put forward by Halbwachs, my memories were at threat of being moulded into negative recollections when working with negative themes. It is almost as though my memories exist as VHS tapes, and the manipulation of those tapes would manipulate my memory’.
The artist will use the gallery as a studio space from Apr 14 – May 10 followed by his resulting exhibition ‘Settling into a Still Pond’ which will preview on Friday 11th May. There will be an artist talk on Saturday 19th May, 3pm and an end of exhibition event on Saturday 26th May to coincide with the Swansea’s Radio 1 Biggest Weekend Festival.
www.elysiumgallery.com
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elysium gallery artist in residence Richard Williams talks about his latest exhibition 'Come Get It While It’s Cold'
Using the human condition as stimuli, specifically how mortality and knowledge of it shapes our existence, Williams explored these themes and during the residency created a new set of paintings especially for this exhibition.
‘I'm constantly amazed by what we're capable of doing to each other and to nature through love on the one hand and fear on the other and ...by the systems of thought we create to justify these things and find myself thinking about these contradictions regularly. This means my work is often dark and possibly pessimistic but I also include hope wherever I see it’.
Atmosphere, mood, colour & light are important ingredients of William’s paintings that are snapshots of a much bigger untold story.
This current body of work is concerned with the idea of humanity's disconnection from and exploitation of the ecosystem, specifically with the current massive and increasing depletion of insect populations in Europe.
‘I tend to put many hours into my paintings and so the residency part of this collection is an experiment in creating pieces at a greater pace, working from my props and images in the gallery space with a max time limit of two days a piece, to see where this takes me’.
Richard studied illustration at the Swansea Institute from 1998-2001 and since then his focus has gradually moved towards work that is less explicit in its intent
Exhibition continues until April 7th Open Weds - Sat 12-5pm
www.elysiumgallery.com
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Most people in Swansea have a story about Wind Street; Birthday, Hen and Stag Do's usual end up there, and most people have at some point lost their phone, friends, minds or dignity along the way.
In 2013 the south end of the B4489, known as Wind, Whined or Wine St, was given the dubious accolade of 'Most Violent Street in the UK' and is still seen as no-go area by some after dark. Despite the apparent horrors of Wind Street, performance artist Stephen Donnelly sees it as a p...otential site for playfulness, festival and celebration. To this ends he will be spending this Good Friday 2018 playing with the human (and actual) traffic in a bid to explore the of Wind Street untapped potential as a public space.
'Like most adventures that take place on Wine Street I have little idea of how it might go or where I'll end up. I will be remaining sober for the duration and have a GPS tracker linked to my facebook page if you'd like to find and join me as a co-conspirator or questioning witness to any or all of the following;
The Inaugural Wind Street 10K Road Race Chips, Cheese and Beans Tasting Sessions Clandestine Bird Feeding Lucky Dips Slightly Out-of-Sync Dancing to Black Lace's 'Superman Song' Spontaneous Clowning 'It could only happen on Wind Street' being used as an excuse to commit questionable acts Gate-Crashing Hen / Stag Do's #SelfieAnnihilation Re-Enactments of Catholic Parades The First Wind Street Mile (RIP Mumbles) Free Shots!'
Viva La Wind Street is part of Sore Thumbs, an R&D project supported by Arts Council Wales and Elysium Gallery Swansea.
https://sorethumbsswansea.wordpress.com