6 September - 4 November 2023 at Moma Machynlleth, Hoel Pen'rallt SY20 8AJ

29 June - 21 September 2024 at STORIEL, Ffordd Gwynedd, Bangor LL57 1DT

12 October - 24 December 2024 at Oriel Plas Glyn y Weddw, Llanbedrog, Pwllheli LL53 7TT

 

 

 

MOSS GARDEN an exhibition of folios, paintings and prints which explore the Celtic Rainforests of North Wales and the Sub-Antarctic Forest of South Chile.

Since 2008 we have met each season to witness and record through drawing, painting and writing our experiences of being in nature. This has enriched our practice as artists.

Included in this exhibition are three folios alongside related paintings :

Moss Garden - Snowdonia Rainforest. An edition of five unique folios of paintings, relief prints and digital bi-lingual text of selected mosses and liverworts found in Ceunant Llennyrch near Maentwrog, Snowdonia. In each season we made paintings of place, sound and habitat in the woodland and later in our studios we made microscope paintings responding to the mosses and liverworts (bryophytes) collected.
Related paintings on canvas and paper : we selected microscope paintings made by the other for each season. Using each as a starting point, we made paintings which depart from the observational depictions of bryophytes. See Snowdonia Rainforest Season paintings acrylic on linen and mixed media on paper above.

Hafod Woodland - Snowdonia Rainforest. Two unique folios of paintings and digital bi-lingual text which record, over two years, the changes to woodland as it is thinned and animals are introduced to create a more diverse woodland pasture. We painted small samples of plants from each habitat and season under the microscope.
Selected paintings made at Hafod in each season.

Isla Navarino - Sub-Antarctic Forest. An edition of four folios of paintings with digital text in English, Welsh, Spanish and Yahgan made during our residency at the Cape Horn International Centre, Chile. We spent time walking, painting, drawing and making notes as a response to Sea, Forest, Water and the Plants and Birds that inhabit them on this remote island.

Isla Navarino Dreaming. A series of twelve paintings, mixed media on paper, 25x25cm each. Painted by Noelle on her return from Chile remembering the Yahgan people, their way of life, their stories and their dreaming. "On returning to Wales I made paintings to imagine and evoke the life and beliefs of the canoe nomads who until recently lived in the Cape Horn archipelago - the most southern people of the earth".

For each exhibition we sketched, painted and wrote about what we could see and hear in landscape near to each gallery. We used these as a starting point for collaborative print and paint panels, paintings and artists' books. We exhibited this new work alongside our three folios and related paintings:

Moma Machynlleth : Cwm Einion we sketched and painted in this designated Celtic rainforest near Machynlleth. We exhibited two collaborative print and paint panels CWM EINION Afon 210 x 45cm and CWM EINION Coedwig 210 x 50cm with four paintings made in situ.

Storiel Bangor : Treborth Botanical Gardens we sketched and painted on the banks of the Menai Straits near Bangor. We exhibited two collaborative print and paint panels TREBORTH Menai Straits - Ebb and Flow 160 x 47cm and 160 x 75cm with four unique relief print artists' books with hand written words.

Plas Glyn y Weddw : Y Winllan we sketched and painted in woodland above the beach and on the headland close to Plas Glyn y Weddw . We exhibited two collaborative print and paint panels Y WINLLAN Glyn y Weddw I & II 170 x 55cm each with six unique relief print artists' books with hand written words and from the headland MYNYDD TIR-Y-CWMWD four collaborative paintings with four paintings made in situ.