Helfa Gelf is now an annual event – an Arts Trail through North Wales during September that involves hundreds of artists, crafters – creatives of all kinds – in an exciting and varied festival of events.
Many creatives open the doors of their studios to the public, presenting an opportunity to interact and share their creative practices. The open studios season is during September and is also preceded – and then followed by – a programme of exhibitions, workshops and courses for creative professionals, interested novices, and all those between. Helfa Gelf presents a unique opportunity to meet and chat with artists, makers and doers in their creative spaces, see them at work, perhaps have a go yourself, and see their finished work – which is often available to purchase at special ‘trade prices’ – ideal if you want to get some unique Yuletide shopping sorted ahead of the rush…
This year, I will be at Plas Tan y Bwlch again for the Helfa Gelf festival, picking-up on the Residency that I began there last year…
There will be readings from my books, ‘pop-up’ exhibitions of photography and other visual responses, and plenty of chat about art and folklore.
Work produced during my 2016 Residency will be on show and I will also host free ‘drop-in’ creative workshops, and ‘taster sessions’ from the forthcoming Creative Writing Course: A Sense of Space, to be hosted at Plas Tan y Bwlch in March 2018.
For more info, dates and times, see
my Helfa Gelf Artist’s Profile Page and while you are there, have a good look around their website at all the many and varied artists that will be welcoming you into their work spaces throughout September 2017…
The Six Shot Gallery is a new online gallery featuring monthly solo showcases, launched January 2021. The online gallery will focus on a different artist every calendar month.
Each exhibition will showcase just six images by each artist, or creative entity. The six images are linked in some understandable way – perhaps from the same project, series or dealing with related subjects. They may be linked by aesthetics, techniques, processes, philosophies, formal or conceptual elements.
The six images are also accompanied by a concise artist’s statement that does not necessarily explain the work but lends insight into meaning and may inform deeper engagement with the viewer.
The Six Shot Gallery curator for 2021 is Remy Dean, for Signifier, and it is hosted on the Medium platform.
“Folklore and hearsay fascinate me, how the myths and legends of the past affect our world today. I love telling stories that hover somewhere in the hinterland between fact and fantasy, whilst scratching at the surface of a truth. My main modes of expression are writing and photography. I also draw and explore ‘objet-avec-courte-histoire’.
“In this exhibition I have selected recent works that consider the differences between intended meanings and interpretations. This is a continuing exploration of poetic landscapes, both real and imagined, searching for common-ground for writing and visual art to cohabit.”
Remy is a local artist and author of a dozen published books and more than fifty features in national newspapers and magazines. He is also a Lead Creative Schools Agent for the Arts Council of Wales, a story-teller, lecturer on art and folklore, and hosts creative workshops.
He is a regular contributor at FolkLoreThursday.com, a film critic for FrameRated.co.uk, and is co-editor of the literary e-zine, ‘Scrawl’ (which was recognised by The National Library of Wales, in 2016, as having ‘significant heritage value’).
Works by Remy Dean have recently been exhibited at Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, Oriel Ynys Môn, Llangefni, and a selection of his work is currently on show in the Stable Block at Plas Tan y Bwlch, Maentwrog.
Selected Open Edition prints by Remy Dean are internationally available via Saatchi Art
Find more information at Remy’s website
or follow on twitter for news and up-dates @DeanAuthor
The works and explanatory narrative for the series of photographs The Stars, At Our Feet (shown in the Stable Block Gallery earlier this year) will be displayed in artist’s book form during the Residency Open Days in the second half of September. A limited number will be available for purchase.
You can read a little more about this work HERE.
