Tag: Welsh

Designer Desire: Ogwyn Davies

Montage of Ogwyn Davies artworks

Born in Trebanos, Neath Port Talbot, Ogwyn Davies (1925-2015) was a Welsh fine artist, ceramist and school teacher. He attended Swansea School of Art between 1947 & 52 before going on to teach at Tregaron Comprehensive (Ysgol Uchradd) from 1955 to 1985. He was one of the founder members (along with Hywel Harries) of the Cardiganshire Art Society which was established in 1963.

I find farm buildings interest me greatly. Very often, the human association of several generations can be seen in the barns and sheds and a sense of poetry seems ever present. They record so graphically the passing of time as it leaves its marks on the walls. For decades many Welsh walls have become part of the world of protest and my interest in walls and marks have resulted in works reflecting this. The use of the words of our National Anthem came about I think after regular attendance at the Arms Park in Cardiff and hearing choirs of over fifty thousand voices singing the words so movingly [credit]

His most famous work is probably Soar y Mynydd (top left in the montage above) the Grade II listed, Calvinist Methodist chapel in Llanddewi Brefi near Tregaron, Ceredigion. Built in 1822, it’s claimed to be the remotest chapel in all of Wales.

Examples of his work can be found in the permanent collections of National Library of Wales, National Museum Wales, Ceredigion Museum and Aberystwyth University.

credit

Additional image credits:
ArtUK | MOMA Cymru | Mutual Art

Auction alert: The Welsh Sale, Cardiff

IFOR PRITCHARD, "Y Gafael Tyner" (The Gentle Touch)

The Welsh Sale, Cardiff takes place three times per year at Rogers Jones. The next one will be on 6 Nov 2021, from 9:30am. It is known for selling the highest quality fine art and antiques from Wales and by Welsh artists.

There are a number of works coming under the hammer by some of the Welsh artists that we’ve previously featured in our Desire Desire series; including Paul Peter Piech, Muriel Delahaye, Hywel Harries, Kyffin Williams and Ifor Pritchard. We’ve included some of them below.

There’s a buyer’s premium: 28.80% (inc. VAT) on top of the hammer price. If you bid online via The Saleroom there’s an additional commission of 5.94% (inc. VAT/sales tax).

There is a 4% levee (sic) charged to the buyer on original works of art by EEA and UK artists who are living or have died in the last 70 years of the auction, and which sell for an auction hammer price over 1000 Euros (equivalent to GBP).

PAUL PETER PIECH, two colour lithograph

Lot 146: PAUL PETER PIECH two colour lithograph
Candle and two opposing faces in the flame, typography by Robert H Shaffer (1915-2017), ‘We must view students not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit’, signed and dated 1998,
Auctioneer’s Note: Shaffer was an American pioneer in the field of student affairs
Provenance: please see Lot 141
Comments: unframed, excellent condition overall
Estimate: £150 – £250

MURIEL DELAHAYE, "Walking The Dog"

Lot 152: MURIEL DELAHAYE limited edition (67/275) colour print – ‘Walking The Dog’
Signed in pencil, 37 x 47.5cms
Provenance: private collection Ceredigion
Comments: no problems, mounted, not framed
Estimate: £200 – £300

HYWEL HARRIES, dry-mounting print - Chalybeate Street, Aberystwyth

Lot 155: HYWEL HARRIES dry-mounting print – Chalybeate Street, Aberystwyth
With Salvation Army Building and Shell petrol station 1970s, 26 x 38cms
Provenance: private collection mid-Wales
Comments: mounted, unframed, printing fault
Estimate: £80 – £120

SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS, Ynys Mon Farm, Penrhyn Du, Aberffraw

Lot 199: SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS RA limited edition (65/150) colour print – Ynys Mon Farm, Penrhyn Du, Aberffraw
Signed and numbered in pencil, (I) 55 x 73.5cms
Provenance: Private collection, Cardiff
Condition: excellent, framed ready to hang
Estimate: £1,000 – £1,500

GWILYM PRICHARD, "Farm Houses, Pembrokeshire"

Lot 409: GWILYM PRICHARD – ‘Farm Houses, Pembrokeshire’
Oil on canvas – white washed farm in autumnal landscape, signed and dated 77, with exhibition list, 50 x 60cms
Provenance: private collection Ceredigion, consigned via our Carmarthen office
Comments: no apparent problems, framed
Estimate: £1,800 – £2,500

IFOR PRITCHARD, "Y Gafael Tyner" (The Gentle Touch)

Lot 411: IFOR PRITCHARD – ‘Y Gafael Tyner’
Oil on board. Slate worker splitting on a blue background, entitled verso ‘Y Gafael Tyner (The Gentle Touch)’, signed, 46 x 35cms
Provenance: private collection Cardiff
Comments: framed, no problems
Estimate: £800 – £1,200

1843 WELSH WOOL SAMPLER TO ELIZABETH EDWARDS

Lot 503: 1843 WELSH WOOL SAMPLER TO ELIZABETH EDWARDS
Containing a series of flowers in vases around a house or school house, religious passage above, below in cartouche ‘Elizabeth Edwards, her work in the year 1843 aged 14 years – fear the Lord and depart from evil’, size including frame 54 x 52cms
Provenance: private collection, Gloucestershire, believed from the vendor’s ancestral town of Llanelli, bequeathed from vendor’s aunt
Comments: good example, colours have held, aged but not extensively discoloured, old frame with glazing
Estimate: £150 – £200

19TH CENTURY SYCAMORE CARVED LOVE-SPOON

Lot 505: 19TH CENTURY SYCAMORE CARVED LOVE-SPOON
Decorated with pierced treskelion motif over a pierced flower-head over a smaller geometrically carved flower circle, surrounded by chisel-point carving and with two scratched hearts, the reverse with crudely scratched 1854, 30cms
Provenance: private collection, formerly with Tim Bowen Antiques, Carmarthenshire
Auctioneer’s Note: similar at Swansea Museum donated by Col. W E Llewellyn Morgan and described as Carmarthenshire in origin (postcard photo showing this example to accompany produced by Royal Institute of South Wales)
Comments: chip to edge of bowl but without other fault, very good rich chestnut colour, good example
Estimate: £400 – £600

 

Designer Desire: Ifor Pritchard

Montage of Ifor Pritchard paintings

Since moving to Ceredigion, we’ve discovered so many incredible Welsh artists. The latest in that line is Ifor Pritchard. I adore his expressive, impasto style; thick strokes of oil paint confidently applied with brush and knife to the canvas.

Pritchard (1940-2010) was a painter whose subject matter consisted mainly of the slate quarrying industry that he saw around him growing up in Carmel, Gwynedd in North Wales. He created portraits of the quarrymen (at work and at the pub), the quarry managers, the work horses, the machinery.

For many years, he worked as an art teacher mainly at Ysgol Sir Huw Owen in Caernarfon from where he retired in 1992. It wasn’t until 2007 that he mounted his first exhibition (of 30 works) in Glynllifon, south of Caernarfon.

Memories are my inspiration. Memories of a childhood in the village of Carmel in the ’40s. This is a village situated within a stone’s throw of the Dyffryn Nantlle slate quarries and was, therefore, a village that was almost totally dependent on the slate. After a lifetime of producing and teaching art, memories now transport me back to those early days. It is an endeavour to depict an extremely claustrophobic life that was, in the main, based on the quarry and the chapel. I am only interested in the human aspect of the industry. I have slate, but not the dust, in my veins.

Craig yr Oesoedd/True Grit by Myrddin ap Dafydd is an 80-page, bi-lingual study of some of his works.

Image credits:
Artnet | Mutual Art

Wild Welsh Wool rugs

Custom-made peg loom Welsh wool rug

We wanted to share a recent addition to our cottage… namely some fabulous, natural wool products.

Wild Wesh Wool floor rug

We’ve just bought a hand-made woollen rug, hearth mat and set of dining chair seat pads. They were all custom-made to size using a traditional peg loom by Sharon Smith of Wild Welsh Wool.

Close up of rare breed sheep woollen rug

The wool comes from rare breed sheep that she keep on her farm. We originally saw a display of her products in a shop window in Montgomery. Sharon sells at the outdoor market in the town square (it’s held every Thursday) and at several other nearby markets.

She also takes orders and custom commissions through her Facebook page. In addition to the rugs and seat pads that we ordered, wall hangings, cushions, scarves and bags are also available.

Custom-made peg woven wool seat pad

We love the variety of tones & colours from the different types of sheep – and the texture is to die for!

Close-up of woolen seat pad string fasteners

They’re the perfect way to soften and warm a space in this old country cottage, especially with all the hard quarry tile and slate flag floors. We’re so happy with them!