The Welsh Group celebrates 75th Anniversary with major exhibition at Y Gaer

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The Welsh Group of artists will mark their 75th Anniversary with a major exhibition at Y Gaer featuring work and portrait photographs of all the current members as well as former members, some of whom were familiar faces on the Brecon art scene.

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The exhibition ‘The Welsh Group in Focus: Paintings, Sculpture and Bernard Mitchell’s Artist Portraits’ will run from 1 March to 19 June, 2023. It marks a productive association between y Gaer Museum and Art Gallery, the Welsh Group and photographer Bernard Mitchell.  Bernard has been photographing artists and writers in Wales since 1966. He was originally commissioned by Brecknock Art Trust in 2004 to photograph artists who had work in the collection. In 2021 the Welsh Group extended the commission  to photograph those members who had not previously been photographed by Bernard in their studios. The photographs will accompany paintings, drawing and sculpture by existing and former members.

“We are immensely exited and proud to be able to stage this exhibition in Brecon,” said Paul Edwards, Chair of the Welsh Group adding: “ we have exhibited in Brecon over the years and the reception to our work has always been positive and enthusiastic. We do, of course, have a number of current and former members who  are based in the town and surrounding area and that makes the connection with this exhibition a bit more special.”

The Welsh Group is one of Wales's most established and respected groups of artists. Founded in 1948 as the South Wales Group it then consisted of both professional and amateur artists from south Wales's six leading art societies. However, by 1975 it had become a more professional association renaming itself The Welsh Group | Y Grŵp Cymreig. The members are not dominated by any movement, style or manifesto, but come together as professional individuals promoting and exhibiting art of high quality. The Group gives a sense of comradeship and belonging to its members and, by association, to other artists living and working throughout Wales. Group members demonstrate a wide cross section of approaches in contemporary visual arts practice through a range of media and processes.

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Throughout its history the group has exhibited widely in Wales and internationally. According to David Moore, author of an essay in the exhibition catalogue: “Choosing to celebrate a significant anniversary with an exhibition in Brecon's dramatically refurbished museum, gallery and library complex, y Gaer, the Welsh Group have  reinforced the enduring creative liaisons that have contributed to the town's growing reputation as a place to enjoy the visual arts.”
 

​Celf Gwyrdd, How Green is my Artwork?
A summer exhibition on the theme of the environment.
Mid Wales Arts Centre, Caersws
9th July - 3rd September, 2023.