A Five-Star Talent Show
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Friends of Tenby Museum & Art Gallery Cyfeillion Amgueddfa ac Oriel Gelf Dinbych-y-Pysgod NEWSLETTER Year-end 2019 _________________________________________________________________ A FIVE-STAR TALENT SHOW BUMPER YEAR FOR VISITORS Five Welsh ‘greats’ of the cinema and TV – including Tenby’s own Kenneth Griffith, the centenary of whose birth falls next year – are the subject of a major new exhibition at the museum, starting at the end of January and continuing throughout the year. Called Forged in Wales: Five Welsh Actors, the exhibition has been put together by the museum’s Curator, Mark Lewis, with funding from the Friends. Along with Kenneth Griffith (pictured left), who became known not only as a versatile character actor but also as a sometimes controversial documentary film-maker, it looks at the lives and careers of Richard Between January and Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Stanley Baker and October last year the Michael Sheen. museum received close on 11,000 paying visitors – its The contents of the show, drawn mostly from highest figure since 2015. Mark’s private collection, together with Ticket sales were up by archive material from the museum relating to nearly £2,000 on 2018. Kenneth Griffith, will include rare film A total of 15,146 people posters from all around the world, came through the door, promotional items, postcards and signed with approximately 7,000 memorabilia. One item is a programme from between June and August the memorial service of Richard Burton. alone. Non-paying visitors included Friends, children, Mark, who confesses to being a ‘film buff – or perhaps film bore’, says, school parties and Museum “Richard Burton once declared: ‘I am enormously proud of being Welsh’, Association members. and I think we in turn can be enormously proud of the contribution to the arts Appreciative comments on which Wales has made, as this exhibition shows. Four of the five subjects TripAdvisor included: “The came from the Welsh valleys around Port Talbot, while Kenneth Griffith was staff were great. Will visit born and grew up in Tenby, with which he remained in touch. again” and “The staff … showed a genuine interest “As a long-standing fan of these actors, Burton in particular, I have been in their work and gave collecting material for many years, and it is wonderful to bring it all generously of their time to together in this way – which has been possible only thanks to the Friends, support guests like ourselves. who provided support in getting the pictures framed and creating Well done!” interpretative panels and translations. I hope the exhibition will remind the public of their talent and achievements, which have placed them among the Trustee Kathy Talbot says: true cinematic greats.” “All thanks must go to our excellent staff and team of cont’d p 2 volunteers.” 2 The exhibits will include original posters for The Taming of the Shrew, Doctor Faustus, Magic, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Frost/Nixon and August, as well as a re-release poster for Under Milk Wood signed by director Andrew Sinclair. There will also be American posters for Look Back in Anger and When Eight Bells Toll, and numerous posters from elsewhere in the world. “Film posters, particularly the early ones before they were superseded by digital promotion, are superb works in themselves,” says Mark. “The colours remain vibrant and they are an artistic snapshot of the film being advertised, getting its tone and content across perfectly.” Burton: ‘proud of being Welsh’ _______________________________________________________________________________________ MUSEUM BUYS FOUR NEW ART WORKS The striking mural on the back wall of the museum is a familiar landmark for people strolling around Castle Hill and a fine advertisement for the museum itself. Now the museum has bought the 1990 painting (above) by Jonah Jones, which served as the design for it. It is one of four new art acquisitions made by the museum last year at a total cost of £1,950, for which the Friends provided the funding. The others (shown on p 3) are: an etching made in 1926 by Eric Gill of the Prior of Caldey, Dom Wilfred Upson; a pen and ink drawing by Nina Hamnett titled The Boy, dating from 1954; and a 1943 double-sided lithograph by Graham Sutherland called Frances Quarles, ‘Heiroglyphics’. cont’d p 3 3 The four items were part of the August exhibition ‘A Gentleman’s Collection of Pembrokeshire Art’ of works by locally connected artists collected by the Carmarthen-born academic and poet, Professor Tony Curtis. The Jones, Gill and Sutherland pieces are now on show in the gallery and the Hamnett one will soon join them. Professor Curtis, who is a life member of the Friends, also donated to the museum a mixed media and pastel work by Pamela Scott Wilkie, Summer Storm, Tenby. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Some Friend-ly activities during 2019 Building on the success of the 140th anniversary party in 2018, in August the Friends organised an afternoon of Shanties, Ship’s Biscuit and Spritzer at the bandstand just below the museum. The shanties were sung by The Vagrants Crew from Pembroke Dock, which started as a folk group in 1983 and which has played at festivals around Britain, Ireland and the Continent. It also plays locally to raise money for charities. Additional music was provided by Nicky Lloyd, a poet and member of the Friends’ committee. “Tenby’s bandstand must have one of the best locations in the country, and local people and visitors alike were delighted to see it in use,” says the Chairman of the Friends, Martin White. ”We hope to make such musical afternoons there an annual event.” The Friends’ annual Craft and Vintage Fayre took place in October in St Mary’s Church House. In addition to a wide range of quality craft and vintage items, there was a ‘Friends’ Café’ offering home-made cakes and refreshments. “The Fayre showed how rich Pembrokeshire is in artisan crafters,” says Meryl Sharp, who organised it. “Church House is an excellent venue and we hope we can return there for the 2020 Fayre.” Story-teller Phil Okwedy brought his narrative skills to the museum in October as part of the Welsh Museums Festival. Phil, who was born in Cardiff to a Welsh mother and Nigerian father, draws on his dual heritage and various cultural traditions. Phil performs widely at festivals in Britain and abroad, as well as in storytelling clubs. In 2018 he published Wil and the Welsh Black Cattle, Welsh folk tales derived from the ancient cattle drovers. 4 Art Exhibitions in the Gallery 11 January – 1 February The VC Gallery 8 February – 7 March Mick Armson 14 March – 19 April Sian McGill 25 April – 7 June Mark Raggett 13 June – 26 July Meirion Jones & Joanna Jones 31 July – 13 September Theo Crutchley-Mack 19 September – 31 October Eden Evans 10 November – 18 December Sarah Reason-Jones, Linda Carr, Marion Davies, Ann Rees The Artists The VC Gallery Set up and run by armed services veteran and artist Barry John MBE, who lives in Neyland, The VC Gallery is a charity linking veterans to ART (Access, Re-engage, Thrive), with the aim of bringing them together and enabling them to work creatively. Mick Armson Working from life, Mick Armson makes drawings and paintings which he then uses as the basis for lino prints produced in his studio. He says the resulting coastal and urban landscapes, with their closely observed detail, seek to convey a strong sense of movement. Sian McGill was born on St. David’s Day 1973 in Pontypool. She is inspired by places where she loves to spend time, especially the coastline and mountains of Wales. She says her paintings attempt to capture something of the experience and the energy of a place. Mark Raggett Born in Solva in 1953, Mark has worked as a scenic artist and prop maker at the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum, and as an art director in film and television. He has worked on many films, including The Madness of King George, Shakespeare in Love and, most recently, the Netflix series The Crown. As a painter, Mark has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and he currently shows work at the Goat Street Gallery in St David’s. He is Senior Vice President of the Royal Watercolour Society. Mark works mainly in watercolour and acrylic but also draws in pen and ink and graphite, and his subject matter is largely the landscapes of Wales, the West Country, the Lake District and the Isle of Man. Meirion and Joanna Jones Son of artist Aneurin Jones, Meirion Jones was born in Cardigan, where he and his wife Joanna live, and attended the Dyfed (now Carmarthen) College of Art and the University of Wales. After teaching for a decade he decided to concentrate on his art full time in 2002. 5 Much of Meirion’s work, for which his preferred medium is acrylic on board, is inspired by the coastline and inland scenery of West Wales, with some Latin American influence thrown into the mix. This is his third show at Tenby Museum. Originally from Swansea, Joanna studied art in Swansea and Cardiff and was a teacher for over 12 years. Like Meirion, she mostly works in acrylic on board, and also is inspired by the patterns and shapes of the landscape of West Wales. Theo Crutchley-Mack Theo was born in Bristol in 1994 and has lived in various parts of the UK, including Yorkshire, Cornwall and Pembrokeshire. His long-standing love of drawing was boosted at the age of 16, when he became the first teenager to design a coin for the Royal Mint for release into general circulation.