Exhibitions @St_Elvans

​St Elvan's continually hosts rotating guest exhibitions in our beautiful new mezzanine gallery area

​All exhibitions are free to view and are available to browse Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00

Each month we also present our monthly WAM (Words - Art - Music) Night in the Gallery, further information on which is available at www.stelvans.com/wam-words-art-music

Further information on our current, forthcoming and recent exhibitions are available below

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September
"Cynon Valley Community Showcase"

Enjoy the award-winning and most highly commended exhibits from the recent Cynon Valley Community Show, exhibited here at St Elvan's throughout the month of September. Exhibits include high level pieces from talented community artists of all ages from both within the locality and beyond. Available to view FREE throughout September, Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00

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​​Previous Exhibitions​

July | August
"Here Be Dragons"

Marking the 150th anniversary of the achievements of Griffith Rhys "Caradog" Jones and the Aberdare centred Côr Mawr, St Elvan's proudly presents our summer 2022 collaborative exhibition featuring the large scale dragon images of Linda Agostini, the community dragon art of Artsy Community, Kevin Broome and Christina Davies; plus the largest metal sculpture of the incredible Barry Lewis - a giant 4.5 x 3m Welsh dragon!

The exhibition runs throughout July | August and is available to view FREE Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00 

For further information on Griffith Rhys "Caradog" Jones, the Côr Mawr and the wider Caradogfest, visit www.caradogfest.com

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May | June
"Platinum" Jubilee
Royalty in RCT & The Metalwork Sculptures of Barry Lewis

Our Platinum Jubilee exhibition ran from May 9th to June 10th and is multifaceted in content. The first element featured digital historical images of Royal visits to Rhondda Cynon Taf, scrolling beneath aural recollections of those visits by local residents. The exhibition also featured models of the Crowns of the Commonwealth, created by Town Church Primary School, and finally, reflecting the "platinum" aspect of the Jubilee, the exhibition also featured the truly incredible metalwork sculptures of Rhondda sculptor Barry Lewis. Such was the popularity of Barry's works that many of these pieces remain with us and are available to view and purchase exclusively at St Elvan's 

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​​The Watchman's Hut
George Cole | Recycled Art

​The Watchman's Hut featured images of recycled art by the last mountain watchman, George Cole

Visitors were invited to browse images of the inspirational art created from recycled materials by George, participate in workshop activities and be inspired to create recycled art of their own, here at St Elvan's

George passed away in 2019. An article on his passing and work is available at www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/george-cole-watchmans-hut-rhondda

Additional information on the Watchman's Hut and legacy of the work of George Cole can be found at 
​www.facebook.com/TheWatchmansHut

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Not Necessarily Sew

​Not Necessarily Sew, is a Welsh Textile group based at Fleur de Lys in the Rhymney valley

The group was formed in 2010 after collectively completing a City and Guilds course in creative embroidery.

Creatively, the group are all multi-disciplined and their work often combines drawing with fibres, wire, paper, plastics, alongside fabric decoration such as dyeing and printing

Their skill is to create original pieces with machined stitches and traditional hand embroidery methods which challenge the old view of needlecraft as a ‘repetitive exercise to fill in time’ and transforms it into new exciting Textile Art

This incredibly popular exhibition of Not Necessarily Sew was also the first central art focus of our monthly WAM (Words • Art • Music) Night at St Elvan's

​Held on the third Thursday of each month, further information on the WAM Nights is available at www.stelvans.com/wam-words-art-music

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By Our Hands - Judith Beecher

​"By Our Hands" was the incredible opening exhibition at St Elvan's, and was curated by Aberdare artist Judith Beecher​

"The exhibition represented a collaboration, bringing several artists working in Wales together through a concept of autonomy with the portrait and framework

Each of the portraits are framed by the artist depicted; Beecher painted the portrait of each artist, and they, in turn, have painted, written, collaged, or pyrographed the frame in their own way; thus, artists have worked in a partnership which is rarely seen

Alongside each portrait was also one or more pieces of work by the artists depicted. The artists were very well known throughout Wales and many of them worldwide"

Judith Beecher, BA (Hons)

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