Team Anna and the Waterfront Gallery Competition – Part 1
Wandering through Haverfordwest’s VC Gallery’s Facebook page, I was interested to see an announcement: The Waterfront Gallery competition, an opportunity to create artwork that was all about Wales. Anna Waters, an all-time favourite artist for Pembrokeshire.Online was leading the experience and was looking for up to six people to participate.
Apart from an opportunity to participate in the excellent work that VC does with service veterans and the wider community, using art and culture to improve health and wellbeing, this looked like a chance to meet some new Pembrokeshire people and to learn from the best.
Let’s be honest now, I am no artist. I paint stones, do the crafty thing, generally dabble, but my creations could rarely be termed works of art. So I was delighted when Anna took the line that anyone can make meaningful art and she would be willing to include me. Not only that, but she and the group would be happy for me to write about the experience.
So it was with great pleasure I joined the first Zoom session and met the rest of Team Create – for the first session Lucy Huntsman, James Tyler, Ryan Wilson and Maxine Bunston who made me most welcome.
Anna told us that she has hopes that two more will join soon.
Anna began her painting career ten years ago when laid low with Lyme disease. Painting helped her deal with the pain and fatigue and helped her heal, so she knows the value of being creative. Now as a professional artist she talked about the need sometimes to break out and try new ideas, new techniques and new materials.
Lucy Huckman is a photographer who had her first solo exhibition last year and has used the time in lockdown to rediscover her love of painting and the potential for that as a way of getting her thoughts and feelings onto paper. She recently created a sculpture representing life in lockdown that “blew the team away”.
James Tyler said he had only recently began painting, but is interested in photography and model making and is keen to learn more.
Maxine Bunston loved drawing cartoons as a child, but rediscovered and began to develop her art as an adult only after coming to VC. She had been impressed by Barry John’s graffiti work. She had her first solo exhibition last year revealing two very distinct sides to her work, of light and dark.
Anna told us that the competition, to produce a work of art about Wales was our goal but really she wanted us to feel relaxed and have fun and be willing to explore new ideas and media.
We were all up for that.
So, after looking at some images for inspiration, we were asked to come up with three things that symbolised Wales for us and we discussed some of our feelings around the uniquely Welsh sense of Hiraeth.
“Empty out the recycling bag,” Anna suggested, “and begin a collection of stuff we can use , like cut-up squares of coloured paper and cardboard and takeaway cartons.”
I started immediately we got offline. I like nothing more than a good old messy play.
So roll on the next time for another enthusiastic session with Team Anna.
The little group that meets on Zoom has been put together by artist Anna Waters as part of a project with the VC Gallery to experiment with ideas and materials and create one or more pieces of work for the Waterfront Competition on the subject of Wales.
Find Anna Waters, Pembrokeshire artist, at www.artistannawaters.com
The VC Gallery is a voluntary charity for Veterans and the Community through arts and creative engagement: admin@thevcgallery.com.
The Waterfront Gallery Competition: Wales Contemporary / Cymru Gyfoes is an international open competition for 2D and 3D artwork in any medium excluding photography.
Artists are invited to submit work that is inspired by Wales’ ancient history, its art history, its heritage, its landscape (rural, urban or political) and its contemporary culture.
For more information go to thewaterfrontgallery.co.uk
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