Landscapes to Lose Yourself In
Deep Olive Water
You can lose yourself in the sublime landscape of Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire in a new exhibition of abstract paintings by Ann Fletcher-Williams at The Seagull, Cardigan SA43 1HA, from 29 March to 22 April. The Seagull is free to enter and open from 11am to 4 pm, Wednesday to Saturday.
Fletcher-Williams has lived in Cardigan since 2022 but has been a regular visitor to this part of Wales since she was 15 months old. Family holidays in Newport, Pembrokeshire, forged a lifelong love affair with the majestic hills, rugged coast and endlessly fascinating shoreline of West Wales.
Elemental/Elfennaidd is a collection of richly layered and deeply colourful paintings which reflect Ann’s special relationship with the Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire landscape – its shapes, textures, contrasts and hidden elements. She uses mixed media, mainly acrylic paint and collage with oil pastels, pens and pencils to make her paintings and enjoys exploring what colour can be in relation to the landscape.
Her paintings also explore the notion of hiraeth, a Welsh term with a complex meaning something akin to homesickness, longing, memory and identity.
She says: “Hiraeth is central to everything I do and I have been hugely inspired by The Long Field by US author Pamela Petro. Her wonderful memoir has enabled me to explore what hiraeth means to me, and her evocative and atmospheric words have found their way into many of the paintings included in this exhibition.”
Petro says: “Ann Fletcher-Williams’ paintings are profoundly resonant of both landscape and memory. Through her marks and pastings, her rubbings and scrapings, and her use of text as well, snippets of which often appear half-obscured or buried, [she] has given us works of topographic depth that is both literal and emotional. These are paintings that touch the soul.”
Elemental/Elfennaidd features 30 paintings inspired by Carningli Mountain and its environs, The Parrog in Newport and Ann’s lone wanderings undertaken since moving to the region. The Lone Wanderings pieces have been created in tandem with writings made outside. The exhibition will also showcase a new poem by Welsh poet and writer Simone Mansell Broome called For him there was no longing. The poem, which reflects on her father’s ambivalent Welshness, has been composed especially for the exhibition.
Ann Fletcher-Williams
Further information: Ann Fletcher-Williams Art.
Further information about Pamela Petro and The Long Field: The Long Field (pamelapetro.com).
Further information about Simone Mansell Broome: simonemansellbroome.com.
Further information about The Seagull: info@seagullcardigan.co.uk.
