Rhiannon Gwyn

BA (Hons) Artist Designer Maker

Rhiannon Gwyn

My practice explores a sense of place and the notion of having a deep involvement with the landscape. I am interested in how materials can act as identity markers; influencing the way in which we view ourselves and the world around us through the imprinting of emotion and memory onto our surroundings.

I work primarily with slate to create a narrative that reflects my own sense of identity through exploring the connections between the landscape of my home in North Wales and myself. Approaching my work intuitively I allow my emotional resonance with the landscape to form the pieces, whilst simultaneously deliberately guiding and manipulating the material’s natural characteristics.

This involves exploring the full potential of slate by incorporating it with ceramic processes to create objects that depict forms of the land as part of a circular process whereby having been personally shaped by the surrounding landscape I form and shape its raw materials.

The title of this body of work, ‘The Gold beneath the Gorse’, is taken from the Welsh proverb Aur dan yr eithin, arian dan y rhedyn, newyn dan y grug (Gold under gorse, silver under bracken, starvation under heather). The gorse and bracken soils were valuable enough in the context of Welsh hill farming to inspire the proverb which refers to the prosperity of the uplands in the early modern period. With the same appreciation for the endowment of the land, I use slate, clay and gorse which to me are all forms of gold that embody the rich textures, histories and memories of a place.


Mae fy ymarfer yn archwilio ymdeimlad o le a’r syniad o fod â chysylltiad dwfn â’r dirwedd. Mae gen i ddiddordeb yn y modd y gall deunyddiau weithredu fel marcwyr hunaniaeth; gan ddylanwadu ar y ffordd rydym yn gweld ein hunain a’r byd o’n cwmpas trwy roi ôl emosiwn a chof ar ein hamgylchedd.

Dwi’n gweithio’n bennaf gyda llechi i greu naratif sy’n adlewyrchu fy ymdeimlad i o hunaniaeth trwy archwilio’r cysylltiadau rhwng tirwedd fy nghartref yn y Gogledd a fi fy hun. Wrth ystyried fy ngwaith mewn ffordd reddfol, dwi’n caniatáu i’r ffordd dwi’n uniaethu’n emosiynol â’r dirwedd ffurfio’r darnau, ond gan arwain a thrin nodweddion naturiol y deunydd yn fwriadol yr un pryd.

Mae hyn yn cynnwys archwilio potensial llawn llechi drwy ei ymgorffori gyda phrosesau ceramig i greu gwrthrychau sy’n darlunio ffurfiau ar y tir fel rhan o broses gylchol lle dwi’n ffurfio a siapio deunyddiau crai’r dirwedd o’m cwmpas, ar ôl cael fy siapio’n bersonol ganddi.

Daw teitl y corff hwn o waith, ‘Yr Aur dan yr Eithin’, o’r ddihareb aur dan yr eithin, arian dan y rhedyn, newyn dan y grug. Roedd y priddoedd eithin a rhedyn yn ddigon gwerthfawr yng nghyd-destun ffermio mynydd yng Nghymru i ysbrydoli’r ddihareb sy’n cyfeirio at ffyniant yr ucheldiroedd yn y cyfnod modern cynnar. Gyda’r un gwerthfawrogiad o waddol y tir, dwi’n defnyddio llechi, clai ac eithin sydd i mi yn fathau o aur i gyd sy’n ymgorffori gweadau, hanesion ac atgofion cyfoethog lle arbennig.

www.rhiannongwyn.com

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