Ceredigion Museum’s new exhibition casts a hopeful eye to the future

A new exhibition at Ceredigion Museum will focus on looking ahead to the new year positively.

The exhibition, which opens on Saturday January 29 in Aberystwyth is titled ‘Moving On, Looking Forward’, and will display works by The Picturemakers / Y Llunwyr, a group of Mid Wales and Ceredigion-based artists.

Its aim is to offer a fresh take on recent times by encouraging the public to enter the 2022 with a sense of hope after another challenging winter.

‘Moving On, Looking Forward’ features new work and gives people who cherish Ceredigion the opportunity to see it represented in art through a variety of creative methods, according to organisers.

The Picturemakers / Y Llunwyr is a group of artists who meet regularly to discuss their artwork and develop their creativity. Based in and around Aberystwyth, Felinfach, Llandrindod Wells, Pantydwr, Pennant and Rhayader, they have held more than 40 exhibitions since 2006.

The group comprises Jane Burnham, Lindsay Davies, Rosemary Fahimi, Philip Huckin, Kim James-Williams, Mike Laxton, Greteli Morton, Joanna Munro-Hunt, Patrick Owen, Catherine Smedley, Shelley Upton, Moira Vincentelli and Ann Williams.

Moving meetings online in 2020, The Picturemakers have discussed the importance of staying creative, setting artistic challenges for each other to inspire fresh approaches to their subjects and materials, whilst bringing more unity to their work as a group.

‘Challenges’ 

They say these challenges were often a fun distraction from the pandemic, with one involving members producing a self-portrait in the style of their favourite artist.

The Picturemakers said: “Our art practice has been an anchor in turbulent waters and we feel optimistic about the year ahead. The artwork that we produced during and after the lockdowns can be viewed as a creative thread which links different seasons and experiences.

“The philosophy of The Picturemakers is to support, challenge, question and celebrate. Some of the work people will see in the exhibition is work in progress, part of our ongoing journeys to find out, experiment, look at the world and keep moving. We hope that the public enjoys the exhibition as much as we enjoyed making it.”

‘Moving On, Looking Forward’ follows the ‘Human Threads’ exhibition, which displayed historic quilts from the museum’s collection alongside a digital quilt consisting of reflections by the community in Ceredigion.

Ceredigion Museum is open from Thursday to Saturday, 11am until 4pm.