From source to sea: Iwan Gwyn Parry exhibition charts ‘pre-occupation’ with the Irish Sea

A new exhibition of works from painter Iwan Gwyn Parry will showcase a personal and emotional take on north Wales’ connection to the Irish Sea.

Origin / From Source to Sea, an exhibition of a new body of work from Gwyn Parry, will show at Celf Gallery, Cardiff from 4 – 26 October 2025.

Born in Anglesey, Iwan Gwyn Parry returned to North Wales after studying at Chelsea School of Art and Design, settling in Bethesda where he still lives and works.

Great distances

The paintings in this exhibition show Parry’s long pre-occupation with the Irish Sea and to the elements that traverse those great distances between north Wales and Ireland’s eastern seaboard.

His charged seascapes often depict inescapable traces of man, the industrial and remains of attempts to hold back the wild and encroaching tide. Amongst a chaos however, we often find areas where the elements break, a possible stillness and quiet resolve.

Iwan Gwyn Parry has exhibited throughout Wales and in galleries in London and Dublin. His work can be found in many private and public collections including the National Library of Wales, Government Art Collection, University of South Wales, Contemporary Arts Society for Wales, Anglesey County Council and Bangor University.

There will be approximately 28 new painting in what promises to be a breathtaking exhibition.

‘Home’

Gwyn Parry commented: “The ‘Origins’ and ‘Ancient Channel’ series of works emerged from a pre-occupation with the sea and the metaphors associated with it. The open spaces it provides allow a pictorial freedom to explore passages of emotional colour and thought, which become meditations on time, space and light.

“The works are a concentrated residue of a journey. Imaginings, memory of place, the seen and the unseen provide a sequence of imagery, developed and explored over many years.

“The activity of painting is imbued, laced with mystery, arduous and demanding at times, but always profoundly uplifting. A spiritual home of sort.”

For more information and to see Gwyn Parry’s previously exhibited works, visit Celf Gallery’s site here.