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| Hygeia Frieze Panel 1 and 7 both feature the Llandrindod Wells Griffin / Dragon. Charcoal pencils |
As a start point for the project, these drawings are about the seven panel Hygeia Frieze for the Celf o Gwmpas Walkway, using themes from the town and culture of Llandrindod Wells. I resolved to make a series of drawings as a way to familiarise the motifs and themes being considered from the research at Llandrindod Wells. Rather than a definitive plan or design, each drawing is a way of locating a composition. In this way, shapes and forms are explored and possibilities considered visually. Although a definitive set of drawings are created, changes in the design are inherent to the process, so the final outcomes will probably be different. Through drawing, stages of design are registered and built upon, rather than set as rigid statements.
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| The dragon motif greets viewers on either end of the walkway |
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Hygeia Frieze Panel 2 and 3 feature the theme of cycling. Tom Norton Auto Palace and Cycles is now the National Cycle Museum. Panel 3 features two women cyclists. In the Museum, Eileen Sheridan, professional cycling champion of the 1950s is featured in a display, unveiled by Sheridan a few years ago. Charcoal pencils
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| Hygeia Frieze Panel 4 features cheese making machinery from the Llandrindod Wells Museum on Temple Street. Made by Newman Brothers of Newtown the handles, plates and screw fittings recalled Fernand Leger, a constant source of inspiration for drawing. Peter de Francia's essay on the drawing of Leger is revelatory (1). Embracing Leger's enthusiasm for the machine aesthetic, the Newtown cheese presses inspired volumetric drawings but with added "Futuristic bravado" (de Francia). Charcoal pencils |
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Hygeia Frieze Panel 5 features Llandrindod Wells Sheela na Gig, found covered from a pre existing church. Charcoal pencils
Each panel introduces a different theme whilst continuing elements across the entire series. For example, the architectural detailing on the Williams and Sons building in Temple Street has a visually engaging horizontal interlocking design that when enlarged to fill the image, creates a strong and dynamic motif that will interconnect across all seven panels.
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| Hygeia Frieze panel 6 features Hygeia, Llandrindod Wells town emblem. Charcoal pencils |
This drawing features Hygeia. Hygeia is the Greek goddess of health and town emblem of Llandrindod Wells adopted to evoke the health benefits of the spring waters available at the spa town, first discovered in 1732 and that can still be taken at Rock Park. Hygeia is the daughter of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, identified by the symbol of a snake entwined around a staff. The Victorian Hygeia emblem of Llandrindod Wells has Hygeia with staff, snake and backdrop of a river. Hygeia is often symbolised with a mixing bowl for concocting medicines or perhaps here, holding the health inspiring spring waters and with an entwining snake (used in early Greek society as a symbol of healing by licking wounds) making a potent visual symbol. Hygeia is also the origin of the English word Hygiene.
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| This drawing also makes reference to the work of IslwynWatkins |
The process of drawing on projects like this commission and also on specific residencies I have undertaken, is one of going back to basics. In my studio practice, painting has reached a state of deconstruction. Here, it is almost like stepping back and importantly, starting again. Beginning over or afresh is a feature of every new series or even individual work I make. Emptying the vessel is an analogy for removing all the information present in a given stage of creative process. It is a constant method of my studio practice: knowing when to stop and recharge. Here, in clearing the desk so to speak, I start afresh with this new brief, partly set by the demands of the commission, but mainly and overall, to locate an original outcome; something different; something not seen before. I did the same spontaneously when I was at the Sauerbier House residency for three months. Here, objective drawing of the place seemed appropriate and the way to familiarise myself with the task in hand. It is a way of looking and beginning to understand. It remains for me, an instinctive reaction and inroad to making.
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| Charcoal pencils by Derwent. In the making of these drawings a full set was used. |
(1) de Francia, Peter. Leger. Yale 1983. Drawings of Leger (p 137).
