University of Wales Trinity Saint David Residential Artist designs and creates trophies for the Selar Awards.
21.02.2022
The University of Wales Trinity Saint David is delighted that one of its residential artists – Ffion Richardson – has had an opportunity to design trophies for the 2021 Selar Awards.
Ffion Richardson, who hails from Pembrokeshire, graduated last year from Swansea College of Art where she designed for soft surfaces such as textiles and also hard surfaces like ceramics. Ffion is also the owner of ‘Clai gan Ffion’, a small business that she established on Instagram that sells ceramic jewellery.
Ffion’s work usually emulates a sense of the sea which is expressed in her abstract style and manner of painting. She enjoys using colour in a confident and bold way to create something that has harmony, choosing strong colours to accompany one or two lighter colours, so as to balance the composition.
Ffion’s style is conveyed in her little squares of collage created for this year’s Selar Awards. Each square is unique and was designed whilst listening to Welsh songs. Some elements of the lyrics / names of the songs were incorporated into the work, for example, references to ‘Môr o Gariad’ (A Sea of Love) by Meic Stevens; ‘Aberystwyth yn y Glaw’ (Aberystwyth in the rain) by Ysgol Sul; ‘Cwîn’ (Queen) by Gwilym, to name but a few. Ffion used old pieces of screen-printed fabric and remnants of Welsh overblankets, cutting them abstractly and choosing specific colours in order to create the atmosphere expressed by the music.
In responding to the opportunity to design trophies for this year’s awards, Ffion Richardson said,
“It was a privilege to create prizes for the 2021 Selar Awards; it has been an incredible opportunity to combine my musical talents and my work to create something special.
“The process of repurposing / recycling old bits of fabric and cutting them abstractly has been a lovely activity and proves how possible it is to create something new from waste!”
Gwenllian Beynon, who is a Senior Lecturer in Art and co-ordinator of Welsh provision at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s Swansea College of Art noted: “It’s wonderful to work this year once more with the Selar Awards. Being able to engage with the world of music and participate in celebrating an essential part of Welsh culture through art is for us here in the Swansea College of Art, something remarkably wonderful to do.
“Ffion has created some delightful prizes, each of which is unique and made by hand from fabric, and it’s wonderful to see the influence of music in her work.”
The Selar Awards is a nationally recognized prize-giving ceremony that is organized by the Welsh music magazine Y Selar. The event organizer is Owain Schiavone. He said: “The Selar is very proud of its relationship with UWTSD’s Department of Art and Design, which by now stretches back several years. It’s great to be able to collaborate once more this year, and to give a young artist an opportunity to create the trophies’ artwork for the Selar Awards. We have been very fortunate with the standard of artists who have created the trophies over the years, each one offering something unique and trophies of distinction to be treasured by the winner. Ffion’s work for this year’s awards is remarkably beautiful and I am certain that the winners will be delighted with the prizes.”
The University of Wales Trinity Saint David also has a wider partnership with the Selar Awards since the University sponsored the Special Contribution category, and it was good to see the musician Tecwyn Ifan receiving that award.
Note to Editor
For further information about the Art and Design courses offered within the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, go to https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/cy/cyfadran-celf-a-dylunio/
And for further information about the Selar Awards, go to https://selar.cymru/
Further Information
Lowri Thomas, Principal Communications and PR Officer
07449 998476
