Young Welsh artist wins major Welsh Award

UWTSD Fine Art graduate Tomos Sparnon has won the Silver Jubilee Development Award worth £2,500, a prestigious Award made annually by the Worshipful Livery Company of Wales.

Tomos, 24, is an award winning painter and an accomplished sculptor of clay and stone materials and has exhibited in both these areas. His work in clay sculptures have been recognised at Swansea College of Art when images of his work were exhibited on a banner in front of the college building and one of his recently exhibited paintings was purchased by the National Library of Wales for its collections.

This Award will enable Tomos to create a series of contemporary sculptures on the theme of Mother and Child. He will use materials not explored by him previously and his aim is to create unique, thought-provoking and relevant works of art. The completed works will, hopefully, be exhibited in various galleries around Wales in the near future and Tomos will also use those opportunities to give talks on the sculptures and the process of creating them.

On winning this Award, Tomos Sparnon, now working as an independent artist said: "I’m honoured and humbled to have won the Silver Jubilee Development Award and I’m very grateful to the panel for putting their faith in me and my work. Being able to create sculptures in response to the theme of Mother and Child has been a desire of mine for some time and receiving this financial assistance will allow me to realise these ideas. I’m looking forward to starting on the project as soon as possible”.

Professor Gillian Davies, Chair of the Judging Panel said : "One of The Company's aims is to encourage and support talented young people in Wales to progress with a specific project.  The funds for this Award come from the Silver Jubilee Fund which was raised during 2018 to help us recognise such young people in fields of study not previously covered by the Company. Last year our Award focused on International Affairs and Foreign Languages and this year in the area of Fine Arts, we are delighted to make the Award to Tomos Sparnon, a gifted young artist, to help with his efforts to work at another level and enhance his reputation as a sculptor as well as a painter.”

Founded in 1993 as the Welsh Livery Guild to promote education, the arts, science and technology in Wales, in 2013 the Guild was presented with a Royal Charter and renamed the Worshipful Livery Company of Wales (WLCOW).

WLCOW is dedicated to helping young people throughout Wales to develop their talents and skills by means of an annual Awards programme of scholarships and bursaries to students in schools, universities and technical colleges, as well as to apprentices and young people in the armed forces.

In 2018, the Company celebrated the Silver Jubilee of its foundation in 1993.

Further Information

Rebecca Davies

Swyddog Gweithredol Cysylltiadau â’r Wasg a’r Cyfryngau

Executive Press and Media Relations Officer

Cyfathrebu Corfforaethol a Chysylltiadau Cyhoeddus

Corporate Communications and PR

Mobile: 07384 467071

Email: Rebecca.Davies@uwtsd.ac.uk