The Artists
-
Nan Pickering
Works with the communities of Trevor, Cefn, and Fron, focusing on storytelling and how the surrounding landscape affects wellbeing. This work is part of a project with the Canal & River Trust in Wales and Green Health Wales, exploring Green and Social prescribing. Nan is also collaborating with clinicians.
-
Chiana Hurst
Chiana Hurst is an illustrator and poet, based in and around Wrexham. Her work depicts bright dream-like worlds, presenting unusual, sometimes grim perspectives elevated through colour and fantasy. This can be seen in her detailed coloured pencil work and narrative-rich poetry.
-
Sara Wheeler
Writer and artist from Rhosllanerchrugog, Wrexham. She writes the columns O’r gororau (from the borders) for Barddas Welsh poetry magazine, and Synfyfyrion Sara for Golwg360. She won Disability Arts Cymru’s ‘Creative Words’ award (Welsh medium) in 2022. Sara’s personal essays have been featured in Barn, Cara, and Cwlwm magazines. Together with Stephen Rule she presents the podcast ‘Doctoriaid Cymraeg’. She is a member of the Voicebox collective and Olivet artist studio in Rhosrobin.
-
Chantelle Purcell
London-based artist and curator who has led two calls for ethnic minority artists. She’s also developing her own practice, focusing on heritage, duality, and loss, enabled and disabled by land and water.
-
Cathy Wade
Artist who works through collaboration, writing and research. She has exhibited extensively in both the UK and internationally working with galleries and projects including Werk, Vertigo Gallery, Vivid, Rope Press, Toomey Tourell Gallery, Ikon, Newlyn Art Gallery, Capsule, Clarke Gallery & A3 Project Space.
-
Graham Greasley - Historian
Graham Greasley is passionate about protecting our heritage and has an extensive collection of postcards / photographs and old documents relating the history of the town. Graham feels that it is important to record as much as we can about the town do that future generations will be able to look back and see how the town developed into what we see today.
-
Tina Rogers
Chirk-based artist, Tina Rogers is a working class, self-taught artist, writer, filmmaker and podcaster from a small mining town in North Wales. Her work explores stereotypes, body image and inspired by her lived experience as a (disabled) woman.
-
Ian Richards
Artist and designer with a practice spanning two decades exploring diverse mediums within the context of communication; often one-way dialogue that mirrors traditional advertising techniques.
-
Sammy S
Professional & award winning dog photographer based in Llangollen, North Wales
-
Dirty Protest Theatre
Wales’ new writing theatre company.
leading award-winning development, promotion and production of new writing for performance across wales and internationally.
-
Jodie Nicholson
Dance artist based in South Wales. Since training at Laban and studying Fine Art at Cardiff School of Art and Design her creative work interrogates the construction of the self and identity.More recent work has led Jodi into deeper explorations between text/language and dance, linking this work into her ongoing enquiries as an artist.
-
Jenny Berrisford
Alongside filmmaker, photographer, storyteller and actress Jenny Berrisford, schools from the local area are re-imaging the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct World Heritage Site through co-creation and place-based creative learning.
-
Jim Heath
Public art trail across Chirk.
-
Oliver Stephen
Documentary and Fine Art photographer based in Wrexham.
-
Emma-Jayne Holmes
Initially trained as a printmaker but her life changed course after meeting a painter who inspired her to develop a studio-based practice in oils.
For over 30 years, she has moved between still-life and landscape painting, as well as sketching people and life drawing.
-
Sophia Leadill
Freelance Creative Practitioner & Artist Facilitator, based in Wrexham. She devises and delivers vibrant, inspiring and accessible art workshops for health & social care, educational, museum & gallery, public/private/third sector organisations and community settings. Sophia has over 25 years' experience in Community Arts, Art Education and Project Management, and has worked with client groups of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Her creative, friendly and supportive approach ensures workshops are fun, inclusive, welcoming and accessible for all.
-
Sarah Bridgland
For The Bridge That Connects, Sarah invites participants to design and make three-dimensional landscapes celebrating the past, present and future of Trevor, Froncysyllte, Cefn Mawr, and Chirk. A blend of old and new. Draw, cut, and tear paper to tell stories and describe journeys. Make real and imagined landscapes - what was there? And what could be there?
-
Bruce Barkley
One of the exhibitions in the Fron Community Centre on 23rd November will feature the late Bruce Barkley’s prints, some of which were in his ‘In Light and Shade’ publication. Bruce was an artist-in-residence with the Wrexham Leader Newspaper and well known for his beautiful drawings of landmarks, villages, towns, and waterways. Bruce and his family were from Froncysyllte, with a family tree dating back to the 1700s. The prints are courtesy of June Smith, Angela Lawrenson, and Hilary Edwards, Bruce’s daughters and niece.
-
Claudia Frost
Claudia Frost is an artist based in North Wales who works predominantly in encaustic wax media.
She is also a chartered landscape architect and urban designer who delights in exploring and trying to create new ways of seeing the world around her, through both art and design.
-
Liz Carding
Liz Carding was born and brought up in mid Cheshire, then moved to Dorset to study for a degree in Geography. This led to a 40-year career in countryside management. Moving to the Wrexham area in 1987, Liz helped develop and manage many of Wrexham’s parks and green spaces, as Senior Countryside Officer for Wrexham Council.
-
Deryn Poppitt - Historian
Deryn is a former Green Badge Visit Wales tour guide. He has helped record the gravestone inscriptions in Chirk Cemetery around 2008 which was later published.
Deryn has written a dozen booklets on the social history of Chirk, Glyn Ceiriog and Llangollen.
-
Martin Brown - Photographer (People and Places)
Martin is a retired photographer having lived in Chirk all his life. These days his photography mainly focuses on ongoing projects around Chirk and his passion for the people, place and history, with a particular interest in the local collieries his family were involved in and the Glyn Valley Tramway. Martin is a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society and has achieved numerous successes with awards. He is also a member of the Marches Independent Photographer’s Group.
-
Juneau Projects
Juneau Projects are Phil Duckworth and Ben Sadler, two artists based in Birmingham. They have worked together for over twenty years producing artworks in all shapes and sizes, from printed books to large outdoor sculptures.