The Aberystwyth Art Centre showcased one of Wales’ most celebrated artists, Mary Lloyd Jones, from the 21st of January to the 2nd of April. I was delighted to be able to explore her vibrant pieces, learn a little bit more about her story and even be given the chance to meet the artist herself.
It is no wonder that Mary Lloyd Jones has been deemed a custodian of her cultural heritage with the artist’s bold, multi-layered work exploring the beginnings of language and a deep relationship to the land. As the artist herself has noted in a 2007 exhibition, ‘I wish to reveal the wealthy deposits of minority languages and to build a bridge between the visual, oral and written means of communication.’ Mary not only has an acute awareness of renowned Welsh literary works such as ‘ Y Gododdin’ and the ‘Mabinogi’ but also interweaves early zig-zag and spiral carvings, the Ogham and Bardic alphabets. These etchings may first appear as quick, energetic squiggles but they, in fact, reveal letters and meanings which have been lost with the passage of time. Fortunately, these have been brought into Mary’s extensive vocabulary of marks, and have found a sense of permanace in her lively compositions.
Born in Devil’s Bridge, training at Cardiff College of Art, and later moving to Aberarth, Mary would see her bold compositions forming in and through the various landscapes she encountered, from the silver and lead mines of the Ystwyth and Rheidol valleys, the crashing waves at Cardigan Bay to the beautiful back gardens at Aberarth. Nevertheless, her work cannot be said to present a ‘true to life’ depiction of these landscapes, rather, her pieces convey the feeling of being connected to a particular place at a particular time whilst often exploring a kind of strangeness and unfamiliarity inherent in this connection.
If one thing is for certain, Mary is an expert in the language of colour, taking us away from the trodden paths of the picturesque and guiding us toward the unruly curves and jagged outlines of the periphery. It is certainly a fascinating journey worth embarking on.
