THE creative community in Newport was on display as part of a weekend-long festival celebrating their talents.
Art on the Hill 2021 began on Friday, November 26 and runs until later today, Sunday, November 28 at various venues in Newport.
Here we recap the weekend’s events.
Across the weekend there are displays at Cwtsh including Greta Hart, Gaer Primary School and Nathan Sheen: A Spoonful of Love's Love spoon hunt begins at the Cwtsh and features at various venues.
Natasha Porter-Griffiths has been exhibiting Never Ending Light of Life at That Café and festival organisers Kate Mercer and Sarah Goodey have an external art display at 18 Stow Park Crescent.
A window display by Bill Chambers and Marega Palser is being shown at 70 Caerau Road while Clive McCarthy was holding an exhibition at The Cellar Door.
In Rogue Fox Coffee House they were holding a visual arts exhibition with displays throughout the weekend and their sister business Nettle & Bark has been hosting an exhibition called Paintings Among the Plants by Pauline Price with the paintings truly nestled among the plants throughout the store.
Diverse Vinyl have a window display by the Palindrome Painter titled Art of the Imagination. Unit 9 in Friars Walk also has a window display by Heidi Baines called Dreamland. Ffoto Newport has been showing Ron McCormick’s Carrot Fly and the Riverfront has been displaying pieces by Alix Edwards, Kate Verity, Meurig Watkins and Vincent Dyke.
Friday:
The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre held Live at the Riverfront with free music from Katie Batchelor and Ronnie 3 Chords.
Saturday:
Over at the Riverfront there was a display of May Love Be What You Remember Most by CONSUMERSMITH. The piece is a memorial for life lost. It was initially on the side of a building in Newport in 2020 but was then moved to the Riverfront.
The centre is also selling prints of the artwork for £8.
A Red Shoes exhibition was also held at the Riverfront by Shaun Featherstone with a wide range of posters representing current social, economic and climate fears, campaigns and justices.
There was also a number of workshops during the day.
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A number of local creators also had stalls for their wares at the Riverfront.
Ayoka Designs was one of the stalls at the market. Ayoka is an asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast who has been in Newport for around 10 years. All of her products are made in the Ivory Coast from local materials and half of the profits go to charities.
She said: “I came here as an asylum seeker 10 years ago and a lot of people back home lost their jobs during the war.
“They are unable to send their children to school because they can’t afford it and I wanted to do something to help. We employ people in the Ivory Coast to make the clothes from local materials and have them shipped over. I pay fair trade prices for the process.
“50 per cent of our profits go to charities in Newport and Ivory Coast. We also make school uniforms for free in the Ivory Coast and cover the school fees for nursery children which will allow more children to go to school.”
Blasting Creations Newport is a very new business which has only been going for five weeks. They created much of what was on show at the stall in just two days to exhibit their glassware and slate designs – which they can personalise with any picture and wording.
Lil_Miss_Creations provided canvas art and glass displays and Lisa from TP Pebbles showed off her pebble creations as well as a number of newer items including jars and candle holders and wreaths in what was her second craft fayre in the two-years she has been making her creations.
Aesthetish is the brainchild of Natasha Porter-Griffiths who also has an exhibition on across the weekend at That Café. She creates jewellery and has done for around three years. She also creates bespoke resin items which include loved one’s ashes, whiskers, hair and more.
“I wanted a keepsake after my dad died and decided this was how I wanted to do it. I’ve done some with cat’s whiskers.”
She also had on display a wasp encased in a pendant. “It died naturally and was found but its such a beautiful creature and I wanted to show that off.”
A number of events took place at St Marks with live music and @alittle_spacegallery appeared there as well as at other venues across the city to showcase some tiny art.
The Murenger was a starting point for Drifting Dock Street: A Walk with Aled Singleton which saw people explore a 2km walk to see what had changed since the 1960s.
Le Public Space held an evening of CARPETWORD and Film Shorts.
What’s on today?
Sunday’s day-specific exhibitions included a late morning Vitality of the Spine movement workshop at Unit 9. The Riverfront is open until 5pm for workshops and drop-in activities.
Cwtsh has a photo book sale running from midday until 5pm and there is live music at St Mark’s until 3.30pm.
Between 2-4pm you can find out more about Newport Clock at Unit 9 with Tin Shed/Fflim Bach & Mawr’s Lost in Time: The Story of the Newport Clock.
Between 4-7.30pm there will be live music at The Cellar Door and Cwtsh will be hosting Phoenix Film Club between 7-9pm.
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