Over the next three months, students at Gower College Swansea will get to work alongside three newly appointed artists-in-residence.
In partnership with Mission Gallery, the college will host the artists at the Llwyn y Bryn campus from early March.
Gareth Southwell is an illustrator who works primarily in pen-and-ink, mainly in the fields of publishing and editorial illustration. He has produced cartoons, caricatures and illustrations for books and cover design, magazines and newspapers, and label and logo design. His past clients include Oxford University Press, Hasbro, Palgrave Macmillan, The Philosophers' Magazine, Penguin and W. W. Norton. He is also keenly interested in comics and is currently collaborating on a graphic novel about Sigmund Freud.
Jason Cartwright and Becky Williams (the latter a former BTEC Art and Design student at the college) have already completed successful residencies with organisations such as the National Theatre of Wales, the Elysium Gallery and the then-Swansea Metropolitan University. They have also taken part in shows around the UK, Europe and as far afield as Colorado, USA.
As well as developing their own work, the artists in residence will lead workshops at Llwyn y Bryn and participate in an Open Studios event, culminating in the summer with an artist talk and final profile at Mission Gallery.
“We were looking for artists with outstanding creative ability, past experience of arts education and the ability to lead classes,” says lecturer Mike Murray. “We were really impressed with the quality of applications and the short-listing process was a difficult one.”
“However, in Gareth, Jason and Becky, we felt we had found three very interesting, innovative and inspiring artists who will work well with our students and be fantastic ambassadors for the college and Mission Gallery - both organisations which can benefit emerging artists by sharing resources and expertise.”
This project has been funded and supported by the Welsh Government, the Arts Council of Wales and the National Lottery Fund.