Portal 2023 (ENG)

2023

CONTENTS
FOREWORD 02
INTRODUCTION 03
ANANDA HILL 04
BONNIE GRACE BARKER 06
CLARE STEPHENS 08
FFION WILLIAMS 10
GABRIEL SHOWELL-NICHOLAS 12
HANNAH SHARPE 14
JACKIE STEPHENS 16
JESSICA AGAR 18
MADELAINE ATKINSON 20
NIAMH O’DOBHAIN 22
ROSIE MERRIMAN 24
ROWAN LICKERISH 26
SARAH GROUNDS 28
THOMAS RADBURN 30
VALERIE O’DONNELL 32
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 34
Portal 2023 01

FOREWORD
Portal has become more than just an exhibition. The
connections made between Llantarnam Grange and the
artist graduates go further than just the duration of the show.
It has become such an important part of our legacy and
our commitment to creating long lasting relationships and
collaborations.
For graduating artists leaving education can be a challenging time.
Through Portal we offer support, advice, and a place for artists to
grow in confidence so that this transition feels less daunting.
excited to see what new and engaging ideas Portal can bring to the
gallery.
This year’s graduates have raised the bar, not only do they present
aesthetically sublime work, but they are also sharing important
and profound stories in imaginative and delicate ways. I value the
time and energy each artist has given to Portal, and I hope that this
opportunity helps them to grow, make connections, and nurture
collaborations that they can take into the future.
As Exhibitions Officer, I thrive on meeting new artists and
experiencing the passion behind what they create. I am always
Savanna Dumelow
Exhibitions Officier
Llantarnam Grange
02 Portal 2023

INTRODUCTION
Portal is our annual group exhibition of graduate artists
and makers that aims to demystify working in the arts. By
giving new voices support, tools, and the opportunity to
develop skills, Portal reaches beyond the gallery walls to
give emerging artists the best possible start for forging
sustainable careers.
Through a constellation of practices that range from ceramics,
textiles, metal work, photography, and installation, Portal 2023
showcases a collection of 15 of this year’s graduates. With artists
from Welsh institutions such as Cardiff Met, UWTSD Swansea and
Carmarthen School of Art, to national universities such as Hereford
College of Arts, Manchester School of Art MMU, and the University
of Edinburgh. We hope this exhibition captures the collective spirit
and ideas coming out of art schools this year.
The work on display explores a sensitive relationship to craft
and process, with artists showing care and consideration in their
choice of materials, their chosen subjects, and how these are
communicated.
While some have looked inward to explore how we relate to
ourselves and our bodies, from the masks we wear, to our
emotional wellbeing, and what literally runs through our veins;
others have considered how we, and the processes we use, relate
to the land.
From being conscious to minimise the environmental impacts of
their craft, documenting life on an eco-farm, or through sculptures
that allow you to become part of the forest floor, there is a clear
investment in alternative ways of being.
Through all these different subjects, politics is always present. From
feminism and body positivity, to environmentalism, Welsh language,
or in the commemoration of specific tragic events.
With many artists being influenced by protest and activism, Portal
2023 shares a collective desire to stand up for ourselves, others,
and our surroundings.
Portal 2023 03

ANANDA HILL
Hereford College of Arts, BA (Hons) Contemporary Design Crafts
Ananda Hill is a textile artist who creates thought provoking
contemporary embroidery. She slowly stitches by hand in
her makeshift garden studio, creating detailed works from
sustainable and traditional textiles.
Ananda’s art is intended to gently inspire thought and discussion
about the world we live in today, and the impact it has on us as
humans. Drawing inspiration from history, stories, media, and
the human experience, she playfully explores topics that often
overwhelm us or cause us to question our identity.
She uses embroidery as a mindful, therapeutic tool to help her
to grasp the state of modern existence. Ananda’s passion for
textiles stems from being surrounded by artists and women who
sewed throughout her childhood. She has an endless curiosity to
understand our human connection to textiles and to unpick the
stories they hold. Ananda aims to use her platform as an artist to
provoke conversation about things close to her heart.
Above: Embroidered and Overwhelmed (detail), 2023
Right: Embroidered and Overwhelmed, 2023
04 Portal 2023

Portal 2023 05

04 Portal 2023

BONNIE GRACE BARKER
Swansea College of Art (UWTSD), MA Surface Pattern Design, Contemporary Dialogues
Bonnie is a multidiscipline artist who works across drawing,
painting, print, textiles, paperwork and ceramic. Beginning
as a way to express her thoughts and feelings, her work has
developed into the creation of ornate jugs.
Bonnie struggles to think in 3D so uses clay as though it were
paper. Starting with wobbly line drawings, she uses slabs of clay to
create flattened 3D forms, transforming her continuous line drawn
shapes into jugs. These are then embellished with designs inspired
by antique commemorative ware. Bonnie uses coloured underglaze,
ceramic pencil, textured decals, coded text (decal) & lustres to bring
this work to life.
Within these designs Bonnie has embedded a secret language
inspired by binary code and the grids found in textiles. This code
is unique to her and includes Welsh letters such as ‘dd’ and ‘ll’.
Through this Bonnie exposes elements of herself, sharing things
that she could not bring herself to say otherwise.
Left: Thoughts at a Quarter // Meddyliau ar Chwarter, 2023
Above: Thoughts at a Quarter // Meddyliau ar Chwarter, 2023
Portal 2023 07

CLARE STEPHENS
Cardiff Metropolitan University, MA Ceramics and Maker
Clare Stephens creates vessels that are in conversation with
each other, their environment, and those who encounter
them. Communication happens in many ways, physically,
spatially, emotionally, and spiritually – when we look, touch,
or consider what is in front of us.
Clare’s forms capture these interactions, that precious essence
of ‘being-with’, that can nurture acceptance, conversations, and
collaboration to support our well-being. These aspects, which
resonate and inspire Clare’s creativity, have also been significant in
her previous career as a midwife.
Like the human form, all clays are similar yet individual and unique.
Their colour, texture, and flexibility vary depending on where they
are formed. During the process of making, Clare connects with
these material properties, and through tacit knowledge, informed by
the generations of potters who have gone before, she becomes a
part of this timeless interaction.
Above: Presence 2023
Right: Presence 2023
08 Portal 2023

Portal 2023 09

10 Portal 2023

FFION WILLIAMS
University of Edinburgh, BA (Hons) Painting
Ffion Williams uses text and the Welsh Language (Cymraeg)
to explore themes of Welshness, protest and hope. Through
making mistakes and using English substitutions, which Ffion
calls Cymraeg Ddrwg (bad Welsh), they embrace language as
an evolving tool for creation.
Ffion conducted interviews about Cymraeg and its relationship
to identity in the train station of their hometown, Abergavenny.
This became the foundation for their text-based work. The final
installations embody the commotion of a train station, with sound
guiding the viewer through the work.
Protest is a large part of Wales’s legacy. Through their metal sets
and protest banner motifs, Ffion strives to display the power of
protest as a tool for change. The suppression of cultures through
colonisation has been experienced globally, in many different
contexts. This work goes beyond Ffion’s Welsh experience, to
sharing stories and giving a voice to others, in an act of solidarity.
Left: Cymraeg Ddrwg, 2023
Above: Cymraeg Ddrwg, 2023
Portal 2023 11

GABRIEL SHOWELL-NICHOLAS
Hereford College of Arts, BA (Hons) Artist Blacksmithing
Gabriel Showell-Nicholas’s practice is informed by furniture
designer David Pye’s concept of free workmanship, which
values the skills of workers over the accuracy or precision of
tools. This approach opposes the craft standards that have
been normalised by automated manufacturing. Instead, it
celebrates incidental marks and asymmetry.
The Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi, that appreciates beauty
that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”, has also
influenced Gabriel’s creation of simple, elegant forms that give the
impression of energetic movement.
Through combining his two passions of blacksmithing and cooking,
Gabriel has created various pieces of kitchenware and cutlery,
including: herb and salt pots; highly stylised bowls and trays, that
have been sliced and cut to show the maker’s hand; compact
cutlery kits, consisting of hashioki and chopsticks; and condiment
pots, that stack neatly together.
All pieces were forged to be practical and for daily use.
Above: Open Movement Ironware, 2023
Right: Open Movement Ironware, 2023
12 Portal 2023

Portal 2023 11

HANNAH SHARPE
Swansea College of Art (UWTSD), BA (Hons) 3D Design Crafts
Hannah Sharpe is a ceramist based in Swansea who has
developed a contemporary twist on traditional practice. By
investigating the human form, she explores ideas around the
grotesque, identity, and body and sex positivity. Through
combining slip-cast forms with bright colours, Hannah aims
to provoke feelings of curiosity and discomfort.
‘Enemy or a Friend?’ is a celebration of the human form. The
sculptures symbolise unfiltered and unmodified versions of
ourselves, with curves, folds, and skin imperfections. Every single
body is worthy of love and acceptance, and the least we can do is
give this freely, as they carry us through our life.
Left: Enemy or a Friend? 2023
Above: Enemy or a Friend? 2023
Portal 2023 15

JACKIE STEPHENS
Carmarthen School of Art, BA (Hons) Textiles
Jackie Stephens is an experimental woven textile designer
who draws on the long association between text and weaving,
reinterpreting stories with thread to create memorable
narratives through handwoven textiles.
‘MAKE IT RIGHT’ tells the story of the Wales Window for Alabama.
This stained-glass window was created by Welsh artist John Petts
in response to the 1963 bombing of sixteenth street Baptist Church,
in Birmingham, Alabama which killed four young girls. The window
was donated as a symbol of solidarity by the people of Wales in a
democratic fundraising campaign led by the Western Mail.
Five handwoven panels represent key moments in the story,
the explosion, the murder, four little girls, Petts’s decision to do
something to ‘make it right’, the newspaper campaign, and the final
window. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing, this
work tells the story to a new generation.
Above: MAKE IT RIGHT detail, 2023
Right: MAKE IT RIGHT Llansteffan Castle, 2023
16 Portal 2023

18 Portal 2023

JESSICA AGAR
Hereford College of Arts, BA (Hons) Artist Blacksmithing
Jessica’s relationship with the land is one of activism, but
also of intimacy. They imagined what gifts would grow
over their body if they were to lay down in the forest. What
strength would the natural world lend her to defend herself;
and how it would defend itself?
Inspired by the notion of nature’s armour, this work is a ritual
garment that is to be worn in private performances that connects
the wearer to the land. Created from forged metal, Jessica
manipulates cold steel into something delicate, feminine, and
organic, taking inspiration from the forms of lichen, and its symbiotic
relationship between algae and fungus.
By placing the breastplate on her body, Jessica becomes a part
of this relationship, causing her to wonder to what extent she is
nurturing the artwork, and to what extent she is being nourished.
This mirrors Jessica’s relationship with the natural environment,
where they are both mother and daughter, and both giver and
receiver.
Left: Fertile Land, 2023
Above: Fertile Land, 2023
Portal 2023 19

MADELAINE ATKINSON
Birmingham City University, BA (Hons) Textiles Design
Trigger warning for infant and child loss.
‘The Uncovered Secret Sin’ is a textile collection by
Madelaine Atkinson that highlights some of the abuse that
took place within the Catholic Church.
In 2015 news emerged that the remains of hundreds of babies and
children had been discovered in a mass, unmarked grave close to
St Mary’s mother and baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland.
The home was part of a network of institutions for unmarried
mothers and their children.
Madelaine’s collection is a tribute to all the babies and families
involved in the tragedy. Her cape design includes 802 shamrock
clovers of different sizes and colours, to commemorate those who
lost their lives.
Through imagery, techniques, and traditional artistry associated with
Catholicism, The Uncovered Secret Sin is a memorial that confronts
the wealth and beauty that has masked so many tragic events.
Madelaine believes that creating work that reveals these stories can
help raise awareness and spark conversations for years to come.
Above: The Uncovered Secret Sin, 2023
Right: The Uncovered Secret Sin, 2023
20 Portal 2023

NIAMH O’DOBHAIN
Swansea College of Art (UWTSD), BA (Hons) Fine Art
Inspired by actresses and characters from the Golden Age of
Hollywood, Niamh O’Dobhain explores ideas of self-invention
and expression. Through considering the complexities of the
‘self’ and its fluid nature, Niamh became interested in our
relationship to beauty and ageing.
Through photography and styling, Niamh’s inky imagined faces use
makeup to consider how gender and identities are hidden, revealed,
and performed. Influenced by years of exposure to old Hollywood
film stills, posters, fashion illustrations, and ‘glamour-shots’, Niamh
turns the camera on herself in an act of self-reflection and selfinvention.
Through masks and evolving appearances, their work looks to find
what faces ‘fit’, represent, and reflect an inner, and possible future,
self.
Left: Veil, 2023
Above: Mask, 2023
Portal 2023 23

ROSIE MERRIMAN
Hereford College of Arts, BA(Hons) Textile Design
Rosie Merriman is a textile designer and artist who uses
storytelling to explore her fascination with imagined worlds
and the characters within them. Through fantasy and folklore,
Rosie creates wearable pieces that blur the boundaries
between art and fashion.
‘Tools for Empowerment’ is a triptych of veils that challenges the
traditional depiction of women in art and literature. Instead of
being ‘damsels in distress’, these pieces show a journey towards
empowerment. Each delicate, machine-knitted veil represents a
different stage in this transformation.
The first veil represents fragility, embellished with handmade, metal
teardrops. The second, represents the ‘hardening’ of these tears
through growing salt crystals. The final veil is inspired by chainmail,
with textured metal links and chains that represent strength and
resilience.
Alongside this is a collection of artefacts inspired by tales such
as The Mabinogion. These textile pieces represent fragments of
mythical objects that are associated with purity and betrayal.
Above: Tools for Empowerment, 2023
Right: Tools for Empowerment, 2023
24 Portal 2023

Portal 2023 25

ROWAN LICKERISH
Hereford College of Arts, BA (Hons) Artist Blacksmithing
Rowan is fascinated by music and the images it creates in
the imagination. He is particularly interested in the synthetic
sounds found in contemporary drum and bass. These sounds
are created digitally through the manipulation of waveforms.
His practice involves the creation of abstract forged metal
sculptures, which represent the forms and structures that appear in
his mind when he hears these sounds. Rowan sees his structures
as vast, angular monoliths inspired by the Brutalist environment that
the music originates from.
The sculptures are accompanied by automatic drawings created to
music, where Rowan has let his pen move freely across the page, to
further explore how sound appears in his mind’s eye.
Left: Sine Compression, installation, 2023
Above: Exodus, 2023
Portal 2023 27

SARAH GROUNDS
Swansea College of Art (UWTSD), BA (Hons) Photography and Visual Activism
Sarah Grounds is a visual artist who works in photography
and performance. Through a mixture of self-documentation
and candid photography she captures life on an eco-farm in
South West Wales.
‘The Links Project’ is an ongoing body of work that explores
structures that exist in our society. This brings the personal, political,
and universal together in a series of installations, still images,
and performances. Drawing on aspects of Social Ecology and
Permaculture, as well as the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari,
in particular their concept of the Rhizome 1 , Sarah works in a
transdisciplinary approach that looks to challenge and celebrates
the links we have with everything and everyone around us.
1
a way of thinking that moves away from linear progression to
complex webs that continue to grow without a clear central point.
Above: The Links Project, 2023
Right: The Links Project, 2023
28 Portal 2023

Portal 2023 29

30 Portal 2023

THOMAS RADBURN
Manchester School of Art (MMU), BA (Hons) Product Design and Craft
Thomas Radburn is a contemporary craftsman who explores
the alchemy of glass to create handmade objects that capture
a sense of place. He works with materials sourced from
specific locations, often places that are influential to him
or that have an interesting geology. Thomas’ use of natural
materials is driven by an understanding of the formation of
glass and the locations they come from. This guides his use
of colour and form.
Through intentionally collecting materials such as sand, shells, and
plant ash, Thomas is conscious to have minimal impact on the
environment. These resources are then carefully processed and
refined before being polished and cut, to create beautiful objects.
Thomas’ approach challenges the use of traditional gemstones,
making materials with similar qualities but without the complex
ethical issues.
Left: Cynefin a Hiraeth, 2023
Above: Cynefin a Hiraeth, 2023
Portal 2023 31

VALERIE O’DONNELL
Cardiff Metropolitan University, MA Ceramics and Maker
Valerie O’Donnell’s research explores the inner workings of
blood. She is fascinated by how it flows through our veins
to sustain existence while simultaneously positioning us
on the edges of death. While blood can be both good and
evil, Valerie believes that understanding this contradiction
will allow us to harness its lifesaving power. Blood can also
act as metaphor for connectedness; bringing nourishment,
removing waste, and enabling communication, to support the
whole.
Valerie’s sculptures are inspired by blood cells; appearing as
molecular models, their spikes prick and bleed, evoking the
sensation of injury with oozing stains. This examination of the atomic
structure of blood cells questions how cells function as miniature
vessels, which hold all the ingredients we need for life.
While every single microscopic entity contains all of the energy,
metabolising nutrients, and storing biomolecules for killing bacteria
and sustaining life, it cannot live alone. These vessels need to be
part of the whole body so they can support the continuance of
existence.
Above: Hypothetical Forms, 2023
Right: Hypothetical Forms, 2023
32 Portal 2023

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Portal 2023
A Llantarnam Grange Exhibition
Published by Llantarnam Grange ©LG 2023
Llantarnam Grange is a part of Arts Council Wales ‘Arts Portfolio Wales’
Registered Charity no: 1006933. Company Limited by Guarantee no: 2616241
Llantarnam Grange is funded by the Arts Council of Wales and Torfaen County
Borough Council.
This publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without
written permission from the publisher.
With thanks to:
Guest selector Sarah James MBE, Director, Craft Festival
Find a Maker. Arts Council of Wales and Torfaen County Council.
Llantarnam Grange
St David’s Road, Cwmbran
Torfaen, NP44 1PD
01633 483321
llantarnamgrange.com
34 Portal 2023