Art Researchers' Guide to Cardiff and South Wales Book Launch

The Art Researchers’ Guide to Cardiff and South Wales will receive its official launch on Wednesday, 15 July at 6.15pm, at the School of Art, Llandaff Campus of Cardiff Metropolitan University, at the ARLIS Annual Conference. 

Order your copy early (before 1 August) for only £6.00 and pick it up at the conference.

Art Researchers' Guide to Cardiff and South Wales

Editors:      Lousie Carey, Kristine Chapman, Jenny Godfrey, and Peter Keelan 
ISBN:        978-0-9562763-7-7
Publisher:  ARLIS / UK & Ireland
Regular price £7.00 
Publication date: 15 July 2015

With an introduction by: Judi Loach, Cardiff University

To order your copy at special publisher's rate email Lorraine Blackman with your order at:
http://www.arlis.net/contact

Cardiff (Caerdydd in Welsh) is the capital of Wales and one of the most vibrant cities in the UK.  Its roots go back to pre-Roman eras, with the occasional cromlech scattered around the region. Today Cardiff is the home of the National Assembly for Wales, the finance and business centre for the region, the Welsh media, and a hub for research, arts, sport, and culture. It is also home to one of the most beautiful civic centres in Europe. 

Across south Wales, the cities of Swansea and Newport hold a wealth of historical resources, and the South Wales Valleys are now a vivid mix or urban and natural environment.

This handbook describes the major collections of libraries, archives, and museums where you can research culture, art, and design. It will allow you to explore these cities and direct you to the most appropriate places to suit your research needs.

Special features include: 
• a city-wide map 
• at-a-glance navigation icons 
• a time-saving subject index to collections 
• a glimpse into each site with full-colour images

Visits part 4: National Museum of Art, and commercial galleries

National Museum of Art at National Museum Wales
The art collection is one of Europe's finest. Five hundred years of magnificent paintings, drawings, sculpture, silver and ceramics from Wales and across the world, including one of Europe's best collections of Impressionist works.
Temporary exhibitions available during the visit include, Fragile? an exhibition of contemporary ceramics, and Chalkie Davies: the NME years, photographs of rock and pop icons.

In addition to the National Museum of Art there are also a number of commercial art galleries located close by which delegates will be free to visit.

A. The Kooywood Art Gallery is one of the country's premier galleries specialising in Welsh art. Situated just 100 yards from the National Museum Wales, in the heart of the capital's cultural quarter. The gallery will be hosting an exhibition of the Royal Cambrain Academy artists. July 2nd - 25th.

B. The Martin Tinney Gallery was established in 1992 and is now considered to be Wales’ premier private commercial art gallery. The gallery specialises in Welsh and Wales-based artists of the highest quality, past and present.

C. gallery/ten is an art gallery specialising in contemporary Welsh art. gallery/ten has quickly gained a reputation for being one of the leading private contemporary art galleries in Wales.

Visits part 3: walking tour of the city centre

Enjoy a walking tour of Cardiff’s city centre with local tour guide William O’Keefe, who will chart its history from Roman to present times.  Highlights will include:

• the impressive civic centre, constructed mostly in the Edwardian era from Portland stone
• the exterior of Cardiff Castle with its Norman keep and Victorian Gothic revival accommodation
• the beautiful Victorian and Edwardian shopping arcades
• this thriving city’s ongoing regeneration.

minimum 10, maximum 25 people

Visits part 2: Museum Library and Cardiff University Special Collections

Museum Library
We support the work of the Museum's curatorial staff, but also provide access to external researchers by appointment. The contents of our Library reflect the diverse nature of Amgueddfa Cymru's collections, covering subjects such as; Archaeology; Fine and Applied Art; Industrial and Social History; The Natural Sciences; and Museum Studies.

Besides the general reference material and the museology collection, the Main Library holds all the pre-1701 books in the Library, together with a number of other special collections such as the Willoughby Gardner collection of early natural history books and Gwendoline Davies's personal collection of special bindings from the Gregynog Press.

Cardiff University
SCOLAR was established ten years ago in Cardiff University Library to integrate, develop, and promote the Special Collections and Archives of the University – basically all our historical collections. Over that period we have discovered a major strand of illustrated, artistic, and visual related materials scattered across the collections -  these appear in unique manuscript documents, in rare printed books, in historical journals and newspapers, cheap printed ballads, old posters, and even in Victorian children’s literature. We have utilized these visual resources for external grant applications, internal student workshops, publicity materials, and to respond to research enquiries.

See some samples of digitised versions of these types of materials on our DigitalSearch repository, here – http://digitalsearch.cf.ac.uk/home.html

Visits part 1: tour of the Senedd and public art in the Bay

Be taken on an official tour of the Senedd, the building of the National Assembly for Wales, in Cardiff Bay. Opened in 2006, this Richard Rogers’ design has impressive sustainability credentials. As part of the visit, there should be opportunity to sit in the public gallery to observe Plenary, the full meeting of Assembly members.
 

Afterwards there will be a walking tour of examples of the plentiful public art in the Cardiff Bay area, which reveals Cardiff’s industrial and maritime heritage, led by creative consultant Wiard Sterk, who commissioned many of the works in his role as Director of CBAT, the Arts & Regeneration Agency. Wiard will highlight different approaches to public art, its purpose and why and how the works came about.

minimum 10, maximum 20 people

Book now for the ARLIS 2015 conference

Booking is now open for the 2015 ARLIS/UK and Ireland Annual Conference

Please see the website for further details and booking form http://arlis.net/