Dickens 200th Birthday Art Competition Launched at Norwegian Church Cardiff

To celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens on Tuesday February 7th and its fifth annual art exhibition, Welsh Children’s charity Tros Gynnal Plant has launched a Dickens themed public art competition at the Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay.

Artists from all over Wales are being invited to donate works to the touring exhibition of Welsh contemporary art which will also visit Swansea Museum before culminating in an exhibition and auction at the Norwegian Church on October 24th. This year, students are also being invited to contribute art to the exhibition through he Dickens themed competition.

Jan Croome, Exhibition Administrator at Tros Gynnal Plant, which supports vulnerable children and young people in Wales said: “Throughout his life and works Dickens exposed the plight of disadvantaged children and played a leading role in improving their treatment by society. Dickens also worked closely with artists and illustrators, so we felt it would be perfect in his 200th year for us to mount a Dickens themed competition in our annual celebration of Welsh art.”

Entries can be in any medium; drawing, painting, print, sculpture or photographicand can be related to Dickens himself or his characters. Categories encompass under 16s, fine art student, sixth form and fine art students and there is a prize for the overall best work. Judged by representatives from the Wesh Arts Council, winning works will be displayed at the exhibition in both Swansea Museum and the Norwegian Church. Closing date for entries is July 30th 2012.

Fine art student Anna-Louise Llewellyn from Cardiff said: “I will be submitting a piece of 3D art into the competition. I will be looking at evocative objects from Dickens’ day and connecting them in my work which is ceramics based.” Artist Phil Lambert, also from Cardiff said: “I have been donating art to Tros Gynnal for a number of years, it is important for me to use art to positively benefit their work.”

Our Auction Raises over £6,000!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the final total of our Art Auction held on November 10th in a packed out Washington Gallery, Penarth. Given the current economic climate, the fact that over £6,000 was raised by auctioning the works so generously donated by artists featured on this website, is a magnificent achievement and we thank everyone who purchased the art.

These funds are vital for the work of Tros Gynnal Plant and will be directly translated into supporting vulnerable children and young people in Wales.

Jane Hutt AM and rugby great and commentator Brynmor Williams of Thomas, Carroll Group plc officially opened the auciton. So come down and join us at 6.30pm to view the art and stay for the auction which commences at 7.30pm.

We will be bringing you pictures and a full report on the event. For now, please enjoy our website which has now been announced will become a permanent resource to promote the work of artists working in and around Wales.

The artworks featured have now been sold, but please enjoy viewing them, and we will be bringing more news of next year's event shortly.