Welcome to the Celftastig Website

This is a website for practitioners and 11-14 year old learners, with the aim of providing tools and ideas based on activities to inspire the learners to develop the skills of exploring, creating and responding to art. The website is designed around 4 central themes, with an opportunity to look in more detail at the work of around 4 artists under each theme. The activities cover several themes and correspond to various areas of learning and experience in the Curriculum for Wales. These activities are tailored for progression steps 3 and 4 but can be adjusted according to the learner's ability and requirements. You do not need to complete all the activities or follow the order in which they are presented within the themes.

Themes and Artists

Environment

Mary Lloyd Jones, Manon Awst, Tim Pugh a Tim Davies

Identity

Catrin Williams, Lowri Davies a Tomos Sparnon

Culture

Ann Catrin Evans, Mari Thomas, Meinir Mathias a Ruth Jên

Politics

Ifor Davies, Iwan Bala, Neale Howells a Peter Finnemore

There are three sections for each artist.

In the 'Exploring' section, you will find information about the artists in the form of text, pictures, and sound - what inspires them, how exploring through experimentation creates different types of work, along with examples of their work, and the mood and ideas that are conveyed in them.

In the 'Response' section, you will find examples of resources and activities that can be used to develop the learners’ personal response skills to works of art. There is a particular focus on stimulating literacy skills by evaluating and explaining the impact of mood, emotion, and ideas.

In the 'Creating' section, you will find examples of plans and resources that could be used for projects, which experiment with different techniques to emulate the artists' styles. You can either download and print these resources or use them interactively on a device through the Hwb's pdf reader.

Explore and enjoy!

Tomos Sparnon

Pwy wyt ti?	Tomos Sparnon ydw i.
Ble cest ti dy fagu?	Ces i fy magu yng Nghastell-nedd
Ble est ti i’r ysgol?	Es i i Ysgol Gymraeg Castell-nedd ac Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera.
Disgrifia dy addysg.	Ar ôl gadael yr ysgol, astudiais i (I studied) Celf Gain (Fine Art) yng Ngholeg Celf Abertawe.
Pa ddefnyddiau wyt ti’n hoffi eu defnyddio?	Dw i’n hoffi defnyddio paent olew. Dw i hefyd yn hoffi defnyddio clai.
Beth ydy dy ‘broses’ di?	Cyn dechrau, mae gyda fi syniad o beth dw i eisiau ddweud. Ond pan dw i’n creu (create), mae’r gwaith yn datblygu (develops). Yn aml, dydy’r darn terfynol (final piece) ddim fel roeddwn i’n disgwyl (expect).

What is your background?

I'm from Neath. I attended Ysgol Gymraeg Castell-nedd and Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera. I then studied for a degree in Fine Art at Swansea College of Art and graduated with a first class degree in 2018. From September 2018 to July 2019, I worked as an artist in residence at the College of Art. Since then, I have been focusing on my artwork and running art workshops.

What or who has influenced/inspired you the most?

A variety of things inspire my artwork but probably the work of the Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Diego Velázquez, and the work of more modern artists such as Willem de Kooning and Frank Auerbach inspire me the most. The works of these artists, in their own unique ways, convey deep things about the experience of being human.

Explain the process that you follow when creating a piece of art.

Before I start creating my piece of art, I have an idea of what I would like to express on canvas or with clay. But during the creation process, the work develops, and the final piece is often not as I had expected. Sometimes, this can be a good thing; sometimes, it can be a problem! I usually use photographs as a source for my paintings. Sometimes a piece comes fairly easily; at other times, it needs more time and more mental effort.

Which media/materials do you enjoy using the most?

Oil paint and clay are my favourite mediums.

How has your work changed and developed over time? 

My early portraits were realistic, trying to capture a person's character, but through experimenting over the last few years I believe that my work has become more expressive and perhaps conveys the hidden things of humanity, such as emotions, feelings and experiences.

Which five images/pieces have you created that best represent you?

Complete these activies. Your work will be marked as you go. Remember to take a screenshot of your answers to keep in your personal record.

Activity 1

This is an adaptation of Tomos Sparnon's interview talking about his work. Highlight the adjectives (the describing words):

"My aim is to capture a collision between the visible and the invisible, between reality and what is not real.

My work has changed over the years: my early works were literal portraits, but now, although these may include a face, these will usually not be obvious.

The series of paintings I created in 2015 in response to the bombing of a school in Gaza, has been on my mind recently... in these paintings, I wanted to capture various expressions of people including fear, vulnerability, confidence and strength."

Activity 2

Tomos Sparnon uses many different materials to create his work. Look at this picture. What materials has Tomos used to create it? Drag the words to the picture.

Chalk

Pencil

Glue

Clay

Oil pastels

Watercolour paint

Ink

Paper

Oil paint

Charcoal

Cord

Wire

Remember to take a screenshot of your answers to keep in your personal record.

Vocabulary

artist in residence - an artist who works at an organisation for a temporary period of time, giving him an opportunity to work on a project or develop new ideas in a different location

expressive - conveying feelings, thoughts and emotions