Art Central Celebrates International Womens Day 2010
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The Vale of Glamorgan Council’s exhibition space, Art Central, will be showcasing some of the finest examples of women’s arts as part of annual celebrations for International Women’s Day on 8 March.
International Women’s Day is a world-wide event which recognises and celebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women. Between 6 and 27 March the gallery will be displaying the Women’s Arts Association open exhibition, offering an inspiring range of painting, print, drawing, photography and sculpture from over seventy women artists in the south Wales area.
It will be supported by the Iron Maidens exhibition, consisting of sculptures and drawings by British and American women who work in cast iron. As well as the sculptures, additional drawings will be available to view, which draw on themes within the artists’ works as well as experimenting with the use of iron within paint and rusting techniques.
Dilys Jackson, founder of Iron Maidens, said: “All of us have iron in our blood and working with the medium is an enticing, exciting art form that really does become a way of life. It’s wonderful that this exhibition has been put together as the very nature of casting iron requires artists to work in groups. Many of the women exhibiting, who are from both the UK and the USA, have worked together at some point. It’s a very sociable medium with wonderful results.”
This is an annual open exhibition by the Women’s Arts Association, which works in partnership with practitioners, communities and funding bodies to develop accessible, creative opportunities for women across all art forms; while Iron Maidens is the first in a series of exhibitions shown as a precursor to the International Contemporary Cast Iron Art Conference in Kidwelly in July, where it will have a special showing.
Gwyneth Price, Chair of the Women’s Arts Association, said: “We’re delighted to once again have the opportunity to exhibit at Art Central, which continues to attract major exhibitions and interest on both a local and regional basis.
“This particular event includes works from 76 different artists, which is remarkable as it clearly demonstrates there’s a healthy interest across south Wales. I was also surprised at the age group of those submitting works – there’s a young, dynamic group emerging which is very encouraging.”
Cllr Anthony Ernest, cabinet member for tourism and leisure, said: "We're very grateful that the Women's Arts Association and Iron Maidens exhibition has come to Art Central as part of celebrations for International Women's Day. Both offer a wonderfully diverse and insightful range of works which I'm sure all visitors to the gallery will appreciate and enjoy."
Art Central is based at the Town Hall, Barry, and is open 10am – 4pm, Tuesday – Saturday. Entry is free. For more information on exhibitions at Art Central please call 01446 700111 or visit the Art Central page.
More information on International Women’s Day can be found at www.internationalwomensday.com/
