Oriel Archipelago is a home studio and occasional gallery in the estuary village of Llansteffan, Carmarthenshire.

Oriel Archipelago uses the physicality of an archipelago – a cluster of distinct but connected islands – as a metaphor under which to reframe and create relationships between a diverse range of practices.

November 2024 Program. Residency and exhibition

Residency: Peter Arthur Moon. 4th-10th November 2024

Peter Moon is a musician, composer and film maker from Cornwall.

Peter has a background in the field of performance art and music. He is a member of the celebrated post rock band Held by Trees and the Cornish Jungian themed Unknown Replica. He is also an award winning writer, lecturer and recently, a film director. Working from his studio The Ambience Factory in Truro, Cornwall, he also scores music and create soundscapes for films

Peter’s interest lies between the intersections of ancient ritualistic landscapes, hauntology, psychogeography, folklore and the fading languages of Breton, Cornish and the living language of Welsh

 His work is rooted within modern and ancient Brythonic folklore, science, science fiction and psychological horror. Artistic responses may be returned in the formats of story, film - in a modern context, sound, documentary along with music.

During his artist residency at Oriel Archipelago, Peter intends to immerse himself in Welsh folklore both ancient, in the form of written history and landscape and modern, exploring, recording and reinterpreting landscapes and mysteries of The Welsh Triangle, the UFO incidents reported during the 1970s. Whether real or imagined, he is interested in how they became modern folklore and what that means to the people of Wales.

The residency will let him further develop an understanding of the similarities between the Brythonic cultures of Brittany, Cornwall  and Wales.

The outcomes will depend on the findings, but Peter foresees a Welsh folklore and science fiction investigation themed script to be translated into Welsh along with 16mm film capture and tests, Super 8mm film of Standing stones/Meini hirion and a factual podcast.

Peter wishes to make connections to film makers in Wales with a view to creating a collaborative Cornish / Welsh project. 

Exhibition: Crossings and Driftings/ Croesi a Crwydro with artists

Vera Boele-Keimer and Sarah Rhys. 18th November - 1st December 2024

The title CROSSINGS AND DRIFTINGS/ CROESI A CRWYDRO brings together the work of Sarah Rhys and Vera Boele-Keimer

The exhibition creates connections between Sarah’s recent project of building a coracle and surrounding research into traditions, tales and texts and Vera’s work of thinking about surfaces construction in relation to painting. The literal meets the metaphorical - either way!

With artist talks on Saturday 23/11/2024 and 30/11/24

with NETS, a talk by a coracle fisherman on the 1/12/24

Vera’s starting point is the parallels she sees in the crossing of lines to create visual surfaces and the crossing of threads to create woven surfaces. Anni Albers’ description of fabric as “pliable plane” resonates with the artist who uses the material qualities and characteristics of painting to create works that cross the line-between object, drawing, textile and painting.

Vera Boele-Keimer originally from Germany, has lived and worked in Bristol for the past 25years.

Image: Crossing the Line

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In this exhibition Sarah’s focus is on a coracle that she made in collaboration with a local coracle fisherman. The crossings not only refer to the interlaced ash laths that create the structure of the boat and the twisted woven willow on the gunwale, but also to the crossings on the river, as well as the more dreamy driftings.

Image: White Coracle

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The White Coracle is in its calico skin, un tarred which semi transparent and not as yet functional as a boat. The second coracle will be waterproofed with pitch paint and be used on the river

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Oriel Archipelago. Studio/Gallery, Llansteffan, Carmarthen SA335JT