Tag: documentary film

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Arts Community Film Outcomes

Ferrytales by Ceri Ashe

playwright

Ferrytales by Ceri Ashe

Ferrytales is a one woman show about people in Fishguard with Irish heritage, written and performed by playwright and actress Ceri Ashe of Popty Ping Productions. The piece was commissioned by Ancient Connections in 2020 as part of our arts commissions programme and explores themes of identity, heritage and connection.

As part of the research and development of the show Ceri sought out and interviewed a number of Irish ‘immigrants’ living in Wexford and incorporated their stories into the play. It also delves deep into Ceri’s own story; brought up in West Wales by an English mother and Irish Father in a village where most people were Welsh Speaking.

How did this shape her and how she views the world?

 

The show was performed at Theatr Gwaun in 2021 as part of the first “On Lands Edge” Festival, another Ancient Connections initiative.

Click here for more information on Ceri’s work or to get in touch.

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The following film is a showreel for the play:

Categories
Arts Community Film Outcomes

Pererin Wyf / Is oilithreach mé / I am a pilgrim

The Shrine of St. David in St. David's Cathedral
ARTIST

Pererin Wyf / Is oilithreach mé /
I am a pilgrim

Pererin Wyf was a participatory arts project led by the arts organisation SPAN arts, Welsh artist Rowan O’Neill and co-facilitated by Irish artists Rachel Uí Fhaoláin from Ceol Mo Chroí and John Ó Faoláin from Traditional Archive Channel. The project aimed to discover people’s connection to home through story and song, connecting to ‘Celtic Diaspora’ from Pembrokeshire and Wexford across the UK and beyond.

The project took its title and inspiration from an 18th century hymn by the prolific Welsh writer William Williams Pantycelyn; though quickly went beyond this to encompass any song which calls you home.

Cocreation is at the heart of how SPAN arts work, the engagement of the participants helped to shape the project and its outcomes, from their contributions to the digital map which took the project in new directions and created new avenues for collaboration to the stories they shared which shaped the exchanges and films.

 

Click here to view the story map.

 

The project commenced with a series of online participatory talks or enquiries into themes of home, hiraeth, cynefin and the experience of the Celtic diaspora. These were followed by online and in-person song-sharing workshops and by two exchange trips which led to Rachel Uí Fhaoláin writing a new song for the project. 

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‘Pererin Wyf / Is Oilithreach Mé / I am a Pilgrim’ is a 20 minute documentary showing how the project unfolded:

The new song was sung by Span Arts community choir Côr Pawb as part of the ‘Y Canu Mawr’ event at St David’s Cathedral on May 29th 2023.

Here is the live stream recording of that event:

The project engaged over 200 participants from Wales, England, Ireland and North America, with overwhelmingly positive feedback. Particpants talked about gaining a deeper understanding of Welsh and Irish cultures as well as an opportunity to connect with themselves and others:

“It gave me a space to reflect on songs from my own Irish heritage as well as songs that might mean something to my Welsh sons now.”

 

“The deep connections between Ireland and Wales and the spread of people from both to places around the globe.”

 

“It has been a pilgrimage in itself over the many events.”

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The new song ‘An Dara Craiceann’ has been beautifully recorded and is available to watch in this film by filmmaker John Ó Faoláin from the Traditional Archive Channel:

Categories
Archaeology Arts Film Outcomes

Sean Vicary ‘What is this that is coming?

ARTIST

Sean Vicary ‘What is this that is coming?

Sean Vicary is an artist based in Cardigan in West Wales, working across animation, moving image and digital media.

Sean was commissioned alongside three other Welsh and Irish artists to create new work that spoke to the following themes:

  • Personal or collective pilgrimage or journeying
  • Sacred Places
  • Celtic diaspora, ancestral heritage and a longing for home
  • Creative Storytelling that connects North Pembrokeshire and North Wexford

 

Sean chose to immerse himself in the archaeological digs that happened at Whitesands Beach, Pembrokeshire, in 2021, as part of the Ancient Connections Project; and his resultant work is a beautiful series of animations that combine archaeological drawings, voice recordings and collected sounds.

 

The work responds to a month spent as artist-in-residence with Dyfed Archaeological Trust during the excavation of an early medieval cemetery threatened by imminent coastal erosion at St Patrick’s Chapel, Porth Mawr, Sir Benfro. Although initially occupying the role of outside observer, Sean gradually became more directly involved with the dig, until eventually joining the archaeologists and other volunteers in helping to uncover and remove burials. The site has long been a place for gathering; in the recent past it was a choice spot for beach parties and raves, revelers oblivious of what lay beneath the dunes until human remains were exposed by storms in 2014.

 

The archaeologists, with Sean alongside them, worked down through multiple levels of chapel and graveyard, removing over 250 burials until they diminished in number and arrived at an oval enclosure with a central shrine dating from around 750 AD. Here the graves were replaced by traces of occupation; burning, seeds, animal bones, amber working. The shrine decorated with a carved human figure dressed in a tunic with raised stick-like arms, accompanied by early Irish inscriptions.

 

Sean found himself drawn to the archaeological process, which seemed to have similarities with his own art and animation practice, especially the use of a rigorous, repetitive method.

 

In this piece, ‘What is this that is coming?’ Sean has used moving image, field recordings and animation to reflect on his experience and examine resonances between the archaeological and artistic processes. The resulting stratigraphic sequences cut across inner and outer landscapes and evoke timescales that reach beyond our own lifespan: The hand drawn lines of archaeological site plans boil and shift while remnants of Mesolithic fauna washed ashore from a submarine forest are explored in minute detail, reminiscent of images beamed back to Earth by cameras on some remote interstellar space probe. These ecological temporalities suggest contemporary anxieties around the climate crisis and rising sea levels, as we contemplate a possible future as part of the geological record.

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The following two films are short extracts from ‘What is this that is coming?’

The full length moving image piece was exhibited alongside other Ancient Connections at Oriel y Parc, St Davids and in Wexford County Hall in February-May 2023. It can next be seen in exhibition at The Turner House in Penarth as part of  ‘Agora’, a group exhibition curated by Cadw and Tactile Bosch which runs from August 3rd to September 3rd 2023. Click here for details. 

Click here to get in touch with Sean or to find out more about his work.

Categories
Arts Film Outcomes Stories

Sylvia Cullen ‘Smugglers & Summer Snowflakes’

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Sylvia Cullen - ‘Smugglers & Summer Snowflakes’

Sylvia Cullen is an Irish writer, based in Wexford, working in fiction, theatre, film, animation and audio. She was commissioned alongside three other Welsh and Irish artists to create new work that spoke to the following themes:

  • Personal or collective pilgrimage or journeying
  • Sacred Places
  • Celtic diaspora, ancestral heritage and a longing for home
  • Creative Storytelling that connects North Pembrokeshire and North Wexford

Sylvia responded to the themes by conducting a series of community exchanges in both Wexford and Pembrokeshire to gather inspiration for her work. She studied and researched stories and immersed herself in the places and landscapes that were important to her and the participants of her workshops.

Ultimately, Sylvia has created a stunning set of 4 short stories exploring human connection to place in both Wexford and Pembrokeshire. She has recorded these pieces and they are available to listen to as podcasts on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Souncloud.

 

Below shows the four stories, both as podcasts and short films of Sylvia as she reads them out loud.

Click here to get in touch with Sylvia or to find out more about her work. 

 

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1. The Maërl Necklace:

Podcast:

Film:

2. The Iron Rose:

Podcast:

Film:

3. The Dark Warrior:

Podcast:

Film:

4. Needle Rock:

Podcast:

Film:

Categories
Archaeology Arts Film Outcomes Reports

Linda Norris ‘Fragment Dresser’

Artist

Linda Norris
‘Fragment Dresser’

Linda is a painter and glass artist based in Pembrokeshire and was commissioned alongside three other Welsh and Irish artists to create new work that spoke to the following themes:

  • Personal or collective pilgrimage or journeying
  • Sacred Places
  • Celtic diaspora, ancestral heritage and a longing for home
  • Creative Storytelling that connects North Pembrokeshire and North Wexford

Linda’s work centred around the idea of pottery sherds found in most people’s gardens that tell a story of domestic life and ordinary people.  Her initial proposal was to get people to send her found sherds with a ///what3words location tag and a story associated with them, however, as she began work it transpired that within the Republic of Ireland, these are considered archaeological artefacts and it would be illegal to do so. Instead, Linda started working with Welsh poet, Emma Baines, to run a series of in-person and online creative writing workshops to which participants brought along found sherds and responded with poetry and prose.

 

“Thank you so much for an incredibly fruitful set of workshops. The poetry we wrote is given a new fragility and dimension by your artwork.” Ali McGuire, workshop participant, Ireland.

 

The handwritten poems were then directly incorporated into Linda’s artwork, the Fragment Dresser. This exceptionally beautiful piece used glass combined with light projection to exploit the relationships between transparency and opacity achievable by sandblasting clear glass.

A video of Linda making the artwork:

Linday chose the dresser as it is an iconic piece of furniture central to domestic life in both Ireland and Wales. It is passed down through generations and is evocative of ideas about ‘home’ and ‘family’. The dresser is a repository for memory and shared experience and is also an item of cultural display.

 

A video of the final artwork:

Several offshoots of the project have emerged, including:

  • Bards ‘n Shards – a piece commissioned by Narberth Museum, creating ceramic pieces responding o the writing that took place in the creative writing workshops with Emma Baines
  • Shards Jewellery – making jewellery from found shards
  • Soil Collection – from archaeological sites to use in forthcoming work
  • Limpets – gilded 1000 year old limpet shells from the St Patricks Chapel archaeological site, excavated and discarded as part of the archaeological dig commissioned by Ancient Connections.

 

You can download Linda’s full report on her Ancient Connections residency below:

Linda Norris Residency Report

Click here to get in touch with Linda or to find out more about her work. 

Categories
Arts Film Outcomes Reports

David Begley ‘Small Finds’

Artist in Residence

David Begley ‘Small Finds’

David Begley is an artist, writer and arts educator who works through the mediums of drawing, painting, print, animation, video, sound, writing and gardening/nature connection.

David was commissioned in 2020 by the Ancient Connections Project to become our artist in residence, following the Exploring a Shared Past strand (diving into the history and archaeological connections between Wexford and Pembrokeshire) in a creative and participatory way.

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David’s own journey started with a period of intense research which continued through the course of his residency…

“My research was extensive throughout this residency. It included foraging materials from hedgerows in Ferns to create a palette of medieval inks, developing techniques in using these, researching the history of medieval inks and manuscript making, illumination, quill making, reed pen making in order to make my own drawing tools and impart this knowledge to pupils of St Edan’s National School. I learned to carve spoons in the tradition of Welsh Cawl spoons by attending a private workshop with Welsh carver Osian Denman. I filmed and edited this experience, carved sycamore spoons, and used these in ink making”

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Enthused by his research, David created a beautiful garden at St Edan’s National School. He then worked alongside children at the school delivering a twelve-week visual art, heritage and gardening project where pupils grew fruit, vegetables, medicinal and culinary herbs and flowers and used these as sources for drawing, painting, science and history lessons and workshops. Inspired by the medieval monk, St. Aidan, many of the plants chosen for the garden would have grown in medieval monastic gardens.

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A 10,000 word illustrated account of this experience can be read here: https://www.davidbegley.com/themonksgarden

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And an online exhibition of school children’s work can be viewed here: https://www.davidbegley.com/stedans-ns-exhibition

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David also produced a body of magical images entitled ‘Small Finds’ from the inks he created using foraged materials including oak gall, alder cone and elderberries. More images and information on how to purchase prints can be found here: https://www.davidbegley.com/smallfinds

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‘Small finds, a journey into ink’ is a documentary of his experience making these images and can be viewed here:  https://vimeo.com/davidbegleyartist/smallfinds


You can download David’s full report on his Ancient Connections residency below:

David Begley Residency Report

Click here to get in touch with David or to find out more about his work.

 

Categories
Film Outcomes Pilgrimage

Destination Marketing

Campaigns

Destination Marketing

Orchard - The Cardiff-based marketing firm

Orchard designed and delivered a two phase marketing campaign, promoting the two regions and the new Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way.

A mix of Out Of House marketing at key sites in Wexford and Pembrokeshire, TV ads, Radio Ads, Adverts in national publications, digital marketing campaigns and travel writer commissions were created.

Sky - AdSmart campaign

A 30 second TV ad was broadcast from January 27th to 6th of March.

Categories
Archaeology Film Outcomes

Pembrokeshire Interpretation

FILM

Pembrokeshire Interpretation

Zed Motions was contracted to interpret a number of sites in Pembrokeshire

1. St Patricks Chapel in Whitesands near St Davids

A short film about St Patricks Chapel in Whitesands near St Davids, reveals the story behind archaeological finds during Dyfed Archaeological Trust excavations 2019, 2020, 2021.  After severe storms in 2014 pounded the bay, human remains were uncovered, instigating archaeological excavation before this history was lost to the sea. 

The ensuing digs uncovered a cemetery, foundations of the chapel and an unusual find connecting Pembrokeshire to Ireland. The film includes a CGI reconstruction of St Patrick’s Chapel Whitesands using Dyfed Archaeological Trust’s findings from their dig. The long version of the film can also be found on PCNPA website and a short version of the film can be seen in the café at Whitesands Beach.

‘Discovering Donoec: Findings from a decade of digging at Whitesands’ (English):

'Darganfod Donoec: Darganfyddiadau degawd o gloddio ym Mhorth Mawr’ (Cymraeg):

2. Church of St Gwyndaf in Llanwnda

An Audio Guide using Info Point technology, which delivers content to visitor’s electronic devices (phones or tablets) was created for the Church of St Gwyndaf in Llanwnda; a significant site with a rich history, fascinating features and a wealth of stories to tell.

The church is dedicated to St Gwyndaf, a 6th-century Christian saint who, it is believed, was a native of Brittany and who settled for a time in Pembrokeshire. In addition, a leaflet has been made which is available at the church.

Location below:

3. Fishguard Marine Walk Interpretation Boards

Six interpretation panels were produced in collaboration with Fishguard and Goodwick Town Council. The boards interpret key moments in Fishguard and Goodwick’s history. You can visit the boards by walking the Marine Walk in Fishguard with beautiful views of Fishguard Bay. 

These Marine Walk panels were illustrated and designed by Jason Jones at Yume Creative.  

Click here for more information on the Marine Walk.

Other Interpretations

  1. Two new leaflets for Saints and Stones tours. View website here.

     2.  A mural on the side of Theatr Gwaun in Fishguard

Categories
Film Outcomes Pilgrimage

Post Creative Camino Films

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0095.JPG
FILM

Post Creative Camino Films

The Creative Camino was a 7-day artist pilgrimage, which took place in May 2022 along the Wexford Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way; the new walking route created by Ancient Connections, linking Ferns in County Wexford to St Davids in Pembrokeshire. Filmmaker Will Philpin of When It Rains Creative, documented the experience of the four artists and the community pilgrims along the route.  

Will created a series of short episodes capturing moments along the route and made a short documentary film, which can be found at the bottom of this page.

Pilgrimage Chapters: Pilgrim Departure from Ferns

Pilgrimage Chapters: Our Lady’s Island

Pilgrimage Chapters: In the Woods

Pilgrimage Chapters: Artist Pilgrims Rehearsal along coast path Trefin to Blue Lagoon, Abereiddy

Pilgrimage Chapters: Wearable Map Kate's Dress and Johnstown Castle

Pilgrimage Chapters: Tulach a’ tSolais

Pilgrimage Chapters: St Davids Cathedral Arrival and Welcome

Pilgrimage Chapters: St Non's & Whitesands

Pilgrimage Chapters: Carreg Samson

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Creative Camino Full Film:

Categories
Film Outcomes Pilgrimage

Pre Creative Camino Films

FILM

Pre Creative Camino Films

The Creative Camino was a 7-day pilgrimage along the new walking route, the Wexford Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way, linking Ferns in County Wexford to St Davids in Pembrokeshire.  Two artists from Pembrokeshire, Ailsa Richardson and Suzi McGregor, and two artist from Wexford, Bonnie Boux and Kate Powell, took part along with a number of community Pilgrims. It was led by Journeying’s Iain Tweedale. In the lead up to the Creative Camino, filmmaker Will Philipin of When It Rains Creative created a trailer of the forthcoming pilgrimage, short film entitled ‘Who is a Pilgrim?’ and interviews with the four artists capturing their expectations of the pilgrimage that lay ahead of them.

Trailer

Artist and Pilgrim Ailsa Richardson

Artist and Pilgrim Suzi McGregor

Who is a Pilgrim? What is a Pilgrimage?
Looking ahead to the Creative Camino short film