This striking collaborative piece was created by the component areas’ secondary schools guided by the artist Catrin Williams to celebrate the inscription of the Slate Landscape of north west Wales as a World Heritage Site. The work will tour through the quarrying communities.

Project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Cyngor Gwynedd Community Arts

The project took place between September and November 2021 with the secondary schools of Dyffryn Ogwen, Brynrefail, Dyffryn Nantlle, Eifionydd, Moelwyn and Tywyn taking part. The 4 metre wide finished textile art work is a collaboration of what was produced by these 6 schools.

The tour through the quarrying communities of this artwork began at the Welsh Slate Museum in December 2021. Currently it can be seen at STORIEL until 19 March, with the next location on the tour being at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn.

Says Catrin Williams….

In the initial workshop sessions the schools looked at the culture of the quarries to inspire their work and for historical input. By considering the slate industry in its entirety – influences of slate and visual scars on the landscape, history of slate ships, history and images of the trains, working on the rock face, lunch-break in the caban, the communities at chapels and brass bands – it was possible to develop images of these areas and weave the history through the work. Colourful mixed media images were produced to create one large collaborative textile artwork to celebrate the history, the regions, the stories and culture.