Bardsey: Holy Isle. The rugged coast, wildlife and people at work portrayed in limited edition relief prints by these two well-respected artists.
The Bardsey Island Trust is celebrating forty years of owning the tiny island of Ynys Enlli, two miles off the tip of the Llyn Peninsula near Aberdaron. The island is a National Nature Reserve and sustains important colonies of (among others) grey seals and Manx shearwaters. For a thousand years Enlli was also inhabited by monks, and the island has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries. It is also home for much of the year to fishermen, farmers, artists and writers, and each year it is visited by hundreds of day and weekly visitors from April to September. The Trust was formed in the late 1970s to bring together people interested in conserving and studying the island’s wildlife, those wishing to preserve its spiritual life and heritage, and the small number of long-term residents on the island.
This special exhibition features the work of two artists, Kim Atkinson and Ian Phillips who have been particularly inspired by Enlli’s serene beauty and rugged coastline.
Kim Atkinson is a well-respected wildlife artist and former resident of Enlli who exhibits a small selection of prints and paintings depicting the work, life and wildlife of the island.
Ian Phillips is a master printmaker of reduction linocut prints and here captures the froth and swell on the rocky coastline of Enlli. These are the first in his new series of ‘Holy Isles’ images.
Items loaned by the public and the island community and also from Storiel’s collection will be on show from 24 September.
To further celebrate 40 years of Bardsey Island Trust a ‘Bardsey Day’ will be held at Storiel on Saturday 5th October.