Ancestral light

Menna

Has

time, a connection to its past and also its future. I think the language and its deep-rooted connections to places, things and sounds gives a small but significant added dimension to the way I relate to the world around me.”

Menna

Angharad was born and raised in rural North Wales, and now lives on a smallholding in the Brecon Beacons, where her studio looks out across the Black Mountains. As the granddaughter of architect Clough Williams-Ellis and daughter of celebrated designer Susan Williams-Ellis (who studied at Chelsea School of Art under Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland) Menna was raised in a unique environment of creativity and artistic discipline. She said: “I grew up in Snowdonia, in a gorgeous location where I spent lots of time exploring the woods and streams as well as drawing and reading. I took a degree in Botany at Bangor University and then worked for some years designing patterns for my parents’ ceramic tableware business, before I decided I needed to go to art school. I did a foundation at Byam Shaw School of Art in London, then returned to North Wales where I continued painting. A while later I met Jeremy, who is now my husband. Jeremy is a hugely skilful and inspirational sculptor, and it was a natural progression for us both to embark on an MA in Fine Art at Cardiff. This entailed the move to Brecon, where we still live.”

The in-between

“The richness of detail of the rural landscape of North Wales is, for me, my starting point, my connection to the world. The richness and diversity of the Welsh language also feeds my understanding and belonging to this unique part of the world, a sense of commonality in place and

Menna paints whatever she finds compelling - an everyday item, a piece of clothing, a plant – but gives every item the status of a character sitting for a portrait. She said: “I want to show my subjects respect. Still life has always intrigued me, it can say so much in an economical and indirect way. For me, it’s about a moment in time where nothing is happening, it’s left to the viewer to wonder about the before and the after. It’s about the nondramatic stuff of life, the in-between things that hold everything together. These are the bits that I find wonderful and want to celebrate.”

“I would like people who encounter my work to see it as an opening, a space to step into and feel a connection to the subject, an empathy. I’m not aiming for an intellectual, wordy interpretation but rather an emotional response, something you want to carry with you.”