The 'Ailfframio' Exhibition

A large collage of representing the slate quarry community is shown on the Barbican at Penrhyn Castle — Community artwork takes over at Penrhyn Castle | © Iolo Penri

A picture paints a thousand words… or does it? An exhibition created by our local community has taken over the Grand Hall at Penrhyn Castle.

Take a look at Henry Hawkins’ depiction of the Penrhyn Quarry. What can you see?

From the men in smart clothing at the forefront of the picture to the labourers dangling precariously in the background, the painting is full of details and inspires conversations and creativity.

This year, while restoring the original frame, we have been ‘Ailfframio’ or literally translated ‘Reframing’ the painting in a new and exciting way, asking the local community for their insights and contributions. From 6 July you will be able to see the outcome.

Creating the exhibition

We invited three community groups to create the new exhibition at Penrhyn Castle:

Ex-quarry workers
Members of Bethesda's social enterprise group Partneriaeth Ogwen
Year 9 art students from Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen

We asked them to respond to Hawkins’ Quarry Painting and participate in workshops with local artists to create the exhibition.

This July, join us as we step into the world of the painting and reflect on one of the sources that sustained the castle’s wealth in the nineteenth century.

Meet the artists

Featuring ceramics, textiles and a large collage the size of the painting itself, the exhibition is bursting with new artworks created by the local community. Meet the artists who hosted workshops that facilitated creative outputs based on the conversations the community groups have had in response to the painting.

Rhiannon Gwyn

Rhiannon Gwyn is an artist working mainly with ceramics and slate. Having developed an innovative technique of melting and shaping Welsh slate through high firing in the kiln, Rhiannon displays the melted slate alongside handmade ceramic bowls, all painted with a glaze made from natural materials such as gorse flower and slate. She was raised in Sling, near Bethesda, a place that continues to strongly influence her creative practice. Her practice delves into the profound connections between humans and landscapes, examining how materials serve as identity markers and influence self-perception and worldview through the emotional and mnemonic imprints on surroundings. Rhiannon worked with the ex-quarry workers to create ceramics that reflects the cultural wealth of the area. From the sound of the hobnail boots still walking to work, to the ropes that held the men on the rock’s surface, the history and vocabulary of the quarry are presented through the pottery made by the group who worked with Rhiannon. On each piece as dark as the belly of the rock, Welsh names of galleries, tools and other words associated with the quarry are stamped and gilded. Although the great wealth the Pennant family received at the expense of Jamaican enslaved people and local quarry workers is repugnant and still bitter to many, and the scars of working conditions still hurt, the Welsh language, community pride and humour shine on in the Ogwen Valley. This is our wealth.

Jŵls Williams

Jŵls is a visual artist and teacher who lives in Bangor and is originally from Llanfairfechan. Her artwork is based on the industrial landscape particularly Penmaenmawr Quarry where the last four generations of her family have spent their working lives. Growing up on the mountainside of a quarry, her paintings reflect personal relationships and place, its heritage within the context of the wider landscape. She is interested in how industrial, cultural and geological history has left behind on our landscape; the large-scale quarrying effect, the destruction of form and the spatial rhythms that continue to this day. The Partneriaeth Ogwen group concluded that the original painting was only telling half the story. The portrayal of the quarry community was missing, so in order to share the other half of the story, photographs and archive material were collected and prints of objects and artworks of quarrymen from the period were created. These were laid as the foundation for the work. The finished piece reveals the layers of the community's social history visible through ripped elements of the slate landscape, almost as if exploding out of the romantic picture painted at the behest of the quarry owner in 1832. Among the personal records and prints are flashes of the orange colour typical of Jŵls work, and the colour of the uniforms of today's Penrhyn Slate Quarry workers.

Anna Pritchard

Anna Pritchard, from Rhiwlas, creates luxurious fabrics and blankets for the home, as well as vibrant silk scarves after specializing in weave during her time at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her studio, overlooking the foothills of Eryri, serves as a source of inspiration. Coming from one of the oldest farming families still active in the Dyffryn Ogwen Valley, her fabrics document the area's rich farming traditions and history. Her work also features slate pillars, a significant element of the local landscape, and wildflowers, which hold personal significance from her childhood on a dairy farm. The group from year 9 Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen noticed the difference in the original picture between the posh people - the visitors from the period who were coming to see one of the most special man-made creations ever made - and the average workers e.g. their clothes, not much detail on the workers' faces and they also cared a lot about the safety and working conditions of the men, and the fact that there were no women to be seen in the picture. Collaborating with Anna, the learners crafted colourful costumes using various textile techniques. They feature more detailed portraits of past quarry workers on a light blue shirt, with ropes hanging between figures and a clothes line to note the contribution of the hard-working women. Bright orange clothing portrays the modern quarry, with workers now in safety gear and today’s visitors flying on a zipwire through the stunning landscape.

Lead artist Rebecca F Hardy | © Rebecca F Hardy

Rebecca F Hardy

Rebecca is the lead artist for the exhibition. Living near Gerlan, where she can hear the sounds of the working quarry, she is a multi-disciplined artist. From drawings to screen-prints, photography, video, live-art, sculptural forms and installations, the exploration of materials and relationships between surface and object, colour, layers, and patterns is what drives her process. With fifteen years of experience as a freelance project coordinator and workshop facilitator in Cardiff, London and North Wales, Rebecca hosted the initial engagement sessions, advised on the artists that would best suit the community groups, and co-ordinated and curated the art in the exhibition.

Rhys Iorwerth

As part of the exhibition, there are three poems commissioned in response to the artwork. These were composed by the poet Rhys Iorwerth. Born and raised in Caernarfon, Rhys is an award-winning poet who works as a freelance translator and writer. He won the 2011 Wrexham National Eisteddfod Chair and the 2023 Llŷn and Eifionydd Eisteddfod Crown. He has published several collections of poetry, a volume of prose, and several scripts for television and radio. He won the Poetry Book of the Year Award in 2015 for his volume Un Stribyn Bach, the Michael Marks Prize for Poetry in the Celtic Languages in 2020, and the Dic Jones Memorial Prize for BBC Radio Cymru's best poem Y Talwrn three times. Beyond his individual achievements, Rhys is actively involved in the poetry community. He is a member of the Dros yr Aber team, current champions of Y Talwrn, and is one of the founders of the Bragdy’r Beirdd nights, events that celebrate and promote Welsh poetry. He is currently working on a feature film exploring the world of Welsh poetry, which demonstrates his dedication to enriching and sharing Wales' literary heritage.

Gwen Siôn

Gwen Siôn, from Bethesda, is an experimental composer, music producer, and multidisciplinary artist working with sound, sculpture, DIY electronics, moving image, and installation. She creates multi-instrumental, vocal, and electronic compositions, often designing and building her own instruments from recycled materials. Gwen explores the relationship between sound and environment, ecology, mythology, ritual, and the interplay between colour and musical notation, using non-traditional methods like reading landscapes as scores and using field recordings. Gwen composed a track inspired by the sounds of the quarry for the exhibition video.

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Historical Background

Penrhyn Castle has an inextricable link to the Penrhyn Slate Quarry and its community in the quarrying town of Bethesda. The labour of these quarry men sustained the wealth found in the castle, and in the same regard the Pennant family of Penrhyn Castle’s investment transformed the scale, landscape and lifestyle found in the quarry.

Henry Hawkins’ depiction of the Penrhyn Slate Quarry is one of the most important paintings in our collections at Penrhyn Castle as it is a visible reminder of this connection.

It dates from 1832, a period of boom for the quarry, both financially and culturally. However, even though this period was decades before the Great Strike of Penrhyn Quarry or any significant industrial disputes, the working conditions were still incredibly dangerous, with injuries and death a constant threat, and the capitalist system in place meant there were extreme class disparities.