I am a Creative Arts Practitioner who utilises practices such as mindfulness, incorporating it within my art making process, with the aim to:

• live in the present moment; 
• provide artistic opportunities;
• teach and facilitate workshops in a safe and comfortable space. 

I have learnt and gathered many skills and qualifications over the years, and consider myself to be quite experienced using mixed-methods approaches in facilitation and a range of artistic techniques and choice of medium.

 

My work for the Art Trail has come from my love of the classic Welsh dish, cawl, and my ever-present connection to my Welsh Heritage. As a result of having grandparents that worked in the mines, I really appreciate the history of Pontypridd and the Welsh Valleys. Consequently, I wanted to find a way to celebrate Pontypridd, whilst simultaneously supporting local business, and encouraging people to shop sustainably whenever possible. 

During my time at university, I have indulged in romanticising my journey into Ponty Market, where I go to buy my vegetables every week to then go home and make up a big pot of cawl. One batch will last me a good few days, and, speaking as a student (soon-to-be graduate), a cawl is such an economic solution! I’ve always been able to rely on ‘The Market Garden’, Ponty Market’s Fruit and Veg stall, to help me to keep myself fed in an affordable and sustainable way throughout my studies. 

This cawl recipe is also a celebration of my Mamgu, who passed on my great-grandmother’s cawl recipe to me (which I now cook without the meat!). In order for me to share this recipe with you, I have produced a film with an accompanying soundscape, that shares my weekly journey into Ponty Market and my family’s cawl recipe so that you too can make it. I’ve enjoyed taking in the sounds and sights of Ponty while sat needle-felting three-dimensional recreations of the key ingredients to display in a traditional shopping basket while also collecting recipes from the people of Pontypridd in a stereotypically battered (or ‘well-used’!) recipe book. You’re invited to join in this process of sharing recipes by writing the recipe you visit the market to buy ingredients for in the Pontypridd community recipe book too.  

Diolch / thank you to The Market Garden and The Market Quarter Pontypridd for hosting my artwork and being a source of comfort over the past three years.