The Gold Medal (Welsh: Medal Aur) of the National Eisteddfod of Wales is awarded annually in three categories for excellence in Fine Art, Architecture, or Craft and Design. [1]
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is Wales' most important national cultural event, taking place annually. Its open exhibition of art and craft, Y Lle Celf (Welsh: 'The Art Space') is one of the highlights of the Welsh arts calendar. [2] Gold medals are awarded in the Visual Arts section for outstanding contributions in different media: a gold medal for fine art has been awarded since 1951; [3] a medal for Architecture has been offered since 1954 (though withheld and not awarded between 1954 and 1959); [4] and a gold medal for craft and design has been awarded since 1985. [5]
Other awards are the Tony Goble Award, given to a first time exhibitor, and the Josef Herman Award, chosen by the public [6] (Josef Herman, a Polish emigree, won the Fine Art medal in 1962). [7]
The Architecture award was endowed by Thomas Alwyn Lloyd and is given in conjunction with the Design Commission for Wales and the Royal Society of Architects in Wales, who advise the Eisteddfod judges. [1]
The award is given to practitioners working in Wales, and a language rule has been in force since 1950 that any original words in art works must be in the Welsh language. [8] In 2013 there was controversy when a video entirely in English by England-born University of Wales Newport student Josephine Sowden was awarded the Fine Art medal. [9] [10]
In January 2014 the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) and Craft in the Bay, Cardiff held an exhibition showcasing the work of previous winners of the Fine Art and the Craft awards. [2]
The 2014 Open Exhibition exhibited the work of 44 artists, selected from 300 entries. [6]
Source: The National Eisteddfod of Wales
Source: The National Eisteddfod of Wales
Arts and Craft / Gelfyddyd a Chrefft
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors typically number 6,000 or more, and overall attendance generally exceeds 100,000 visitors, the highest recently being 118,000 attending the 2022 festival. The 2018 Eisteddfod was held in Cardiff Bay with a fence-free 'Maes'. In 2020, the event was held virtually under the name AmGen; events were held over a one-week period.
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Percy Thomas Partnership was the trading name of the award-winning British architectural practice established some time between 1965 and 1973 as the successor to a series of earlier partnerships originally set up by Percy Thomas (1883–1969) in Cardiff, Wales in 1911/12. Percy Thomas and the Percy Thomas Partnership put their name to a number of landmark buildings in the United Kingdom including the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. It opened offices overseas and completed a number of prestigious buildings in Hong Kong.
Shani Rhys James MBE is a Welsh painter based in Llangadfan, Powys. She has been described as "arguably one of the most exciting and successful painters of her generation" and "one of Wales’ most significant living artists". She was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in 1994. In the 2006 New Years Honours she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for "services to art".
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Y Lle Celf is an annual art, craft and architecture exhibition held during the National Eisteddfod of Wales, claimed to be the biggest temporary art exhibition in Europe.