Castell Coch hosts Welsh art exhibition

Beth Giles is a Welsh artist born in Pontyclun, who at only 28 years of age has managed to fulfil her dream of opening an art gallery and travelling the world. Alt Cardiff caught up with her to chat about the latest exhibition and find out how she managed to make her dreams a reality.

A few of the works on display at Castell Coch by students of the Giles Gallery.

Forgive me for the question but it provides a starting point: how old were you when you started drawing?

“Well I’ve been drawing since I was a kid. I remember being asked in school, I must have been about ten at the time; ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ and I said ‘I want to own an art gallery.’”

So when did the dream become a reality?

“After school I went on to study illustration in Hereford and then travelled a good part of the globe. I’d been living in America for a while when I ended up coming back to Wales and then I just felt it was the right time. So when I was twenty three I opened my art gallery and that was five years ago.”

Can you explain a little more about the concept of The Big Draw?

“The Big Draw is a national festival endorsed by Quentin Blake which aims to get more people aware of their surroundings, by experiencing it and recording it in a visual way. Castell Coch wanted to incorporate that into half term to get everyone involved. Rather than racing round the place glancing at things, the aim is to get visitors to actually sit down and look around and take it all in.”

Why have you decided to put on the event, why should people come and see it?

“We decided to do it to get more people in here really, Castell Coch is a local treasure and I find it surprising that a lot of people, even maybe locals, haven’t actually been here. The event hopefully gives people more of an excuse to make the journey and actually experience the place, after all visitors are the primary source of income for the site, it’s what keeps it going.”

Is it important, in your opinion, for people to know about the Welsh heritage and historical background?

“Definitely! A lot of people know it is there, they may read about it or hear about it on TV but they don’t really take the time to experience it from themselves and that is another reason I think an event like this is so important, getting people out to see it all first hand. So many people who I have spoken to today have told me they had no idea Castell Coch had all these huge beautifully displayed rooms inside it or who built it or anything like that. It is a good way to keep everyone in the loop and it’s interesting for tourists.”

Why do you think so many artists are drawn to the Welsh countryside and its monuments?

“Wales is so dramatic in such a condensed space. People talk so much about New Zealand but there is just as much variation in the landscape in Wales as there is there but here you can get to it all in a day! The amount of cultural history we have, partly because we’ve been invaded so many times, is so diverse and interesting. Luckily the invading army tends to leave eventually and we get to keep the stuff, so that is always good.”

For more information about the Giles Gallery and their upcoming exhbitions head to http://www.gilesgallery.net