Festival News

20th July - Raffle Ticket Winners

16th July - Festival Video now available

A video of the 2010 Caerleon Arts Festival is now avialble to view. Pease click HERE.

13th July - Postscript - Talkwood Chair given trial run

13th July - The finished work - Talkwood Chairs 2010

1th July - And so for a sad Goodbye to this year's Festival

It was thanks to all from the Chair of the Festival, Tim Davidson...

and Kisses & Gifts for our guest Sculptors:

Gerard Ducret, France

Pencho Dobrev,Bulgaria

Don Ledbetter, USA

Mark Folds, UK

David 'Doc' Evans, UK

11th July - Part 2

- Second day of our 2 day Extravanganza (part 1, more to follow)

10th July - First of our 2 day Extravaganza (and the Sculpting continues)

9th July - Storm besets Amphitheatre

The production of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' provided entertainment in the evening summer sun at the Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre. The only sign of bad weather remained on the stage, within the story, and we were once again provided with a superb theatrical production by the Festival Players Theatre Compny.

9th July - Field work progresses

..and with all that work, you need to take the occasional break.

8th July - Eloquence echoes in the Roman Baths

New to the annual Festival programme, this year an evening of wit and words was provided by the Newport Writers group down at the Caerleon Roman Baths. The audience was entertained by a range of poems and stories, with the odd sketch, supplemented by wine and nibbles. This could become a regular event in future Festivals.

8th July - Today's Update on Field Activity

7th July - Work Continues on the Sculptors' Field

7th July - Heavenly Music in St Cadoc's Church

The Blaenavon Male Voice Choir & the Wallscourt Brass Quintet provided wonderful music in a delightful setting this evening.

6th July - Tim Kliphius Trio at the Celtic Manor

An evening of Gypsy swing and jazz, played by an accomplished trio, was provided at the Rooftop Garden in the Celtic Manor.

5th July - They're Off!

David 'Doc' Evans chips away at his Bath limestone on the Sculpting field during the first day of the Caerleon Arts Festival. Unusually, the weather was warm and dry to welcome the Sculptors to the field - all of whom are now ensconsed in their enclosures working on their art works. Visitors are already coming to the field to see the Sculptors in action and find out more about the Festival. We anticipate large numbers by the end of the week and, at the weekend, there will be a range of free entertainment on the field and at the Hanbury Quay, across the road (click on the link above for more detail). The Caerleon Arts Festival is part of the 2010 Newport Festival.

4th July - Red & Blue

The Tim Crahart Blues Band provided an excellent evening of rhythym and blues at the Red Lion, as part of the Festival Events Programme.

4th July - Pavilion Exhibition Now Open

The exhibition of pupils' work is now open at the Cricket Pavilion and includes work produced by children from Kites Nursery School.

2nd July - Art Awards Update

The Art Awards Event took place on Friday 2nd July, in the Chairman's Marquee at the Celtic Manor. Pupils and parents gathered with local dignitaries to celebrate the range of work produced, and be entertained by musical items from pupils from the Caerleon Endowed and Lodge Hill Junior Schools. Pictured above are: the Mayor of Newport, Councillor Bill Langsford; Rosemary Butler, Assembly Member for Newport West & Deputy Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales; Penny Dale, one of the UK’s leading illustrators of children’s books; and the Mayoress, Sue Langsford.   

27th June - Afternoon Tea Concert

The Markham & District Colliery Band provided delightful music in the sunny & historic setting of the Roman Amphitheatre, supplemented by tea and cakes.

18th June - Children's Art Awards 2010

Given the theme of this year’s Art Festival, pupils in local schools were given the task: to produce a piece of artwork that illustrated a favourite story or book; or to produce a design or model of a bench inspired by a favourite story.   

As usual the work produced was a very high standard, which caused some difficult choices to be made.  Judging took place week commencing the 7th June and the judges were Christabel Gilbert and Elizabeth Luck.

The chosen artworks will be exhibited in the Pavilion, Broadway, from Saturday the 3rd July. Whilst on the 2nd July,  pupils will be receiving their certificates from: the Mayor of Newport, Councillor Bill Langsford, and his wife; Rosemary Butler, Assembly Member for Newport West & Deputy Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales;  and one of the Uk’s leading illustrators of children’s books, Penny Dale. The Event will take place at the Celtic Manor in front of invited guests.

To view the artworks receiving awards use the drop down menu on the left of this page.

Elizabeth Luck & Christabel Gilbert undertaking the judging

16th June - Our 2010 Programme - Get it Here!

Our programme for the 2010 Festival is now out. You can download an electronic copy (pdf version) here. It full of information about the Sculptors and Events for the coming Festival - we look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks time!

15th June - Our latest Press Release

CAERLEON ARTS FESTIVAL ORGANISERS PRAY FOR  DROUGHT

Recent weather forecasts suggesting that there will be a drought in July were music to the ears of the organisers of this year’s Caerleon Arts Festival, which will take place between July 2nd and 11th.

Festival chairman Tim Davidson said that after three successive Festivals when the weather was generally appalling, it was only fair that the event was given a break.

“In recent years we’ve had tents blown away, we’ve seen the ground reduced to something resembling the 1914-18 trenches and we’ve had outdoor theatre productions forced inside. I think it’s time that we had a run of good weather for a change. We deserve it.”

Ironically one of the plays this year is Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” in the Roman Amphitheatre on July 9th. The Festival Players, who are regular visitors to Caerleon, were shocked when they discovered that despite pre-season checks another company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, had chosen to stage the same play in the Amphitheatre just over a month earlier.

“It has clouded the issue a bit,” said Caerleon Arts Festival events organiser Claire Baker-Westhead. “But I’m sure the air will clear when our own production comes to Caerleon and that the storm will have blown over by then. What’s frustrating is that it’s the second time this happened. Two years ago both companies staged “Much Ado About Nothing” in Caerleon in the same way.”

The main event this year, as usual, will be the International Sculpture Symposium. Six sculptors will be working on the Hanbury Field from July 4th until July 11th in wood and stone to create story telling chairs. The “Talkwood”
theme will introduce a functional use for this year’s sculptures and most of the work has already been earmarked by local schools.

The line-up will be Pencho Dobrev from Bulgaria, Gerard Ducret from France, Don Ledbetter from the USA, Yildiz Guner from Turkey, Mark Folds from Newcastle Emlyn and David “Doc” Evans from Caerleon. As part of a BBC Breathing Places campaign the Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon will house Doc’s work. Doc will be carving with stone mined from the same quarry in Bath which probably served Roman sculptors and stone masons in Caerleon 2,000 years ago.

To reinforce the story telling theme Caerleon author and illustrator Penny Dale, whose children’s books are best sellers in various parts of the world, will be on hand during the Sunday afternoon, 11th July, to talk to fans and explain how she sets about writing her books.

The six sculptors will be joined for the final weekend by Hilary Manuhwa from Zimbabwe who, like Doc Evans, will be carving in stone. He will be in Caerleon as a guest of Chique Afrique, a company which imports sculptures directly from artists in Southern African and is one of the sponsors of the Festival.

The final weekend will also see craft stalls, children’s activities, music and entertainment on the Hanbury Field and at the Hanbury Arms. Entry will be free. During the week there’ll be a series of ticketed concerts and entertainments at various venues in Caerleon and there’ll be a School Art exhibition in Caerleon Pavilion on Broadway.

The main sponsors this year will be Newport City Council who have included Caerleon Arts Festival in their Newport Festival 2010 programme and The Celtic Manor who as well as financial help are also helping to host the launch of the School Art exhibition at the resort. It’s all part of the run up to the Ryder Cup.

For tickets or further details visit Caerleon Tourism Information Centre or ring them on 01633 422656.

In the period before the Festival there are two fund-raising events:

24th May - Pupils Visiting the Festival

A number of Primary schools, in and around Newport, are interested in bringing groups of pupils to the Festival field to meet the Sculptors (5th to 9th July). If you are a teacher planning to bring pupils during the week, we have prepared a Teacher's Pack of worksheets (as a PDF file) for you to use .These worksheets have been produced for a range of junior school levels, we hope they will be useful for your visit but feel free to adapt them according to your needs. A publisher version is also available on request (please write to the Website Editor). - please click here to download the pack.

14th May - Our latest Press Release

WELSH ARTISTS TEAM UP WITH EUROPEANS AND AMERICANS AS THE RYDER CUP APPROACHES

The organisers of Caerleon Arts Festival will be fielding a truly international team this year in the run up to the Celtic Manor Ryder Cup. While European and American golfers prepare to compete fiercely on the Celtic Manor greens, there’ll be a more co-operative approach among the international team of sculptors on the Festival field in Caerleon.

Festival chairman Tim Davidson says:

“Caerleon Arts Festival is officially part of the Newport Festival 2010 programme – which is being held to give local people a sense of involvement in the golf event. We’re delighted that we’re part of all this. The Festival started in 2003 and it has benefited enormously from the input of sculptors from both home and abroad.  This year will be no exception.”

The theme this year will be storytelling chairs in wood and stone. As part of the BBC Cymru Wales Breathing Places campaign, the Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon has a space which will house one of the storytelling chairs from the festival.

Included in the line-up will a number of sculptors who have already made their mark on Caerleon.  Pencho Dobrev from Bulgaria carved the widely admired embracing couple which is now sited in St Cadoc’s Churchyard. Don Ledbetter from the US was last in Caerleon in 2007. There’ll also be Yildiz Guner from Turkey whose Red Dragon on the banks of the Usk in Caerleon was prophetically carved the year before Wales’s  10th Grand Slam victory in 2008.Perhaps she’ll bring us luck again.

Still on the rugby theme Gerard Ducret from France sculpted “Three Romans and A Celt” which is now sited at the local rugby field. Officially it represents the Roman victory over the local Silures, but it could also be interpreted as rugby scrum, with the Welshman sitting on a sheep!

The two Welsh artists taking part will be David “Doc” Evans – a Caerleon based sculptor and stone mason with a national reputation and Mark Folds from Carmarthen. It’ll be Doc’s first involvement with the Festival and he’ll be working with the Museum. Mark left his imprint on Caerleon last year. On that occasion he created a huge white sheep from carpeting fabric on the hillside above the town, but this year he’ll be carving in wood.

The sculpting will take place between July 4th and 11th, but as usual the Festival won’t just be about carving. An impressive programme is planned both during and on either side of the main event. In the run up there will be five separate events – three of them at Llanhennock just outside Caerleon and two in the Amphitheatre. These will include plays at the Wheatsheaf Inn and the Roman Amphitheatre (The Importance of Being Earnest and Romeo and Juliet respectively), and summer concerts at Llanhennock Village Hall and the Amphitheatre.

During the official Festival week there’ll be a range of musical and drama events, exhibitions and other activities at various venues in Caerleon, culminating in a final weekend of carving, craft stalls and entertainment at the Hanbury Field, the amphitheatre and the nearby Hanbury Arms.

For tickets and further information contact Caerleon Tourist Information Centre (01633 422656) or Rafi Goldsmith (01633 430271). Tickets for most events will also be available at the door- subject to availability. Free programmes will available at Tourist Information Centres, shops, libraries and other outlets in the area closer to the Festival.

January 2010: Exhibitors and Traders can now complete this year's application form - please click here.

Events Archive

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