Daffodil art is the timely topic for the spring exhibition at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, where it runs alongside the Carmarthenshire venue’s month-long Daffodil Festival.
University students on the Surface Pattern Design course at Swansea Met have been working on the show – entitled simply ‘Daffodil’ – since early autumn. Course tutor Ainsley Hillard said: “The Botanic Garden’s brief provided much scope for investigation and, as a result, each student has developed their own visual and contextual research, visiting the Garden and spending time in the library there.”
She added: “The result is a diverse range of works that are by no means literal in representation but, rather, delve further into the theme.”
Ainsley said students had been variously inspired by the flower, its Latin name, Narcissus and its association with the Greek myth, as well as the medicinal and herbal properties of the plant and its use in the treatment of Alzheimer’s.
Some students have developed work with a more personal narrative, connecting with memories in childhood, to relatives or friends that may have experienced memory loss.
Said Ainsley: “The students have created works that explore a variety of traditional and digital processes and techniques including mono printing, hand-cut lino printing methods, utilised traditional textiles skills, as well as hand drawn illustrations and three-dimensional works in wire.”
Daffodil is on show at the Botanic Garden gallery from March 1-25. Gates open at 10am and the Garden is open until 4.30pm (last entry 3.30pm).
Images: hand-drawn ‘rabbit’ illustration by Sophie Rees; ‘Narcissus’, by Becca Martin
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