Material Open Call for Creatives – Wood from Beech Tree Available for Collection
Following the successful Coed / Coexist symposium in September 2024, creative practitioners who have links to Pen Llŷn and the wider Gwynedd area are invited to collect wood from a beautiful beech tree that fell at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw earlier this year and take part in the next phase of the Coed / Coexist project. This tree and its wood are central to the Coed Coexist project, symbolically and physically.
Material Open Call for Creatives – Wood from Beech Tree Available for Collection
Following the successful Coed / Coexist symposium in September 2024, creative practitioners who have links to Pen Llŷn and the wider Gwynedd area are invited to collect wood from a beautiful beech tree that fell at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw earlier this year and take part in the next phase of the Coed / Coexist project. This tree and its wood are central to the Coed Coexist project, symbolically and physically.
How to Get Involved
Creative practitioners are invited to work with and respond to this particular beech tree as well as to consider how we might better coexist with trees, woodland and forests more widely and deeply, particularly within the community of Pen Llŷn.
Options for Working with the Wood
- Create new work for the Coed Coexist Exhibition (May 2026): Practitioners may develop self-funded work using this wood for an exhibition May - July 2026 at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw (with opportunities to sell work). Details about submitting work for this exhibition will be shared closer to the date.
- Commissioned Works: We are also working to secure funding for four major new commissions to be presented alongside the Coed/ Coexist exhibition May - July 2026. Artists interested in proposing larger-scale works / projects are invited to submit a proposal by 28 March 2025. Each selected artist will receive funding to develop a body of work for the exhibition. Full details about these commissions and how to apply will be available from Monday 2 December 2024, on www.oriel.org.uk For questions and information, please email Alex Boyd Jones, Curator, at alex@oriel.org.uk from 2 December 2024.
Material Available
The following wood is available on a first-come, first-served basis:
-Planks: 25-75mm thick, up to 4m long
-Logs: 300mm wide, up to 500mm long
-Canopy branches
-Wood chippings
-Sawdust
Collection Details
This open call is ongoing until all wood is collected. To schedule a collection date and time, please email John Egan at john@makinglittle.co.uk.
Social Media and Project Promotion
During collection, we may ask you to capture a brief photo, video, or voice note if you are comfortable, sharing what you might explore creatively with the material. You can specify your preferred format for this documentation.
We would also love to receive images and videos of your creative journey with the wood, which will help promote the project, support funding applications, and could be shared with the public during the exhibition. Please send images/videos with brief descriptions to Zoe Lewthwaite at zoe@oriel.org.uk.
We look forward to seeing how this unique material inspires you!
Junko Mori, John Egan, and the Plas Glyn-y-Weddw Team
Coed / Coexist Founders
Coed / Coexist
Coed / Coexist is a project initiated by Pen Llŷn artists Junko Mori and John Egan in partnership with Plas Glyn-y-Weddw. The essence of the project draws our attention to trees and woodland, seeking out wider connections, desires and reliance on these ecosystems while connecting community, creativity and environmental stewardship. The whole project aspires to celebrate the local area and the communities based in Pen Llŷn.
Utilising solely fallen or felled trees from the peninsula and Winllan woods at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, Coed / Coexist will showcase new creative work and include public and community engagement in and around Plas Glyn-y-Weddw in 2026. It will invite proposals from creative people to make new work to inspire and give a platform to the craftsmanship and ingenuity of local creatives and thinkers.
Plas Glyn-y-Weddw
Wales' oldest art gallery is nestled in the village of Llanbedrog on the Llŷn Peninsula, in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The Gothic style Mansion was built in 1857 as a Dower house for Lady Elizabeth Jones Parry of the Madryn Estate. The Madryn Family had a substantial art collection and the mansion was designed to purposely house her/the collection. Subsequently, Cardiff entrepreneur Solomon Andrews seized upon the opportunity at the Madryn Estate sale of 1896 to purchase Plas Glyn-y-Weddw and turn it into a public arts venue. Plas Glyn-y-Weddw is now much more than an art gallery; it’s an arts and heritage centre of national importance, fusing art, nature and culture through a wide range of activities. It is a revenue client of Arts Council of Wales and has been chosen as one of the 9 satellite venues across Wales for the groundbreaking National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales.
Lead Artist Biographies
Junko Mori
Born in Yokohama, Japan in 1974. Her core concept, “growing forms through repetition” evolved around graduation from Camberwell College of Arts, London in 2000. She simplified her practice and developed more sculptural forms through using traditional blacksmithing techniques. She set up her workshop in Pen Llŷn in 2010, where she is totally surrounded by inspirational nature. Her works are in many international museums, including the British Museum, National Museum of Scotland and Honolulu Museum Art.
John Egan
John Egan works through the name Making Little which is grown out of a deep appreciation of the natural environment, and his designs are linked directly to it. He seeks to make beautiful long lasting objects and one off pieces, thereby locking carbon into each object made. He only uses locally sourced material, which means the footprint of every object is small and works in harmony with its surroundings. The environment and his impact on it, are his guiding principles and shape his designs.
