News

We are pleased to announce that this year's annual Grand Raffle prize will be an original painting by Louise Morgan 'Caernarfon Light Reflections'. We are grateful to Louise for donating the photo from her ‘Infinite Horizons’ collection which was exhibited here during the Autumn 2024 Exhibition.

Tickets are £1 and available to buy at the reception desk here at the Plas.

Your help towards funding the restoration of the woodland following destruction caused by Storm Darragh in December 2024 would be very much appreciated.

The cost of clearing the fallen trees and restoring the footpaths is much higher than what the charity can afford. As a result a Go Fund Me campaign has has been established to help with the fund raising efforts. Any donation would be gratefully appreciated. Please click here to donate

What a great opening we had on Sunday for the launch of the Eirian Llwyd Memorial Award 2025 exhibition! 

A huge congratulations to this year's winner Flora McLachlan, and Jonah Evans who was awarded Highly Commended. Congratulations also to all of the printmakers who made it to the shortlist – an achievement in itself! It's wonderful to see such incredible talent being celebrated.

The exhibition will be open for the public to see with the artists works available to buy until the 16th of March. Come and have a look at the range of beautiful works by the winners, shortlisted artists, previous awardees and the works of the late Eirian Llwyd.

We're looking forward to our upcoming exhibition where we will be celebrating 10 years of the Eirian Llwyd Memorial Award Exhibition 2025.

Opening on the 2nd of February, the exhibition will include a selection of various print works from applicants shortlisted for this year’s award, previous recipients and works by the late Eirian Llwyd.

We'll be announcing the shortlisted artists for the award over the next few weeks so make sure to keep an eye out on our socials from Wednesday 8th of January onwards!

A huge congratulations to Andy and Samantha on winning this years Grand Raffle - a beautiful painting by the talented local artist Elin Huws. Thank you to Elin for donating the painting and to everybody for buying a raffle ticket, your support is greatly appreciated!

Call for commission proposals 

The Coed Coexist team is working to secure funding for four major new commissions to be presented alongside the Coed Coexist exhibition in May - July 2026. Each selected artist or collective will receive a £2000 fee to realise new work (fee to cover all artists costs). 

Those interested in making a proposal should do so by 5pm, 28 March 2025. Any enquiries please contact alex@oriel.org.uk

The commissioned creatives will be supported by staff at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw and Junko Mori & John Egan throughout the project. It is hoped that continual documentation of each commission’s journey will be captured through film, photography and written / spoken word.

It's an honour to have received this special piece titled LIeu (1982-1983)" by the family of the late sculptor John Meirion Morris, which has been placed here on long term loan by his family,John Meirion Morris held a major retrospective of hiswork here at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw in 2008 and this sculpture is one of his main works/internal visions,

Call by and learn more about this fantastic piece!

Pictured, from the left John Meirion Morris' family and Plas Glyn-y-Weddw staff; John Cowtan and Director Gwyn Jones on the right.

It is with great sadness that we write to inform you that Mary Yapp, former trustee at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw and former owner of The Albany Gallery in Cardiff, died peacefully on the 10th September 2024 aged 96. Her passing marks the end of an era for the Welsh art world, where she was a beloved figure known for her passion, dedication, and unwavering support of artists.

Mary's lifelong love of art was kindled in her childhood by her grandfather, a passionate collector of art and antiques. This early influence was further nurtured by her father, who shared his own appreciation for the arts. Together, they explored galleries and antique shops, fostering in Mary a deep appreciation for artistic expression.

In 1965, Mary embarked on her professional journey in the art world, partnering with portrait painter David Griffiths RCA MBE to open The Albany Gallery in Cardiff. This venture proved to be a natural calling for Mary, and when David later left the business to focus on his painting, she took the helm with unwavering determination.

Under Mary's leadership, The Albany Gallery flourished, becoming a beacon for Welsh art. She championed some of Wales' finest artists, most notably the late Sir Kyffin Williams, for whom she acted as Welsh agent for many years. Her keen eye for talent and her dedication to promoting both established and emerging artists earned her the respect and admiration of the art community.

Mary's contributions to the arts extended beyond the walls of her gallery. She was a true patron of her beloved Plas Glyn y Weddw in Llanbedrog (once owned by her great Grandfather Solomon Andrews) and worked tirelessly for decades to ensure its survival. She recognized the importance of fostering creativity and ensuring that art remained accessible to all. Her involvement with Plas Glyn y Weddw was particularly significant, as she shared their commitment to showcasing Welsh art in a unique and historic setting.

In recognition of her outstanding contributions to art and charity, Mary was awarded the MBE in 2017. She remained actively involved with The Albany Gallery until her retirement in November 2019 at the age of 91, leaving behind an enduring legacy.

Mary's vision – to promote the best of Welsh art and nurture emerging talent – continues to inspire. Her passion, dedication, and unwavering support for artists will be deeply missed by all who knew her, especially by those at Plas Glyn y Weddw and the Albany Gallery, where her impact will be felt for generations to come.

The Board of Management, Staff and volunteers at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw send their sincere condolences to Mary's family.

A Service of Thanksgiving and celebration of her life will be held on Wednesday 16th October.

Congratulations to Susan Chidley from Tudweiliog on winning the Barnacle Ball which was kindly donated as a raffle prize by Matt Sanderson, designer of the Urchin Cafe. Seen here being presented with her prize by Nia Jones.

The Countryside Protection for Rural Wales has awarded Plas Glyn y Weddw a second award in 10 years. See the award citation by CPRW Chair Frances Lynch Llewellyn below.

Image above - Matt Sanderson and Gwyn Jones receive the award from Frances Lynch Llewellyn. Image by Gareth Jenkins.

The new cafe at Plas Glyn y Weddw is now an award winning structure. On Friday the 10th of November the cafe won the prestigious 'Little Gem' award at the Royal Fine Arts Commission Trust Building Beauty Awards Ceremony in London.

The artistic genius behind the design Matt Sanderson was accompanied by Austen Cook of Fold Engineering and Seb Walker from Mark Wray Architects to receive the award in person from renowned poet Sir Ben Okri.

The awards were sponsored by the Ballymore Group and we would like to thank the panel of judges for choosing our cafe for the Littlegemaward.

Plas Glyn-y-Weddw is very proud to have received the gold award for outstanding visitor experience, and also the quality food and drink award from Visit Wales.

The sculpted new cafe which has been developed to an unique design was opened officially on the 18th of March by Lord Mervyn Davies, Lady Jeanne Davies of Abersoch and Gareth Wyn Edwards, Chair of the John Andrews Charitable Trust.

The objective of the café redevelopment was to replace the failing C20 conservatory with a visually striking and environmentally sensitive cafe. A key aim was to provide a fully equipped kitchen to improve efficiency, achieve better working conditions for staff and create more space for seating and events to increase footfall and income. It was also important that the new café connected into and complemented the historic Grade II* listed mansion built in 1856-57 for Lady Elizabeth Love Jones-Parry as a Dower House by the Bangor-based architect Henry Kennedy. As the oldest art gallery in Wales, it is perhaps not surprising that the trustees of the charity chose to think about the redevelopment in a creative way like the artists whose work they display in the gallery. The result is an artist-led solution that combines the requirements for a larger café with site-specific art.

In developing the design the artist MatthewSanderson researched influences in society and architectural precedent at the time the original neo-Gothic mansion was built. It was a period when the nation was gripped with scientific fascination, obsessive exploration, collecting and interpretation into the decorative arts: Charles Darwin’s book, ‘Onthe Origin of Species’, was published in 1859 and his contemporary Ernst Haeckel, the marine biologist and artist, was discovering, illustrating and naming thousands of new species.

The sculpted café is inspired by the site’s historical precedents and the adjacent marine life present today. The beautiful southeast-facing Llanbedrog bay is part of a Special Area of Conservation, host to many species, some of which are special and unique to the area. One such organism, the sea urchin is the inspiration for the eleven-metre-wide, self-supporting structure. The outer shell is the most dramatic element of the design with a colony of 89,000 ‘acorn barnacles’, individually punched and pressed components,welded to their subframe that scatter natural light to minimise internal solar gain. Their highly recycled marine grade 316 stainless steel material is resistant to the chemical and physical weathering present in this coastal location.

Within the urchin structure, a central ‘oculus’ spills natural light into the space below and opens to passively ventilate the café during warm weather. The funnel-shaped chandelier is a separate but integral sculpture inspired by the microscopic zooplankton ‘Litharachnium Tentorium’. 12 sculptural beams that follow Fibonacci’s spiral radiate from the occulus to meet equivalent columns that are joyfully connected to four-pointed arches that echo the style of the Gothic house. Each arch
frames a portal view to the surrounding coastal and woodland views.

The project brings other enhancements to the centre, including the creation of new toilet facilities within the historic mansion approached from the café via an open colonnade allowing flexible and fully accessible use of the whole centre.

Click here to view a film documenting the development

We are delighted to announce that the development of the new cafe and kitchen has begun, and we look forward to opening to the public early next summer.

While the development work is carried out, we have created a temporary cafe on the first floor of the gallery.

We are extremely grateful to all the funding bodies and individuals for enabling us to bring our plans to reality. Whilst we have sourced sufficient funds for the development work, the fundraising campaign continues for the fit-out stage.

There is a great opportunity to sponsor the development by having a name of your choice engraved on a stainless steel disk that will be incorporated into the cafe's external cladding. You can choose up to maximum of 25 letters (minimum of 10 letters), for £10 per letter. Call at the gallery or otherwise telephone or email if you wish to receive a sponsorship form.

Modern toilet facilities have been developed at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw during the winter of 2020-21 resulting in a huge improvement in accessibility. The new development was much needed due to the old toilets being small and dated. The improvements also includes a new electrical supply and improvements to the drainage facilities.

Further improvements are now taking place over the winter of 2020-21 with the development of a new cafe and kitchen facilities.

We wish to extend our thanks to the Welsh Government's Museums, Archives and Libraries department for funding from their Transformation Capital Grant scheme and also to the John Andrews Trust for enabling us to realise the first phase of the redevelopment project.