News & History | Bronze Casting Courses | New British Art

2022

Furnace Club

A group of graduates from Carmarthen College of Art set up an experimental space in one of our barns at Cilyrynys where they met regularly to discuss and try out their ideas.

Kerry Collinson

Kerry used one of the barns at Cilyrynys for her final MA degree show, with a performance and exhibition. You can find Kerry's work at @kerrycollisonart • Instagram photos and videos

Courses and Commissions

Bronze Casting Weekends continued throughout the year, with 7 courses held. Mark undertook a growing number of commissions to cast work for artists working towards exhibitions.

2021

Covid-19

We managed to re-start courses again here at the Teaching Foundry in May, restricting numbers. It was great to see people back here again.

2020

Covid-19

The pandemic has affected how we are able to operate and we had to close to course participants after our March workshop, managing to open back in September with lower numbers to allow spacing and with new procedures in place. We've courses planned in October and November but plans may change depending on the pandemic.

Bronze Cast by Post

This new course developed during lockdown allows people to make a small sculpture at home and send to us for casting. It offers the chance of two online tutorials one-to-one with Mark so there is plenty of learning too.

Studio work

Lots of work has been going on in the studios here during lockdown and we hope to publicise this in the coming months.

2019

Courses

This year has seen a massive growth in attendance at our weekend bronze casting course with bookings filling up each month. We have had some fantastic visitors, both new faces from around the UK and overseas as well as old friends. We're looking forward to developing a new advanced 4 day course for those who'd like to try some more complex processes.

Andrew Harrison

Our resident artist Andrew has continued to create an exciting array of sculptures, drawings and paintings.

2018

New accommodation on site

The Foundry Cottage is now available to book if you would like to visit for a course, to spend time working in the foundry or just for a break away in beautiful Carmarthenshire!

Exhibition news

2018 has seen Mark Halliday's sculpure 'Leads & Reglets II' on display at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and Gareth Williams sculpture on show at In Bristol Studio.

New 'Make your own foundry' course

A new package, which includes a furnace, burner, a range of equipment to get you started, as well as a 3 day course to learn how to use and commission your foundry back at home, has been developed.

Visitors from Jordan

Mark worked with two students from Jordan in October, teaching them how to transform their resin casts to bronze.

Summer Camp

We welcomed a fantastic group to our summer camp this year held in July. New faces joined some of our regulars and we enjoyed some great weather (and of course some rainy times!) and made new friends while creating some fantastic work.

2017

Working at the Eden Project

Mark built a furnace and installed a foundry for the Eden Project, Cornwall in November this year.

Hitoshi Kimura - Residency

Japanese artist Hitoshi Kimura is undertaking a 10 day residency with us during October. He is working on his ongoing HA-NE project, making casts in bronze. His work can be viewed at his website http://hkimura.com/

Caroline Taylor Exhibition

Until December an exhibition of Caroline's drawings can be viewed at Abstract House gallery at https://www.abstracthouse.org/gallery

Developments at Cilyrynys

Work continues to improve the foundry and workshop spaces at New British Art's studio base. We've continued to run monthly bronze casting courses throughout the year, with the new 2 day course becoming particularly popular.

A new residential facility with self catering accommodation and a studio will be complete and ready for this Autumn.

Working with Lou Lockwood

Registered blind artist Lou Lockwood has started a project exploring her developing tactile sculptural language by working with Mark and casting her work in bronze.

Mark Halliday Exhibition

Mark has been exhibiting his work at Oriel Q, with Lee Williams and Jon Anderson.

2015 and 2016

Bronze Casting Summer Camps

We've continued to hold 5 day summer camps each August which have been attended by participants from all across the UK.

Artist in Residence

Andrew Harrison has been working at a studio at Cilyrynys for over a year now. Andrew has been busy making a large number of bronze casts, works in plaster and mixed media and large scale drawings. He visits regularly and works with Mark to experiment and develop his practice.

Becky Whitmore Exhibition

Becky has been exhibiting her work at an event in Southampton.

Canadian artist working at Cilyrynys

Michelle Lemire, based in Quebec, visited New British Art's studios to work with Mark on a project funded by the Canadian Arts Council. Michelle spent the week here and learned how to set up her own foundry whilst experimenting with casting.

18-22.8.14

BRONZE CASTING SUMMER CAMP

A fantastic group of 12 participants from all over the UK joined us for a 5 day residential course to learn the principles and practices of the ancient 'Lost Wax' casting process. Check our Facebook page for images from the course.

2 & 3.8.2014

An excerpt from a library of cast objects

Exhibition of casts both ancient and modern at Cilyrynys. Works in plaster, wax, bronze, lead and cement.

23.05.2014

Mark Halliday - Rhod Talks and Exhibition

Speaking about his work at the Small World Theatre in Cardigan on 23 May at 6.30pm, Mark will then be making a new work at Rhôd 2014 – The Exhibition / Yr Arddangosfa. The exhibition runs Sunday 25 – Saturday 31 May 2014, opening at 2pm on 25 May and then 11 – 5 each day (except Saturday 31 May closes 4pm).

16.01.2014

'Are You Sitting Down?'

Screening sculpture as/in moving image

‘Are you sitting down? Screening sculpture in/as moving image’ is the final event of the ON YOUR MARKS season hosted by Pangaea Sculptors' Centre - London.

New British Arts' film Blue Bell Hangar by John Minton will feature at the event, alongside a wide range of films; fiction, documentary, art house and block buster. This curated program is sure to cast sculpture in an unusual light.

Visit Pangaea Sculptor's Centre website for more info about the event

http://pangaeasculptorscentre.com

17.11.13

Becky Whitmore - exhibition at BOCS gallery, Caernarfon

29 November - 29 December 2013. Opening night 28 November, 6-8pm

7.9.13

Becky Whitmore - exhibition with Lucy Tomlins at BayArt in Cardiff