Jo-anna Duncalf
Participating in We Live With The Land
I was brought up in Glan Conwy, and went to school in Llanwrst, I completed my Art Foundation at Bangor, and attended Cardiff Art School for both a B.A. (hons) and M.A in Ceramics. I have produced and exhibited my work in Japan, New Zealand and Australia. I have held several Artist in Residences posts the latest being in 2019-2020 at Giggleswick School, N. Yorkshire.
My work prior to my M.A. was thrown assembled work based on the predynastic amphora but since my M.A., my work has become conceptual, my most recent area of experimentation based on the work of artist Mira Schendel, explores text and font. I was nominated as one of a group of artists in Wales to take part in a Celf ar y Cyd - Making New Work : Artists Respond to the Now, a project which is supported by the Welsh Arts Council and the National Museums of Wales. This support has enabled me to develop my techniques and create an extensive body of work, based on people’s reflection of Covid 19.
This project is of great interest to me as a Welsh artist who is very in tune with the environment, I have a strong affinity with the Welsh Mountains, in particular the Conwy Valley which is where I spent my childhood. I find a sense of identity while walking in the mountains and the Stone Circles above Penmaenmawr and Llangelynin Church above Henryd, I feel are very important places. I would like to base a piece of research and work on the writing on the walls and on the graves at the church. This church is one of the oldest and remotest in Wales and has a strong, unique sense of Welsh identity and history on many levels.
