DEMOLITION AND PROGRESS

The Norwegian Church Cultural Centre, Cardiff Bay, initiated the exhibition Dem and Prog 2003 which was held in the Norwegian Church August 2003. Together with artists Shirley Anne Owen, Geraldus John, Tony Alcock, and Art Centre curator Karen Allen it was designed to mark and monitor the rapidly changing face of Cardiff Bay, including the docks. Subsequently it was planned to continue with further exhibitions on an annual basis at the Art Centre.

The main participating Artists were Shirley Anne Owen and Geraldus John with important contributions from artist Tony Alcock and poet Ewart Richards.
The blog, ‘DEMOLITION AND PROGRESS’ is set out in reversed annual sections, covering the four events held in August of each year.:

1. Dem and Prog 2006-To Sum it all Up

2. Dem and Prog 2005

3. Dem and Prog 2004

4. Dem and Prog 2003

T he exhibition ‘Dem and Prog 2006-To Sum it all Up’ is a selection from the earlier exhibitions with some new works. Not shown is the Dock Construction by Tony Alcock , a range of digital imaging in hand made books by Shirley Anne Owen, some of the banners by Shirley Anne Owen, and a series of digital images mounted on box forms by Geraldus John.

The blog itself is a mix of writings and artworks by the participants, and is introduced by a selection of banners by Shirley Anne Owen. These bear a range of historical images drawn by Shirley on materials that were frequently imported and exported via Cardiff Docks over the 20th Century. These are displayed in the main, ‘Chapel Room’ downstairs in the Norwegian Church.

Please click on images to enlarge.
Please click on June, July and current posts buttons to view further images.

Banners by Shirley Anne Owen-Banner 1

Banner 2

Banner 3

Banner 4

Banner 5

Banner 6

Banner 7

Going, Going, Gone by Shirley Anne Owen (Oil and sacking on board, 90cm x 90cm)

Rejuvination by Ewart Richards

Time-ravaged debris of history
makes memories linger.
Memories of a new beginning
in a new world.

New horizons, new adventures,
New wealth.

They brought the sea in
to take coal, iron and steel out,
And built blocks of grey stone houses
For the peoples of the world,
And named it,
‘Tiger Bay’

What was new is now old,
memories of better times,
for some.

Once again the time has come
for a new beginning in an old world.

They built a barrage to keep the sea out
and a lake in.
Warehouses are now swish apartments
And glass fronted offices.
It has a new name,
'Cardiff Bay’.

New horizons, new adventures
New wealth.

The End of an Era by Ewart Richards

Swinging beneath rust coloured cranes
wire ropes with hooks and grabs pour
black gold into the bowels of
salt rusted ships.

Black dust rides the air covering shacks and sheds
and invading sandwiches and drinks
making men’s teeth grind.

The constant ringing of steel upon steel
competes with hissing steam as
boiler men and shipwrights
repair the Cardiff tramps.

At its height it was world renown,
We believed it would last forever,
But it was only a phase in time.
The industrial might that created it
has died.
A thousand communities silenced,
forgotten.

In the emaciated buildings the wind
plays its sombre tunes
to wild flowers, grasses and ghosts.

Butetown by Ewart Richards

A place of Many Faiths

Bonded by the sea, Muslims, Christians
and Jews worked and played together.
In shop, pubs and offices
they were equal.

Retaining their identity they became as one,
a community taking strength from one another.
Through wars, depressions and times of plenty
they shared births, deaths and marriages.

Then in the twentieth century
the bulldozers came.
Now Butetown is a memory
its people and history lost.

Demise of Spiller's by Geraldus John (mixed media, 61cm x 82cm)

Islamic Centre by Geraldus John (mixed media, 61cm x 83cm)

Machine Housing by Geraldus John (mixed media, 35cm x 38cm)

Dock Corners (1-9) by Shirley Anne Owen mixed media, (27cm x 27cm)

Dock Corner 1

Dock Corner 2

Dock Corner 3

Dock Corner 4

Dock Corner 5

Dock Corner 6

Dock Corner 7

Dock Corner 8

Dock Corner 9 by Shirley Anne Owen

Renovation by Shirley Anne Owen (mixed media, 60cm x 60cm)

Construction byShirley Anne Owen (mixed media, 60cm x 60cm)

Lock Cottage by Shirley Anne Owen (90cm x 90cm)

To Sum it all up 2005 by Geraldus John (mixed media, 91cm x 122cm)

Allied Steel and Wire by Geraldus John (mixed media, 38cm x 35cm)

Allied Steel and Wire by Geraldus John (mixed media, 38cm x 35cm)

Dem and Prog 2005

The period covered by Demolition and Progress 2003, and Dem and Prog 2, 2004 started as one of frenetic destruction, which gradually became one of measured reconstruction. Consequently the artwork within Dem and Prog 2005 dealt with more mature developments, many of which are already firmly established.

Going, Going Gone-Cardiff Boat Builders by Shirley Anne Owen (oil and sacking on board, 90cm x 90cm)

Going, Going Gone-Baileys by Shirley Anne Owen, (oil and sacking on board, 90cm x 90cm)

Edwardian Houses by Geraldus John ( mixed media 35cm x 38cm)

Flying Ship by Geraldus John, (mixed media 35cm x 38cm)

Gate to Spillers by Shirley Anne Owen, (lino cut 11cm x 17cm)

Red House by Shirley Anne Owen, (screen print 20cm x 30cm)

Old Cardiff Yacht Club by Shirley Anne Owen, (Elimination lino cut, 17cm x 24cm)

Greek Orthodox by Geraldus John (mixed media ,61cm x 81cm)

St. Mary's Church by Geraldus John, (mixed media 81cm x 61cm)

Dock Warehouse by Geraldus John, mixed media (61cm x 81cm)

Dem and Prog 2004

Whereas, Dem and Prog 2003 dealt with features of the urban landscape that were rapidly changing or disappearing (the demolition of the Spillers grain warehouse, Cardiff Boatbuilders, the old Cardiff Yacht Club etc.), Dem and Prog 2004 focussed on the developments that were beginning to take place around Cardiff Bay. In fact the emphasis switched from Demolition to Progress.

Artists Shirley Anne Owen and Geraldus John employed a broad range of media. Also included in the display cases were digital images mounted upon 3D forms with others displayed in handmade books.

Complementing the paintings were a series of poems by Ewart Richards. Closely related to the artworks, they created word pictures in their own right.

His three poems, below, illustrate the awakening of the industrial era that did so much to shape the dock and city of Cardiff. The inclusion of ‘Dowlais Top’, is a reminder that the port depended on the mineral wealth of the surrounding valleys as well as the durability of its people, for its very existence.

In the Beginning by Ewart Richards

Gulls soar above the rocky shore
Where crows poke and prod for carrion
and winkles.
Off shore three masted barques await the incoming tide
To carry cows, sheep, barrels of butter and cheese
To distant shores

All around the estuaries of the Taff and Ely
Ancient meadows and woodlands are surveyed.
In the hamlets and alehouses men talk of coal
iron and steel, as they wait in anticipation
for the navvies and steam driven machines
to build the docks,
that will transform their lives.

Dowlais Top by Ewart Richards

Above Dowlais Top the night sky glows
a brilliant orange as furnaces pour forth
molten metal.

Sweating men with straining muscles
pour the spitting liquid into casts and dies
to solidify into a multitude
of shapes and sizes.

From rolling mills, truckloads of rails,
Girders and iron bars join the lines of
Coal trucks on their way down the valley
To Cardiff’s burgeoning docks.

With their crews paid off to sample
Butetown’s hospitality, empty
ships wait to load the riches from the
Taff and Rhondda valleys.

In the new imposing coal exchange
ship and mine owners wheel and deal
to transport coal, iron and steel.

Fortunes are made and lost.

At the dock gate, penniless seamen,
Some with stitches, black eyes and
Broken noses, queue to join the ships.

Wealth and destination go hand in hand.

Cardiff Barques by Ewart Richards

With sail cloths billowing and holds
laden with black gold, the Cardiff barques
sailed through the roaring forties,
Cape horn and the Antipodes.

From Africa, America, Greece, Egypt
and India, men and boys of all faiths
joined the three and four masted barques.
They navigated by the moon and stars, sextant
and chronometer and prayed for fair winds
to take them across the oceans

In raging seas, sturdy timbers groaned.
Men and boys strained on ropes and
scaled sodden Jacobs ladders,
where many an unwary sailor
met his God.

Becalmed beneath cloudless skies and
burning sun the crews prayed for fair winds,
and cursed Neptune’s moods.

Months or years later the barques returned
their holds laden with cotton, jade and fruit.
In the pubs of Butetown, men and boys drank
to their safe return,
and remembered those that didn’t.

Dry Dock Ruin by Geraldus John ( mixed media 24cm x 31cm )

Lock Office by Geraldus John ( mixed media, 24 cm x 31cm )

Dockside Still Life by Geraldus John( mixed media, 24cm x 31cm )

The End of Spillers Mill by Geraldus John

Beauty in Decay Series by Geraldus John ( mixed media, 25cm x 23 cm )

In the grey desolation of the dock ruins the artists found unexpected dashes of coiour.These were often the result of the historical decay of metals and wood. Many items had been painted and repainted over many years to give fascinating examples of spontaneous art, and the small sketches below are attempts to capture some of them.

Beauty in Decay1

Beauty in Decay 2

Beauty in Decay 3

Beauty in Decay 4

Beauty in Decay 5

Beauty in Decay 6

Beauty in Decay 7

Beauty in Decay 8