DAY 6

27th July 2024

Blackpill Beach, Swansea

DYDD 6

27 Gorffennaf 2024

Traeth Blackpill, Mwmbwls

GWYL CERFLUN TRAETH 2024

Artists /Artistiaid:

SARA HOLDEN,

TINA MARIE CUNNINGHAM,

JENNY CHISHOLM

Photographer / Ffotograffydd Prosiect: PHIL HOLDEN

Our 20th annual Beach Sculpture Festival journeyed towards Swansea for the finale day at Blackpill Beach. This sandy beach is a great place to find exquisite shells of different sizes, shapes and colours plus other materials that can be used to make interesting and beautiful sculptures. Blackpill beach is a great place to birdwatch too, especially the migratory wader birds that overwinter here and work the tide to catch their favourite food. The birds are always inspiration for the sculptures that are created at Blackpill and the festival actively promotes the birds in the bay as well as other marine animals, such as turtles, seals, crabs and octopusses in our seas. It is always a fun and educational event.

'We never thought to use shells this way and are already planning more designs!'

A wonderfully colourful puffin is created from sand, feathers and shells. Participants enjoyed foraging, making choices for colours in relation to creating sea bird sculptures on the sand. They shared their stories of journeys to see sea birds like puffins and were inspired to create from these experiences

'Today was a great learning opportunity where we learnt about our local environment as well as making art!'

The beach was adorned with beautiful sculptures of marine birds and animals, making a lovely experience for people walking on the beach as well as for those who made them.

'We had a brilliant time creating with natural materials and learning about birdlife at Blackpill. Teaching creativity outdoors is amazing. Thank you! Great idea!'

'We had lots of fun at the festival. Thank you!'

A brilliant crab is made from sand and lots of shells, carefully collected and placed on the form.

'We have been absolutely inspired and we will definitely use these skills again. We have been very interested in the different shells found on this beach. We have loved every minute of the festival!'

'Brilliant sculptures, kids loved getting involved'.

Participants vocalised their thoughts of wellness being outside and the positive effect it has on their children's happiness. Their mannerisms indicated their enjoyment of the sculpting and making processes alongside their family groups.

'It was interesting to find out that Blackpill is an important site for wader birds'.

Thank you to everyone for making our 20th annual Beach Sculpture Festival on Gower and Swansea such a success once again.

THANK YOU TO OUR KIND SPONSORS FEATURED BELOW:

Diolch i bawb am wneud ein gwyl cerflunwaith flynyddol mor llwyddiant unwaith eto.

DIOLCH I'N EIN HYRWYDDION SY'N GWYBODAETH BOD

Participants were interested to share their thoughts and talk about the shoreline sea birds as they worked on beautiful sculptures using the abundance of amazing materials like shells found at Blackpill.

'A lovely experience at the festival and the artists are so knowledgeable on both art and nature too!'

A beautiful curlew bird is sculpted using found materials.

'We found out that Blackpill was a SSSI site because of the rare wader birds!'

Children had great fun using their sculpting skills to create some fantastic marine animals like this dolphin. They built a real empathy with the creature whilst making it.

'Our creativity was enhanced through the workshop by using a variety of found objects with different textures and colours from the beach. The Festival teaches kids about using natural resources and to use their imaginations more'.

The artists observed a real enthusiasm from everyone to learn about the principles of making the sculptures and then creating their own. There seemed to be a genuine appreciation for being creative outdoors and respecting the environment which was apparent with both holidaymakers and local families.

'A great idea - thank you!'

'We loved making our turtle. We all joined in as a family activity. It was a lovely way to pass an hour or so and very good for our creativity and well being!'

Pre-festival Primary Schools Workshops

Each year, as part of the festival, a series of workshops are run also for local schools to teach them techniques and skills for creating beach or nature sculptures. All enjoyed their workshops in a session at the beach, creating sculptures based on marine animals.

Thanks to Mumbles Community Council for sponsoring these school workshops.

An environmental education through art

Pre-festival art and nature workshops were run in the summer term with Mumbles Primary Schools - Oystermouth, Grange,Whitestone, St. David's and YGG Llwynderw at a local beach, e.g. Langland or Blackpill or in school grounds.

YGG Llwynderw are seen here at Blackpill Beach.

Bespoke term time Environmental Art workshops are available for schools and community groups - please contact us at info@artandeducationbythesea.co.uk for details and rates.