In preparation for the Eisteddfod in Tregaron, my bunting is up outside the house and I have made a mosaic to acknowledge our nation. No dragons or red green and white though. This is my interpretation of a Welsh word that has no direct translated word. Hiraeth is the longing for home, the pull that brings you back to Wales. Having lived here in this beautiful country for twenty-six years now, I get this pull myself. I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else. I am a poor Welsh speaker, but feel part of this country and starting again to learn Welsh in lockdown sucked me in further into the culture. I chose swallows and swifts to represent this feeling of returning to the home country. They were made from a lovely, but broken mug form Gwili pottery by the very talented Pru Green who moved to Essex. I have created the letters using iridescent tiles so the whole thing sparkles when the light refracts on it. The land is created with Welsh sate picked up from my garden and the clouds are a very vague nod to the painters like Alexander Cozens and Richard Wilson who painted Wales in the middle of the 1700s. Romanticism in the Welsh Landscape that depicted the drama of the landscape, the majestic mountains and ever changing weather. One might describe it as broody.
This design has been made in to greetings cards. Come see my stall in Tregaron on 5th and 6th August in the craft village. I will be there demonstrating the art of mosaic. Swing by and say Sut mae!
#hiraeth #Tregaron Eisteddfod #Gwili pottery #Pru Green potter
aberdabbadoo 