With Tom and friends
I included this photograph in my first post from our hotel in St Davids as it was the image that greeted us at dinner on our first night. We recognised a very young Sir Tom Jones there in the middle, but struggled to recognise his friends until they were introduced to us: a similarly youthful Dame Shirley Bassey and the less familiar face of Cerys Matthews . All works of the artist Pure Evil.
There on the adjacent wall hung a trio of work in a different style completely and during our stay, we found ourselves making a variety of interpretations of these paintings, by Phil Ashcroft though we were somewhat wide of the mark when I read the artist’s notes later.
Having “real” art hanging in an hotel room these days is a rarity. There was a time when I often blogged about “hotel art” and I frequently applied the tag when travelling. It’s a while since I noted anything more than a print or generic photograph though, so discovering this pair of works above the bedhead in room 173 at Twr y Felin was an unlooked for bonus.
A look in the catalogue on the table in our room identified the artist as Lynda Marwood.
Not only were we able to read a little of her and about her work,
but we could identify the third painting hanging on the wall opposite as one of her St Davids series too.
Actually, the whole Twr y Felin Hotel is a gallery and given a rainy afternoon, one could spend a few hours wandering around, catalogue in hand, identifying the works hanging in all the public spaces and learning about the artists.
Once home and with time to look a little more closely at my photographs and the hotel website, I found the catalogue online too.
I found it interesting that not all artists are local. For example, Augustine Kofie, the creator of these two paintings hanging in the restaurant is based in Los Angeles, but was commissioned with the same brief as all the other artists, to present work reflecting the local landscape, albeit in a more abstract manner than most. These are works of scale too. Not a single pretty little watercolour in sight here, but all lavish, gallery sized works hung with confidence and spirit. More than a hundred original works specially commissioned for the venue.
Wow. The “hotel art” tag could be applied here double strength, if it were possible!
Of course, all good things come to an end or, as my Mum would say, “you have to go home so you can look forward to coming back”. On Saturday morning we set off in the mist and headed for home. With plans for the evening in place, we thought that perhaps we should have lunch on the way too.
Thankfully, we knew just the place. The Hardwick is described as a Restaurant with Rooms and we had been here before celebrating a birthday. We were confident of a hearty lunch offering and looked forward to another visit. Not only that but it was about half way too. Perfect. It’s a friendly and welcoming kind of place and as our plates were collected, we chatted about the last time we’d been here, explaining that on this occasion we’d come from St Davids. “Oh, isn’t there an hotel with an art collection there now?” came the question.
Or perhaps it’s a Gallery with Rooms?
