Users of the newly refurbished Rhyl Library will be in for a treat when a current project with textile artist Cefyn Burgess has been completed. Denbighshire’s Arts Service has commissioned Cefyn to work with groups in Rhyl to create large-scale pieces to be hung on the library walls.
Ysgol Dewi Sant, Rhyl Young Carers and women from the North Wales Women’s Centre have been working together with Cefyn to produce huge textile artworks depicting the town of Rhyl. Thanks to funding from the Arts Council of Wales and from the Children and Young People’s Partnership, the participants examined images from the library’s archives and took photographs around present-day Rhyl, before setting about creating huge works to go on permanent display at the library.
Sian Fitzgerald, Arts Development Officer for Denbighshire, said: “The results of this collaborative project will provide the newly refurbished Rhyl Library with a lasting legacy in the form of a permanent display of the work done by the children and young people of Rhyl. To have a significant piece of work displayed in a public place will give those who have taken part a sense of pride in their achievement and we hope it will encourage the young people of the community to use the library more and to take ownership of it, helping to build it into the core of the community where it belongs.’
Workshops have been taking place in Rhyl Library, Ysgol Dewi Sant, North Wales Women’s Centre and at the Oaktree Centre, Rhyl, where pupils and members have been guided by Cefyn and busily using machines to sew and embellish their work.
The project will be completed by July, when a special event will be held at the library to unveil the new artworks and to celebrate the achievements of all those who have taken part.
